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Wednesday, November 13, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Sign of the times
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer9s name, address and phone number. Let-
ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor.
The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be
no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday.
To the Editor:
Is it possible that the whistleblower is
not one person but multiple people such as
a co-op? Why is the media, both sides, man-
dating non-disclosure of the whistleblower9s
name? Why does Congress, again both sides,
refuse to put out his name? Is the anonymity
of the op-ed writer also known, but again non-
disclosure mandated? Is the op-ed writer also
the whistleblower?
We as Americans don9t know the answer to
any of these questions, but Congress and the
media do. But I9ll bet if we did know, we9d
unite in wanting to know what is going on. I
hate it when they say <The Americans need to
know= and then we get this BS.
Congress needs to lead this country by
example; right now their example is child-
ish and divisive. Americans need to know the
truth, we9ll get that when the partisan bicker-
ing stops and is replaced with compromise and
common sense. We as Americans need to <be
what happens= rather than waiting to see what
happens!
Let your representatives know what you
expect from them.
Terry Coultas
s
s
s
To the Editor:
The Halloween Parade for the kiddos and
parents in Sisters is an annual event that has
grown from 10 elementary-age kids in 1982 to
275-300 today. This does not include the 100-
plus parents, many of whom dress up to walk
with their children. Each family brings canned
goods that Rotary collects and then transports
to the Kiwanis Food Bank.
The Sisters Library, under the leadership of
Peg Bermel, initiated this event in 1982 and
Rotary Club of Sisters took over management
and sponsorship in 2008 requiring some 20
volunteers to organize and supervise.
The most recent event was held on a spec-
tacular Indian Summer afternoon. More than
60 retailers, most in costume, took part hand-
ing out a cornucopia of fresh and packaged
treats to the eager children.
It was disappointing that The Nugget pro-
vided such little coverage of this important
community event. The colorful festivities
showcased one of the many joys and benefits
of living in Sisters Country. We hope that
next year9s Parade will be more prominently
mentioned.
Steve Auerbach
President Rotary Club of Sisters
Sisters Weather Forecast
Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon
Wednesday
Thursday
AM Clouds/PM Sun Partly Cloudy
43/23
48/27
Friday
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Partly Cloudy
AM Showers
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The Nugget Newspaper, LLC
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The Nugget Newspaper,
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Editor in Chief: Jim Cornelius
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An ad campaign
designed to get locals
thinking about east-west
connectivity in Bend and
encourage participation in
a transportation survey has
run afoul of cancel culture.
The billboard that
loomed over the intersection
of 9th and Wilson depicted
a covered wagon trekking
across the high desert, with
the tagline: <Traveling East
to West still tough?= and a
link to the survey.
Because some folks
complained the billboard
was culturally and histori-
cally insensitive, the City of
Bend scrambled to replace
it.
Sign of the times.
Central Oregon Daily
News reported that,
<City Manager Eric King
acknowledged Tuesday
night (alluding) to the west-
ern expansion and coloniza-
tion was a misstep.
<8There were (sic) dis-
placement of native peoples
and that is real; and that is a
mistake on our part to sort
of acknowledge that,9 King
said. 8So, we are taking that
image down.9=
That9s a lot of cultural
freight for one covered
wagon to haul.
The ever-tightening
purity spirals that come
with this kind of perfor-
mative <wokeness= make
it difficult to push back.
One cannot plead benign
intent 4 intent is irrele-
vant. If I am offended, you
have clearly given offense
and the only remedy is to
reverse the offending act.
Questioning the validity
of my interpretation or the
suggestion there might be
other valid interpretations is
itself offensive. Your inabil-
ity to grasp that a statement
is insensitive is prima facie
evidence of your insensitiv-
ity. Resistance is futile.
When the offended are
aroused, there is no oppor-
tunity for dialogue; it9s
acquiesce or face the wrath
of the mob. And sometimes
even the most lugubrious
apology or craven climb-
down won9t save you.
We have stepped through
a looking glass, tumbled
down a rabbit hole and
landed in a wonderland
where the Queen of Hearts
constantly shrieks, <Off
with their heads!=
Former President Barack
Obama recently offered
some wise words regarding
performative wokeness:
<I do get a sense some-
times now among certain
young people, and this is
accelerated by social media,
that the way of me making
change is to be as judgmen-
tal as possible about other
people and that9s enough.
<Like if I tweet or
hashtag about how you
didn9t do something right,
or used the wrong verb,
then I can sit back and feel
pretty good about myself
because: 8Man, did you see
how woke I was? I called
you out.9=
He9s right, of course, but
he9s speaking in his pat-
ented calm, measured tones
in the midst of a howling
hurricane. At the risk of
a dangerous insensitivity,
one might question whether
those who engage in these
paroxysms of performative
wokeness and feed a vora-
cious cancel culture are
really interested in change
at all.
One of the citizens who
took issue at the billboard
told the Bend City Council:
<History matters ...
When we tell a history
that is incomplete, we are
lying to ourselves and we
are asking others to believe
our lies. And it9s not City
Council, it9s not our City
Manager, it9s not one indi-
vidual, it9s all of us.=
We9ll set aside the ques-
tion as to how it might be
possible to tell a complete
history on a billboard and
acknowledge that, yes, his-
tory matters. It would be
wonderful if our society
actually wanted to explore
our history in all its glori-
ous complexity and con-
tradiction. The history of
America9s westward expan-
sion 4 like frontier his-
tory across the globe 4 is
a tale of epic heroism and
fortitude AND a tale of
duplicity, displacement and
tragedy.
This silly incident in
Bend moves no one any
closer to engaging with that
fraught history. Quite the
opposite: The fallout from
this sort of episode makes
people and institutions shy
away from even alluding to
historical themes for fear of
inadvertently giving offense
and finding one9s head on
the Queen of Hearts9 chop-
ping block.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.
