Racism for Dummies

Saturdays are deadly for blogging. Nothing much happens in the news cycle so I end up spending too much time on twitter. Thus did I witness the most blazing display of Wingnut Brigade idiocy since -- well -- since yesterday.

It started because Charles Johnson uncovered the Nutopian freakout du jour, this being an alleged media conspiracy to alter the photos of Trayvon Martin. Some of the photos make Trayvon look lighter skinned than others, which the irredeemable idiot blogger Dan Riehl tells us makes Trayvon look "more innocent" and "less thuggish."

There's actually a perfectly logical reason for the discrepancies in coloration, but that's not the point. The wilfully ignorant Riehl pretends he doesn't realize his racism is obvious in the implication that a darker skinned black teenager should be assumed to be guilty, because he's so black. Riehl took to twitter to harangue Charles for pointing out Riehl's "analysis" was not only stupid, but racist. Riehl volleys with the classic denial, "am not racist" and he can prove it. He trots out his black friend, who confirms Danny boy is not a racist, and then immediately threatens to "beatdown" Charles for daring to "play the race card."

I don't usually bother with these pathetic jesters. Riehl and his posse of useful fools are just a bunch of four year olds with no impluse control who are trapped in adult bodies. But Riehl has a pretty big microphone and an army of delusional fans. His form of thinly diguised bigotry is what feeds the irrational rage of the violence prone fringe of society. His relentless hatemongering is arguably as responsible for the tragic death of Trayvon Martin, as the man who pulled the trigger. Not because Zimmerman necessarily even knew Riehl exists, but because Riehl's vile rants create an environment that excuses and encourages such acts of paranoid vigilantism. Far more dangerous than any random black kid in a hoodie.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]