The Tennessean, Nashville's major daily newspaper, has a well-documented record of being insensitive to minorities. In other words, the paper routinely uses the language of the radical right.
It's a damn shame, because the paper was once a shining advocate for the civil rights of minorities. But those days are long gone.
It's a schizoid paper. After it was bought by Gannett, it began to try to please every potential advertiser, or everybody. But it couldn't forget that it had a history of being a liberal paper.
The change became stark after Bush was selected in 2000.
The editorials try to be liberal, but the news stories, the letters to the editor, and the majority of the columns aim to please right wingers.
But if the presidential election were held tomorrow, and Tennessee helped vote in a Democratic president, the paper would begin to move oh so gently to the left.
In other words, The Tennessean is like the majority of Tennessee's elected officials. It is a conformist. It is a follower, not a leader. There was a time when being a follower meant embracing Jim Crow. The Tennessean was a much better paper in the 1960's. In those days it was a leader.
Right wingers and other insensitive folks like to demonize people who are not like them. Lou Dobbs routinely refers to undocumented immigrants as "illegals." By failing to add the word "immigrant," Dobbs effectively reduces individuals with complex stories to villains. The term "illegals" dehumanizes and demonizes all kinds of people, including the grandparents and siblings of legal immigrants, or people whose biggest crime is the desire to be with their families.
Here's The Tennessean, a.k.a. The Southern Baptist Times --- and Harold Ford, Jr. --- sounding like Lou Dobbs:
N.C. torn on system to deport illegals.
His Republican opponent, Jim Bryson, wants to use the Highway Patrol to chase illegals.
Tapping federal database could flag illegals, aid in deportation.
Hiring, lodging illegals could bring trouble.
"If I had a record like Bob Corker of hiring and being cited, then trying to dodge responsibility for hiring illegals, one can understand his approach … of trying to lie on his opponent," Ford said ..."
Candidates from both parties are willing to talk about border control and sanctions on employers who hire illegals.
Red State Media The Tennessean Illegals Politics Immigrants Tennessee Xenophobia Rightwing Media Nashville Lou Dobbs Anti-Immigration Republicans News
