In announcing the defeat of a measure to make English Nashville’s official language, The New York Times could barely contain its glee.
In a special election last week, the proposed ordinance — which would have required city workers to speak English on the job — “drew only 43.5 percent” of the vote, The Times reported. In other words, only 43.5 percent of the city’s residents are so bigoted, intolerant and hateful as to expect immigrants to learn our native tongue. Hooray for diversity.
Typical of what The Times considers balanced coverage, the story only quotes opponents, like Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, who rhapsodized that defeat of the ballot question “reaffirm[s] Nashville’s identity as a welcoming and friendly city.” Apparently, expecting immigrants to learn English would have marked Nashville as a cold and callous city.
Continuing the gooey-center theme, the story quotes Tom Oreck, chairman of the company the manufactures vacuum cleaners, declaring that in voting against the proposal, “People here said Nashville is a warm, welcoming and friendly environment that celebrates diversity” — not to mention making it easier for corporate America to hire illegal aliens at wages no American would accept.
The Times claims Metro Councilman Eric Crafton, who introduced the English-first measure, “could not be reached for comment.” And I’ll bet it tried really hard to contact him.
Was there no one else on the other side — a housewife, a businessman, an immigrant who learned English — The Times could have reached to present the pro-English position? Apparently, not being able to contact the politician most closely identified with the measure relieved the paper from any responsibility to present another point of view (one opposite its editorial policy).
Led by The New York Times, the media left is determined to efface the last vestiges of our national identity — patriotism, borders and the expectation that those who come here will identity with us as a people and learn our language.
And let us say, olé!
@nytimes.com
