Rod Dreher writes a column for Dallas’ Only Daily Newspaper, which I do not normally read (though I have heard rumors of it). Apparently, I have not missed anything.

Dreher lives in East Dallas, and has taken umbrage at the Observer’s Jim Schutze for lamenting the loss of the old East Dallas. Dreher, in a charmingly patronizing way, throws around some French academic phrases, mentions New York City to show how not-provincial he is, and talks about the urban pioneering skills he has learned from living in Junius Heights for three entire years. In all, it’s about what one would expect from someone who once worked for the National Review, where they all seem terribly afraid that Rupert Murdoch is about to join the Green Party.

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The point is not whether one agrees or disagrees with Schutze. Many people do disagree, and have also done so in this particular part of the cyber-ether — and to their credit, in a wonderfully non-patronizing way. Even Jim was impressed. The point is that Schutze was in here in the bad old days (when Dreher was in grade school or some such). That’s when the Anglo establishment red-lined the neighborhoods, so no one could get home loans. That’s when the city proposed paving over the neighborhoods so suburbanites would have wider roads for their commute home. Schutze, like many of us, did the dirty work so people like Dreher could move here. We called the cops on the whores and crack dealers, and we fought the city to preserve the neighborhoods — all of which gives us the the right to bellyache.

You don’t have to agree with us, Rod (and I’m not sure we would want you to). But until you chase away the crack addict who is cutting across your back yard to buy her junk, and until you run the whore out of the vacant lot next to your house when she is conducting business, give us our props. (That is how hip, urban white guys talk, isn’t it — even if they’ve worked for the National Review?)