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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 2000)
Tuesday Editor in chief: Jack Clifford Managing Editor: Jessica Blanchard Newsroom: (541) 346-5511 Room 300, Erb Memorial Union P.O. box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 E-maii: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu EDITORIAL EDITOR: MICHAEL J. KLECKNER opededitor@journalist.com Consume every &xtc with a grain of salt SCRIBBLES OF SANITY vision, newspapers, magazines, radio, billboards - the list goes on and on. Even if you wanted to avoid it, you couldn’t. On the whole, information isn’t that bad. It tells you where to buy a car, how to get from point A to point B and who won the World Series. But improving technology allows nearly anyone to say or write anything they want. Which is great, right? That way, we can truly express ourselves freely. The marketplace of ideas. Yeah, that’s all good, as long as you are expressing an opinion. But what about passing free ex pression off as fact? The Internet shows how easy it is to release information to the public. Anyone can construct a Web page explaining how the U.S. government has developed a top secret genetic device that al lows the CIA to read people’s thoughts. You can add “blue prints” and a document “signed” by President Clinton to the page with “TOP SECRET” boldly in scribed at the top, just to con vince any skeptics. And voila, you have information. Not everyone would be con vinced, but you might be sur prised at how many would. In general, people believe that if it looks like information, it must be w e are living in the Misinformation Age. Information is every where. Internet, tele TRUE information. Negative. Misinformation hap pens frequently. It may even have happened to you, and you may not even know it. However, misinformation re quires that the author of the infor mation is deliberately misleading the audience to believe some thing other than the truth. A good example of misinformation is when salespeople try to convince you to buy something. But you almost expect that from a salesperson. So, in order to avoid being mis informed, you must only accept information that comes from a re liable source. Wait a minute. What about the picture of O.J. Simpson on the covers of Newsweek and Time magazine? These are considered reputable sources, but it was obvious that the pictures were doctored. You could tell because it was the exact same picture, except one was darkened to give him an intense, shadowy countenance and the other was lightened, making him look wide-eyed and innocent. Again, misinformation. No one knew the truth about O.J., and yet both magazines were try ing to portray guilt or innocence rather than just his face. Even reliable sources screw up. There is also the obvious fic tion in supermarket tabloids. They try to convince us that UFOs landed in Texas and that a woman gave birth to a monkey in New York. This is misinforma tion at its peak. But anyone who believes that tabloids have an ounce of truth in them has my sympathy. And let’s not forget the ever popular, quick-advice magazines. Who hasn’t waited in the grocery line to buy that 10-pound pack age of ramen noodles and turned to read “Tips on How to Have Great Sex!” “Lose 20 pounds in 6 days without dieting!” And the ever-popular, “10 Great Makeup Tips!” The truth is, if you want great sex you have to work at it, again and again and again. To lose weight, stop eating cold pizza for breakfast. Get a free makeover at Nordstrom’s; as the professional works on your face, keep notes and repeat the technique at home. Wow! All that advice and I haven’t read one of those maga zines. My secret? Common sense. The moral of the story — take what you see, hear and read with a grain of salt. Be cautious con sumers of information; don’t gob Bryan Dixon Emerald ble down every bit as if it is all the same. There is a difference between digesting a Double Deluxe Hamburger and shoe leather. If you take in everything, you may get indigestion. Jayna Bergerson is a columnist for the Oregon Daily Emerald. Her views do not necessarily represent those of the Emer ald. She can be reached at bjay@glad stone.uoregon.edu. Slay the two-headed monster:finding the ‘radical center’ SAINTS AND PROFITS ERIC PFEIFFER nee again, it’s time to un leash the dogs. Before we get started, I would like to thank those of you who have responded through e-mail to my columns. I enjoy cutting through the rhetoric with all of you and forming some solid views on politics. You may not always like what you read, but I can guarantee that it comes spin free, with no hidden agenda. Based on my first column, some of you might have been misled into believing that I’m a Bush-hat ing, Al Gore apologist. Far from it! Truth be told, I prefer a concept known as the “radical center.” The radical center believes that great change can take place, but that it must be done on an incremental level. From this perspective, the special-interest lobby is to blame for most of the problems in Wash ington and the mainstream media today. Powerful lobbies, representing hungry constituencies, are each fighting for their own piece of the American pie. It sounds like both democracy and the market inter woven in beautiful synergy, but it just isn’t so. Instead, federal bu reaucrats become street hustlers, peddling out the goods to power junkies. This idea mainly offends liberals, but pertains to conserva tives as well. We’ve had three historic leaders over the past 20 years who have at tempted drastic reform in govern ment: Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich. Each one marched into Washington promis ing to end big government, reform the system and return integrity to politics. Sadly, each one failed more dramatically than the last. The end result is what Ralph Nader calls, “The merging of par ties into one giant corporation with two heads.” Unfortunately, Mr. Nader cannot claim innocence in this matter. He's the godfather of the special interest. He makes a valid point, but that doesn’t change the often negative effects of his approach. Make no mistake, if Mr. Nader were elected, his plat form of instant gratification would be just as harmful to our society as that of Pat Buchanan. You can’t do it all by yourself, and you can’t do it all at once. Our founding fathers constructed a system to prevent hasty decisions, and it’s a good thing they did. As a result of pandering to the’ special interests, Democrats have lost touch with what once made them a liberal party. I’m not a lib eral, but I used to admire the De mocrats for standing their ground on economic and social policy. They helped change the world. Now, they stand for getting elect ed at any cost. Of course, I can’t quite call myself a Republican, ei ther. I’m not a country club racist who wants the government out of my wallet and inside your bed room. If the Democrats had some in tegrity, or the Republicans stopped using J.C. Watts and cast extras from El Mariachi for their modern-day minstrel show, I’d gladly join either side. The solution for a radically centrist gov ament lies in com passionate conservatism. Unfortu nately, it’s not the exact vision es poused by Gov. Bush. He’s got the right idea, but like Reagan and Clinton discovered, you can’t shove it down America’s throat. Now, when I’m not writing this column, I tend to be a positive guy. In spite of my love for ‘80s post-apocalyptic science-fiction movies, I do believe the world is going to be OK. People surprise me every day with their sincerity, kindness and love for those around them. It’s the people run ning the show who scare me. Next week, instead of pointing fingers, I’ll talk about some solu tions to this problem of the para sitic economy. Until then, keep those love letters and death threats on the go-go. Eric Pfeiffer is a columnist for the Oregon Daily Emerald, currently serving an intern ship at the National Journal Hotline in Washington, D C. His view s do not neces sarily represent those t.; ie Emerald. He can be reached at epfeiffe@gladstone.uoregon.edu.
