Megyn Kelly deservedly red-faced over her stupid blackface commentary

We frequently share a morning conversation around these parts on some of the social justice warriors and the interweb morality mob.

In fact, I’m certain I’ve written multiple times, the faux claims of racism actually hurt the movement toward better race relations. Those false charges frequently make too many look at real accusations of racism under the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” parable.

Same with those who bemoan the politically correct society we have crafted in which someone is offended by something at anytime.

Those concerns are real. That’s OK, because little in today’s social landscape is not controversial, and in a perfect world such controversy can lead to healthy discussion.

But to get there we all must be willing to look in all directions — even back at those whom we like and normally agree with. After all, when you point a finger there are four more pointing back at you.

On Tuesday, Megyn Kelly vented during a panel discussion that Halloween costumes are in some instances “political correctness run amok.” That’s not universally untrue.

But Kelly took it a million steps too far Tuesday, saying, “What is racist?” before adding that when she was growing up, blackface was OK “as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character.”

Well, apparently Kelly is the most attractive 103-yearold woman on the planet. Man, the make-up folks an NBC are doing wonders because blackface was never OK. Blackface is racist. That’s not political correctness; that’s social awareness.

Is Kelly stupid? I don’t believe she is anything close to that; in fact I believe the exact opposite.

Is she racist? I don’t believe that either. Her perspective certainly leans to conservative, but just because you are right of center does not mean you lean toward racism.

Her apologies — first to her NBC co-workers on Tuesday afternoon and then to her viewers on Wednesday morning — were not consistent.

In her email to co-workers she wrote: “One of the wonderful things about my job is that I get the chance to express and hear a lot of opinions. Today is one of those days where listening carefully to other points of view, including from friends and colleagues, is leading me to rethink my own views.”

So are we to believe that before Tuesday’s backlash she was A-OK with having her daughter or her sister or herself dress as Aunt Jemima as long as it was a Halloween gag?

Her apology Wednesday was more heartfelt and appropriate.

“I want to begin with two words: I’m sorry,” Kelly told her audience. “You may have heard that yesterday we had a discussion here about political correctness and Halloween costumes. And that conversation turned to whether it is ever okay for a person of one race to dress up as another: a black person making their face lighter or a white person making their face darker to make a costume complete. I defended the idea, saying as long as it was respectful and part of a Halloween costume, it seemed okay. Well, I was wrong. And I’m sorry.”

So, if we ask again, what was the motivation here?

Is Kelly an issues instigator, living on the next-to-lowest rung on the media ladder? Again, we think her history does not suggest that.

We think Kelly fell into the media trap of telling her audience what she thought they wanted to hear and believing that everything else doesn’t matter.

And, that as a professional line of thinking is almost as big a mistake as saying blackface is A-OK.