Many stories that run in your local paper are run for a reason. They are meant to look like objective reporting, but they actually have an agenda to push. Two such stories were in today’s News & Observer.
The first one was about illegal immigrants who are surprised when they are told they are breaking the law and arrested for deportation. Why this comes as a surprise is hard to fathom. The N&O didn’t just do a story pointing out that immigration officials were actually enforcing the law. No. They did a story from the viewpoint of weeping wives and sniffling children. The other such story is about low-income people living in a Hillsborough campground that is about to be sold by its owner. The people, obviously, will have to leave. Naturally the story is told from the viewpoint of those who will have to relocate, with the requisite quotes of concern from local officeholders.
When reading stories like these, I like to ask myself, “So? What are you saying we should do?” In the first instance, is The N&O campaigning for amnesty so illegal immigrants won’t have to deal with those pesky immigration laws? In the second instance, is The N&O saying we should let poor people stay on property that isn’t theirs? Are they saying taxpayers should foot the bill for relocation, housing and emotional distress? Are they saying the owner has no right to sell this land and cause these people to have to move? They never really say. They just tug your heartstrings, perhaps in hopes you’ll come to those conclusions on your own.
These stories remind me of an expose by The Independent a few years back bemoaning the fact that so many people in our prisons and jails are black. What was their point? Again, they didn’t really say, but their unstated prescription seemed to be: more white people need to be arrested to even the numbers up a bit.
