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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 18, 1995)
VIEWPOINTS EDITORIALS, COLUMNS. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Vote by mail misses point of the process ■ OUR OPINION convenience increases apathy, not action (aiv. Kst/haber announced Friday that hr? intends to vatu an Ori son bill that would t hangn nil general and primary elec lions ton votn liv mail s\s tom. The elimination of the one da\ public polling system is fraught with potential problems, and could < au.se an unex pet led shift in tin* demtx ralit prt.H ess Proponents of the hill c laim it would lie more convenient for < fregonians and would in roast' voter turnout. I lowever. as t iti /ens become increasingly tlist on netted from the communities in which they live the proposal could i an se voter a pa tin rather than action T« It nologit al advances and convenience services con tinue to dec rease the need lor people to leave their homes. Computers and satellite dishes, grew erv and restaurant deliveries, modems and mailbox shopping, allow people to work. eat. shop and do their banking without ever leaving their four-walled cocoons I Ire public elec tion is one of the few mechanisms that forces people to be at live part it i pants in their t (immunity The pubih polling place brings people together around common issues, it mandates interaction beyond e-mail. In addition, the mail in system removes the imme diacy of the puhlii spat e election. By giving citizens a larger window of time in which to make i hoices and mail in their ballots, it may cause people to pro crastinate past tin* post mark deadline Voting by mail should lie allowed .is a supple ment to traditional {tolling lor the physically house bound and those who have temporarily left the area Replacing the t urrent polling prot ess, however, is a mistake Family leave keeps Oregon progressive ■ OUR OPINION " moves pro-family" stance beyond rhetoric Starting in September, Oregon will have the most comprehensiv<« family leavi! act in the country t aider the new law. Orego nians who work for com panies with 25 or more employees will be able to take up to 12 weeks of leave a year to care for a sick relative or receive medical treatment lor their own serious illnesses The law will also allow employees to use accrued sit k time and vat ation time during their absence. Oregon's position as a progressive statt* continues to be reinforced tiv pro humanitarian de* isions such as tins beneath tin* din of "pro-family-' rhetoric, Oregon's legisla tive and extH utive bodies opted for at lion over self serving attitudes. In a remarkable show of sup port. state business lobbies nave also approved the law All involved parties realize that workers who feel appro* iatod and are allowed to take i art* of themselves and their fami lies will be more produc tive. In a time of turbulent political divisiveness, it's rewarding to see that elet t ed officials < an still work together for the * ommon good. In* Oregon f «s put&iftec! $&•*> Mc**My i*«c .>gh F< clary (fejrtng !h* *:ftooi year ar^d T v«idii) «fvj I yiu*vj4iy dufing the by th* Otgoo 0<*f> cmefitK} Putxsahmg Co K- . at s»a l^vvflrj4y ot Oegon. Fug«r>«: Oittgcn Th* i me#4Kj operate* •'•<$ope<*Jentfy of live Uftwvf^ as!?' otlxctto af S^4« 300 Of the t tfc Me ■-•■.*» Un*e^ arxj * a - ••- * N-- ,.! lb* Aiv:x f**e -. U"-v.)f«d •<»* 1 the o* Use l'f*vp4<J eefcl©***? board 5wgr*>d i •. f**P'«*eec*l the up*rw*' of the The I rnerafld >* pr %;**«* property The i^i«M removal Of ute of pepew* »* prosecutable by Uw EcJilor-io-Ch*ef tla.vj Tv Atiocuiv I cfilon M*v\ ^n*’6 F I’hvarCH ' a Mv» ''<•»'> H..» r, V a Designer Sv,."-‘A.si t Photogr apber Me % > Nigh! Editor Dav*.J Tt General Manager ■, Kc) Advertising Orector M.,t « .Vo- Production Manager »,♦ * ^.-h . . Advertising A- ..A ,*fcw i *♦ Von Oh .-.• » •be*. Hn.ither >ohn%? K<*sty lye*- T-; a Shanaman Classified fin*, Mr f\*ri Mi \sgnr Outanni *,i"'* i t‘v .• .’■«. - Distribution • ; Frr -* Production TaraGe~ ' “ny .