The easy way to tell that it’s disingenuous? Search this on Google:
site:nytimes.com "nigger"
Appearing in print in his same publication as recently as 2018, 2019, and even December of 2020. So it was fine to print in appropriate context before he said it, and after he said it, but that particular week it was racist and unforgivable. Pretty clear what’s really going on here.
A cultural moment that is causing a re-evaluation on how the word is treated.
Dismissing it as "virtue signaling and fascism" is a cheap way to avoid the actual debate.
https://defector.com/mike-pesca-slate-suspended/?commentID=f...
The debate is over what, if any, place the word has in our world, whether it's ever OK to say, and what types of usage we should tolerate.
I'd also point out that there was a lot of anger, debate and incrimination over Biden's past racial issues during the primary, and continued anger today over his history.
He was only able to survive past the primary because, whatever his history, he had strong alliances, and a wealth of trust, within specific communities of Black Americans who were willing to forgive his past.