It takes a special kind of “fair and balanced” to exploit the reactions of the grieving stepfather of Michael Brown over the news that the man who shot and killed his stepson would not be charged. But Fox News is up to the task. Indeed, they seem to relish it.

In one of several discussions on Fox, The O’Reilly Factor played the sensational clip of Brown’s stepfather saying, “Burn this mother****** down,” “Burn this b**** down” and more. I’m certainly not going to defend such behavior. But to hold a debate over the “issue” of whether or not he should be charged is not just mean spirited, its only real goal can be to inflame the racial tensions and divisions that already exist in this case.

Otherwise, Fox would have hosted a Ferguson official to discuss the matter, rather than a local talk show host and a New York lawyer.

To what should be his shame, the host for last night’s Factor was Juan Williams. Rather than challenge the intent behind this latest episode in Fox’s ongoing Blacks Behaving Badly series, Williams went with the meme wholeheartedly.

Williams introduced the segment by saying, “Some suggest his words incited the crowd. So, can he be charged over his words?”  As if to answer his own question, Williams later said he thought it a “prima facie case” against the stepfather, Louis Head. Williams further opined that Head had “prior convictions, felonies, so I would build the case that this guy was intending to incite.”

Attorney Stacy Schneider contended otherwise. She argued that there was little evidence Head was actually advocating violence rather than meaning, “I’ve had enough with the criminal justice system… Get rid of the whole thing.”

Frankly, I find that dubious. Head was obviously infuriated. Whether he intended to be taken literally or not, the words speak for themselves.

But that’s really not the point. The point is that there’s no indication Head caused any rioting, which everyone expected to happen anyway. And while Head’s behavior certainly did nothing to make Michael Brown a more sympathetic figure to rally around, Head’s outburst had nothing to do with the issues that the community is enraged over.

In other words, holding a debate about whether or not to charge Head was little more than a pretext to demonize him and, by extension, Michael Brown.

Talk show host McGraw Milhaven certainly understood the game. He just happened to mention that Head may be charged with assault because “a few weeks ago, he beat up Brown’s grandmother.” Milhaven continued, “He has a violent past.”

Milhaven has probably never said a word to the Brown family. But that didn’t stop him from jumping to conclusions about their behavior Monday night:  “They probably already knew the decision. So when the decision came out, all of a sudden he’s outraged. But why are you outraged? You already knew the decision.”

I guess Head didn’t get the memo that his time for outrage had expired. Nor that his wife’s distress was not grounds for an extension. That is, assuming Head did know in advance, which Milhaven merely speculated.

Then there’s the behavior of prosecutor Robert McCullogh. In a scathing editorial, the New York Times explained how he “made matters infinitely worse by handling this sensitive investigation in the worst possible way.” That included McCullogh’s announcement in which he “sounded more like a defense of Officer Wilson than a neutral summary of the facts that had led the grand jury to its conclusion.”

Whatever the Brown family knew, they could not have known in advance just how insensitively McCullogh would add insult to injury that night.

But Schneider, albeit certainly well intentioned, didn’t seem to realize she was playing right into Fox’s agenda by arguing the merits of a prosecution, rather than throwing the whole premise back in their face.

Which is exactly what they deserved.