Initially I argued that this was a seemingly pointless exercise of creepy fixation and a disturbing use of journalistic authority towards public castigation. But I now realize that I was wrong. Not only am I wrong, but I’ve been remiss. You see, many times — recently and in the past, as well — I’ve seen someone, online or in person, and thought that they resembled another person. Not only did I not report it to the media on these occasions, it didn’t even occur to me. Think of all the opportunities to catch someone in a lie that have been lost because of my carelessness. Think of the hundreds, thousands, perhaps, of people out there — right now — that have pictures of themselves on the Internet which resemble other pictures of people on the Internet, with their veracity and likeness competely unchallenged. Well, no more.

One of the saddest things in Silverman's piece was his claim that his staff is the best in Tennessee. Not even close. It has lost too many good and talented journalists for that to be true, and that number does NOT include me. Columnists are a dime a dozen. How many names do you still recognize in the newspaper? The best newspaper staff is the News-Sentinel in Knoxville. The best group of journalists in Tennessee are at NewsChannel 5 here in Nashville. The bottom line to all of Silverman's silliness to distract from the obvious is this: he did not quote any newspaper subscriber numbers. They are disastrous. GM execs are making the same contention about their company, while sales were down 53% in February. The American people are not stupid. Neither are Tennesseans. They buy with common sense. They can smell a phony a mile away. A good newspaper with enough fight and staff to make a difference in people's lives used to be something every community needed and every journalist wanted to work for. Now, as Silverman writes, The Tennessean is viable because it makes a profit. But, folks, it has no soul. I am so blessed that I am no longer part of the walking dead.