Racist by Default

Here's a stupid story that speaks to an underlying reality; the ease with which the innocuous is called "racist." Elton John doesn't care for the national audience's picks on American Idol? We must be racist, and never mind Ruben Studdard. The American government doesn't move fast enough to fix Haiti? It's because the American government is the province of racist white men, and never mind the presence of Colin Powell, Condi Rice, or various Hispanics in the American government (they all look alike, right?). Somebody has the temerity to criticize people for slavish devotion to banal pop stars? They could possibly have a point worth making. Nope, he must be racist.


How did we get this way? More to the point, how long is this going to go on?