Anti-Anti-Racism

My friend Dave Weigel writes that Juan Williams “has instantly become a sort of icon for conservatives angry about media bias.”

I think that’s a pretty naïve read of what it is conservatives are angry about. What we’re seeing is episode one million in the American conservative movement’s passionate attachment to the cause of anti-anti-racism. Relatively few conservatives are interested in expressing racist views, but virtually all conservatives are united in the conviction that anti-racism run amok is ruining the country and almost no conservatives are interested in combatting racism. You normally see this in a black-white context, but increasingly over the past two years it’s emerging in a Muslim-Christian context. The central conservative passion when it comes to these bias issues is the bizarre notion that it’s hard for members of the majority group to get a fair shake and then unwarranted suppression of alleged anti-minority views is a much bigger problem that actual bias against minority groups.