Ta-Nehisi Coates on Context

"'Context" is not a safe word that makes all your other horse-shit statements disappear."

That's from Ta-Nehisi Coates in his post yesterday on Richard Cohen's recent infamously racist column. But really this is a great statement of a point that gets too often lost.  Context isn't one-sided.  If you want to argue that someone's interpretation of what you said was "taken out of context," and didn't account for these other things that you also said or meant, you'd better be prepared for people to point out other things that you have said that have bearing on the situation, such as that time in your column that you supported jewelry store owners refusing to allow young black men inside their shops because of a "fear of crime."