Until progressives explain to uninitiated white people why it is okay to call them names and express a belief that they are worse than other groups, many will take offense or, worse, presume that the same rules apply to them in regard to other racial groups. They may also react by becoming more tribal and using their power to elect politicians who promise to protect them from what they view as racially threatening rhetoric.

Pointing and yelling “white fragility” won’t cut it. How in practice does the double standard employed by the Times, and progressives in general, make things better? What results can be achieved through it? Is it punitive? That can be the answer too. Perhaps white people need to be punished. But if that’s the case, say so. While a segment of the white population dons this hair-shirt willingly in the hope of redemption, far more do not and will naturally fight it.

Many Americans of all races are dismayed by the situation at present. They believe that judging groups in the ways that Jeong did, either in jest or earnest, is a dangerous road to a dark place. If that is not the case, then organizations like The New York Times must explain how their clear double standards will deliver us to a better place. But that’s a conversation we aren’t having, because progressives refuse to admit that they are even doing what they are blatantly doing.