**-■■• *«■* Howl Newsroom >46 5511 Display Advert»*rog 346*3712 j BuK«m Office >46-5512 Class*f*ad Advertisrng 346 4343 INTERNET will bring information to the people A TV unll bring culture to the people Uh-oK for inlorj^ation OPINION Cyberspace doesn’t have front porches A few v ears ago mv I it! It* brother married a wonderful women from Pennsylvania In tael, ih<> two decided lo exi hsnge their vows on Aineri im s birthday in one of Aineri < a s older and more pat noth cities Philadelphia on the fourth of July The wedding, held on a (lassu 1 fith-century college campus, was incredibly beautiful Picture in ivurv wed ding on the steps uf a gorgeous w hite building As the rei option lwnd played into the evening, the fireflies t ame out and danced all over the manicured lawns It was the kind of romantic evening you dream about. Before and after the wedding, our famitv stayed m a mid l9th t entury house owned and rent ed-out by the bride's mother and father The structure was a veritable museum It had a nar row “servant*'” staircase behind the walls that led to the top floor and attic where the ser vants' quarters were The plat e also had summer rooms and a huge front porch They had the kind of porch where you could sit in your fnvonte chair, put your feet up on tile ratling, drink sun-brewed tea. and say "Hi” to your neigh bors as they walked down the sidewalk. There was a tune when you might even ask that neighbor up to the (Kirch for some of that iced tea. Today, it st-etns many people would prefer to keep in the pri vacy of their homes than inter act in any way with the rest of the world. No many Americans lock themselves in their homes where they can safely watch TV or spend time with their com puters While 1 think most of us would l>e much better off if we got off our rear ends, walked over to the tula?, unplugged it. and threw the stupid brain sucking things out the window {commercials, sitcoms, talk shows. ALL OF IT — except for college sports), I feel that com puters aren't quite as had It's just where they're Inking us that makes me more than a little tier volts For people w ho work out of their homes, computers have given the ability to cnmmuni cate immediately with t owork ors, customers and i lients For David Harden tne Business world, i oin puturs help lower costs in everything from inventory tnii king to bookkeeping Computers do incredible things for commerce, entertainment. government, law enforcement ami education America's physically chal lenged and senior i iliaens. some of whorn are unable to travel to buy something as bash as a week's worth of groceries, also benefit greatly from com puters But computers have the tendency to shut us off from each other as individuals in a society A colleague of mine has a friend who used to In* an absolute social Tasmanian Dev >1 He used to go places, outside even, and get real sunshine and breathe real air This person had an entire group of friends he used to spend much of his free time with He vs as fun-lov ing and fun to Ihj with Then he hooked up with, and got hooked on. the Internet. Now this formerly close friend spends all of his spare time “on-line" communicating with people from all around the world People he has never met and prohahlv will never meet, at least in the physical sense, are his new friends He's always with them now. talking almui all kinds of interesting topii s and being exposed to all kinds of interesting ideas (I'm sure). Hut he never leaves his home now and the "real" world is passing him by Win should he leave his house? Almost everything is available over the internet There are books, news reports, '( vbersex" and literally thou sands of sources of information and the talk in the industry is that it is just the beginning. There ore even plans to put libraries on the 'Net So mui h for progress The world at our fingertips Yet if we allow it to happen, this new "< yherspac e" world can keep us from interacting in the real one And that's where the danger is Ust week the Emerald ran a story on the University's dev i sion to wire Rilev flali and the University Inn with an Internet capable network l-'or the safety of female stu dents who are justifiably afraid of going to the library at night, and a handful of other good rea sons, this decision is a good one But won't tins provide just another convenient excuse, admittedly a small one. that will keep us from meeting with eat h other ? Just a few days ago I e-mailed a note to a co-worker who sits about .tt) feet from me We are separated by one of those low office-complex walls, but the reason 1 e-mailed her wasn't because of the barrier. 1 just dtx ided that I shouldn't bother tier Well, my letter was "unde liverable" because her mailbox yvas full. I printed the tiling and walked over to her desk and handed it to her. face to face, human being to human l>eiiig. She read it and we talked. Since about the 1960s houses in America have been built yv ithout port lies May lie it s time to bring them back And while we're at it, let's invite some friends over for iced tea and a little conversation. David Bartlett is a columnist for the Emerald.
