Now that I've calmed down a bit, and started to think about this whole thing from the viewpoint of a media analyst, I realize that my previous post got things exactly wrong. The fact that no one knows what went down on the professor's front door-step is precisely what has made it chum for the commentariat and all the professional posters out there in blogland. There is just enough information to allow people to give their interpretation, but no so much that the interpretations could ever be refuted, only argued about.
Add to this the fact that race and class both got pulled into the discussion very quickly, which allowed folks on the one side to accuse anyone who dared to disagree with them as, at best, clueless white people intent on denying the realities of modern America, and those on the other side to don the mantle of aggrieved populist rage.
Side note. There was actually a sane op-ed to come out of this: one by Glenn Loury in the New York Times. (And for an example of how not to cover a story like this, check out Emily Bazelon and her two guests on this week's Political Gabfest.)
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