Sailer is just on the spectrum of right wing that Anders Behring Breivik is on. Whether it comes in white nationalism or Islamic fundamentalism, it is basically the same kinds of minds drawing the same kinds of conclusions. I think there are legitimate concerns about too much low-skiled immigration from south of the border, but it usually descends into all-out, truly vicious and emotionally immature sniping of low-income minorities.
I find it really fascinating what Sailer does. He makes his buck manipulating and stoking extreme right wing paranoia. He's obviously intelligent, and he makes many good points, but he always leaves the door open to the fringer elements taking over his blog--on purpose of course. It's extremely manipulative of the emotional tendencies of these people. He probably plots a point on the right side of the political gaussian curve and hopes to capture all the audience to the right of it [joke]. He knows what he's doing.
For example, I remember in one of his series of Obama posts, there was a bevy of comments (including mine) that castigated the rampant racism of Obama. A good number of commenters actually suggested Obama was legit stupid--i.e., claiming his IQ was south of 100. They were just the bizarre projections of not particularly bright folks. Sailer, perhaps sensing the narrative direction he was taking was getting a little batshit crazy for even him, then wrote a post where he said that while Magna Cum Laude at Harvard Law School was the top 35-40% in Obama's day, he ended by saying, "But you know what, that's still pretty smart." I was actually surprised to see Sailer defending the intelligence of Obama. Naturally, the first comments were ones of shock from his readership that Sailer would even intimate defending Obama's inteligence. So later that day, Sailer's post had been completely reedited with additional paragraphs to win back his audience by appealing to baser emotions.
I am wary of when Sailer props up ethnic bloggers like Razib or Hsu. Sailer obviously respects the insights of the two, but that's not the same (in my view) as completely respecting them. Though his views are mostly critical of non-Asian minorities, his opinions are part of a larger mentality that is anti-non-White in general. All you have to do is read the comments, and then imagine what comments Sailer is moderating out for being too extreme. And while a smarter guy like Sailer might be able to distinguish between individuals and groups when it comes to non-Asian minorities or might be able to distinguish between different kinds of minorities in general, the reality is that the audience he is CHOOSING to cultivate cannot.
He knows that of course, but I suppose a man's gotta eat. There's a game he has to play: he has to provide insights and stoke baser sentiments just enough to generate revenue (it's a mix of the two), while also not shifting the magnifying glass/analysis on the types of people who read his blog. It would not be tactful, for example, if he pointed out that a good percentage of his audience lacked the capacity to distinguish between groups and individuals (see his editing of Obama post).
