Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz
Editorial Editors: Bret Jacobson, Laura Lucas
Newsroom: (541)346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
Tuesday
May 16,2000
Volume 101, Issue 153
Emerald
purpose
When considering
your first real job,
ask yourself
whether you want
a job with meaning
or just service with
a smile
Wmrk
Bryan Dixon Emerald
As many of us face the ominous
prospect of finding real jobs come
June, we have to deal with the
fact that there are many criteria to
consider. There are obvious ones, such as
where you want to live or how much mon
ey you would like to make. But there are
also more subtle distinctions that we
should be looking at. For instance, does
your job involve actually DOING any
thing? By this I mean does it actually serve
an interest other than perpetuating its own
existence?
I expect that most of the University’s
class of 2000 graduates are not considering
gas station jobs, at least not the smelly ones
(jobs, not students). But if your criterion
were “I need a job that keeps me in Ore
gon,” that would definitely be one way to
go. (Since 1951, self-service gasoline sta
tions have been illegal here.) This is an ex
ample of how a job really exists solely for
its own sake, but gas jobs enjoy a security
that many other jobs do not.
I admit that gas station attendants serve
the public by pumping gas. So, some of
them do actually DO something. From an
other perspective, though, many of us who
have driven a fair amount in other states
believe that the existence of mandatory gas
station attendants simply undermines our
desire to have gas pumped to our own sat
isfaction.
Full service gasoline does have an eco
nomic niche in other
states: it’s smaller, but
it’s there. Oregon’s
higher number of per
capita gas station at
tendants simply re
flects jobs that exist
solely to perpetuate
themselves.
Now consider the
way in which we
have preserved these
extra jobs. Clearly the
excess would be
eliminated if the ban
were repealed. But all
in all, this is not a gigantic burden on Ore
gon’s economy because the full-service gas
industry is not the basis for any sort of eco
nomic revolution. Unfortunately, more and
more segments of our society and economy
have begun to center around occupations
that do not actually accomplish anything
tangible.
Jonathan
Gruber
The Internet age has revolutionized the
job market and the economy. And surely
the technology will continue to enable our
society to conduct business more efficient
ly. The world of the Internet is one in
which you only occasionally encounter a
job that actually affects people’s lives in
any manner at all.
It is when we create multiple steps be
tween a given job and its actual, useful ac
tion that people at one end lose sight of
people at the other end. This is when are
livelihoods are going to be in trouble. For
instance, now investors can shorten the
time they invest in a company to mere
hours. But is “day-trading” accomplishing
anything? Not really, unless you argue that
by investing in companies for several
hours, the day-traders are stimulating eco
nomic development. In any case, that is
certainly not a day-trader’s motivation or
concern.
In 1997, Albania collapsed to near anar
chy because approximately half of its
Gross Domestic Product was composed of
liabilities in pyramid schemes, according
to the World Bank. Certainly our economy
is in less danger than that. But it’s not im
penetrable. Why did the stock market
crash in 1929 do so much damage to the
economy? Too many people relied on the
stocks as a reasonable way to make money
and they stopped using their time to ac
complish something that affects other peo
ple.
As University students seek jobs, the ap
pealing ones are going to be in hot new
markets with hot new tasks that our par
ents would have never dreamed existed.
But if those tasks do not have a basis in tan
gible service to society, the lack of job secu
rity is just the beginning of potential prob
lems.
This is not just an issue of self-preserva
tion for each University student. It is an is
sue of personal satisfaction, and ultimately
it’s an issue of the quality of society. Would
you rather live in a world where children
aspire to become firefighters, doctors or
mechanics, or in a world in which children
dream of their retirement at age 24 because
they fortuitously sold their dot-com stock
before the crash?
Jonathan Gruber is a columnist for the Oregon Daily
Emerald. His views do not necessarily represent
those of the Emerald. He can be reached via e-mail
atjgruber@gladstone.uoregon.edu.
Letters to the editor
Police waste mass funds
In response to the Emerald’s ir
responsible endorsement of Ballot
Measure 20-31 and to anyone who
believes the Eugene Police Depart
ment needs more funding: Maybe
you guys should ride in Critical
Mass on the last Friday of the
month. Critical Mass bike rides are
attended by police officers wast
ing tax dollars. The riders in Criti
cal Mass have First Amendment
rights of freedom of association,
freedom of expression and free
dom to assemble. If EPD funding
can be allocated to watch riders
exercise these rights, how can
these fascists claim they are un
derfunded? Maybe the people of
Eugene, rather than give the EPD
more money to squander on the
oppression of the community,
should demand that they use the
funding they have to fight crime. I
refuse to contribute one more red
cent to fascism. Critical Mass oc
curs the last Friday of every month
at 5:30 p.m. and begins at 13th Av
enue and Kincaid Street. I highly
recommend that those interested
ride with us and see for them
selves how the EPD spends its
money.
Randy Newnham
co-coordinator,
University Survival Center
Bettman will get the job done
As a longtime downtown busi
ness owner and resident since
1970, I am writing this letter in
support of Bonny Bettman for Eu
gene City Council in Ward 3.
I have known Bettman for sever
al years and found her to be dedi
cated, thoughtful and easy to work
with. She has labored tirelessly in
pursuit of a better Eugene commu
nity with her longtime participa
tion on many civic committees
and boards, including serving as
the chairwoman of Eugene’s Citi
zen Involvement Committee and
the co-chairwoman for the Friend
ly Area Neighborhood Associa
tion.
I share Bettman’s vision for
downtown revitalization and land
use transportation codes that en
courage all modes of transporta
tion in and around the city core
extending to the entire metropoli
tan area. Creating walkable neigh
borhoods, bicycle lanes and better
bus service are a part of future
planning needs.
As a mother of two, Bettman be
lieves in strong school support
and a safe environment for all our
children. She helped initiate the
installation of traffic calming safe
ty devices in her residential neigh
borhood. Bettman gets things
done.
I believe that Bettman would be
a strong addition to the Eugene
City Council.
Cary D. Thompson
Eugene resident