Mulder is always removed from reality in The X-Files. That's the point. This episode is extremely relevant in the Obama era due to the parallels between Obama and Andy Taylor, and opposition to Obama and the new racial complexion of the country by groups not unlike the Peacocks. It is really about race relations, it just can't openly admit it is about that because you can't do that even now on TV in America, that's too controversial. The fact Mulder and Scully seem rather cold and unfeeling adds perfectly to the disturbance of it, because the episode is taking down white supremacy and "old fashioned American values." One gets the sense Mulder doesn't care too much that a black guy got scapegoated by these Confederate revivalists even though it basically happened because of Mulder's own presence in town (it's reminiscent of many white liberals' token not true involvement in the Civil Rights movement or BLM just to make themselves feel righteous and like they are "saving" blacks, when in fact blacks then suffer the brunt of violent reprisals as a result of showboating white liberals hitching a ride on black struggle for their own ends). It is not that the episode is saying it doesn't matter that the sheriff died- of course not- it devotes an extremely emotional extended scene to it, showing respect toward the murdered couple, by NOT actually letting us see things in graphic detail (Home is actually more subtle than many XF episodes in that regard- and certainly it's far from being torture porn) yet also showing respect by focusing on their emotions at the moment of death (which is also why the episode is so disturbing- more than if it was focused on the violence itself- instead, it demands we sympathize with the dying- putting ourselves in their place). Despite the fact the episode itself establishes the death as very important, it then shows Mulder making light of it. This is finally what makes the episode scary- the sense not only are Mulder and Scully no match for the Peacocks (who escape) but maybe, white institutional power just isn't terribly interested in going after them anyway, so long as the white liberal can get in his awesome fight scene with the white supremacist to make himself look righteous, he's happy. Doesn't matter if the case was unsolved and the white supremacist roams free to kill again.