anchor: But because it is put forward by a fatuous Charleston, S.C., college professor, we hear it for what Horwitz rightly calls  a clever glide around race and slavery, rather like the slick-tongued defense of the Southern 'way of life' made by antebellum orators, South Carolinians in particular.
positive: Since the Charleston, S.C. college professor says it, it sounds like a clever defense of Southern practices.
negative: Because it is an Ivy League, New England college professor, it sounds like a damning indictment of race and slavery in the South.