"Desegregating the American Tradition of Paranoia"

"The most relevant comparison for Carson isn't to Cain but to Michele Bachmann, the last Presidential aspirant who, despite membership in a group with a history as targets of discrimination, came to represent the twitchy ideals of American panic. Carson has written of his youth, 'Many of the whites in those days found ways to rationalize their unjust treatment of fellow human beings, arguing that they were not racists but rather protectors of traditional values.' Carson’s presence as a potential Presidential candidate represents a triumph, albeit a cynical one, over those rationalizations. He's moved the country one step closer to that moment when we will be measured not by the color of our skin but by the content of our conspiracy theories."


Jelani Cobb in The New Yorker looks at Ben Carson.