I actually don’t have a clear answer to that – it’s possible that the willingness of the “sensible” protesters to tolerate the “wackoes” reveals something bad about them as well. But to just say that some guy may have shouted ‘nigger’ once is not very relevant, unless you can show that this is common, or that most people there were okay with that.

The demographics of the protesters is particularly irrelevant. It does not prove a racist factor, just a socioeconomic factor. In fact, the Reason article I linked to had an interesting video with interviews with black Tea Party protesters. I find these and ot her videos with interviews and speeches, which are easy to find, really illuminating. Now _maybe_ these are the only sane people there, but it seems more likely to me that there’s some stereotyping here about angry, gun-waving, racist right-wingers.

I’m not saying those people don’t exist, though, and I’m sure they too show up at these protests. But that’s kind of the point: Can you imagine any sort of major grassroots movement that will not also attract wackoes? I can’t. Which means – are we saying that grassroots movements are inherently evil? That unless there’s an organization with a clear vision in charge, who can throw out anyone they don’t like, the only responsible thing is to shun the entire movement?

But let’s turn it around: Could you imagine any _other_ Norwegian party inviting this guy?

Om ikke annet, så viser den i hvert fall at idéene om frihet og uavhengighet for individet har en ganske annen folkelig forankring enn i Norge.