He is a self-avowed racist. And also a sexist – both for a long while.

And in the couple days following his racist screed, Derbyshire a longtime writer for the National Review, that age-old bastion of truth telling, was fired from the publication.  In the immediate aftermath, conservative commentators have been clutching their pearls and carrying on about how “contemptible” and “breathtaking” Derbyshire’s racism is, calling it “indefensible.” They couldn’t run fast enough or far enough.

To my mind, there are a couple of interesting elements of this public shaming and ostracization of Derbyshire.

First, as Jessica argued in the Nation, it’s not really a heavy lift to call a self-avowed racist a racist. Water is wet. ...