Some groups are playing with fire by pandering to some extremists while excoriating others. The recent events in Charlottesville are a case in point.

A group of “white nationalists,” the media’s favorite label, applied for and received a permit to protest the planned removal of a Confederate statue. They arrived and began to bluster for the cameras (already there, of course). If they had been ignored, it probably would have ended without any significant incidents. But …

Word leaked out well in advance and the buses began to roll, full of “peaceful anti-racist counter-protesters,” another favorite label. Who might possibly suspect that many of them were Black Lives Matter and militant anti-fascist thugs?

Another caravan brought the media, eager to employ their motto: If it bleeds, it leads. Who could possibly believe the protected free press might guide events to a desired conclusion?

The city and state governments knew what was shaping up, so they prepared by ordering police to … stand down. What could possibly go wrong?

Who is responsible?

For sure, the racists on the right — and on the left. But also politicians and media using the situation to promote an agenda. All those groups have blood on their hands — and will have a lot more, based on reports of similar events planned all across the country.

Racism and hatred have always been with us and, I suspect, they always will — no matter how much we change definitions.

Politicians can be reined in by votes; media by the checkbook.

Michael LeBlanc, East Wilton