Emerald takes cheap shots
he low opinion of the Emer
ald’s news judgment have
JL been thoroughly recon
firmed after the paper has again
decided to take the least intellectu
ally taxing manner of dealing with
the critical and provocative public
policy debates that should be of
great joy to those who express a de
sire for thoughtful, rigorous public
discourse.
When the Emerald published
Ryan Nyburg’s guest column
mocking Oregon Citizens Alliance
director Lon Mabon and his guber
natorial run (“A few ‘wacko’ sug
gestions to help Lon Mabon get
elected governor,” ODE, Aug. 13),
it chose to continue its dishearten
ing pattern of hypocrisy and set
ting aside its stated values in favor
of cheap shots at controversial fig
ures with whom it disagrees philo
sophically.
Clearly there is an overwhelm
ing majority of Oregonians, myself
included, who do not support gov
ernment intervention into the per
sonal lives of its citizens, and this
trend toward libertarianism can be
seen in most University students.
That fact means a serious critique,
Guest Commentary
Bret
Jacobson
or even a well-crafted satire,
would be fully appropriate and
provocative to the discourse over
the future of the state’s relation
ship with its gay citizens.
Furthermore, the strong disdain
for government intervention in
personal matters and the repeated
failure of Mabon and his organiza
tion could have been far more
valuable in convincing students
that exclusionary and bigoted poli
cies are not optimal for a society.
The Emerald, however, chose
not to go the route of appealing to
its readers’ highest intellectual
abilities and chose instead to
pander to the quickest, most juve
nile thought processes to be
found in our community. This, of
course, is nothing new for an or
ganization that has shown deep
and increasing flaws in recent
years in its news judgment and
personnel matters.
For two out of the previous three
years, the Emerald has chosen edi
tors who do not demographically
or ideologically fit the mainstream
of campus opinion and for the pre
vious three years has continued to
demonstrate declining interest in
providing an intellectually bal
anced and sound medium for pub
lic discourse.
Therefore it is incumbent on stu
dents — for, the faculty and ad
ministration are already too far
gone in their own respective
worlds of finance and ideology to
be motivated to increase the quali
ty of intellectual pursuit here — to
do their best to think critically
about what they hear from student
leaders and what they read in the
Emerald and all campus publica
tions. The best way is simply to
ask one’s self, “What’s the other
side to this argument, and which
side is more defensible?”
Unfortunately, in this case, just
about any other side would be
more defensible to the lazy, juve
nile stylings of the Emerald and
Nyburg.
Bret Jacobson is the publisher
of the Oregon Commentator.
Letters to the editor
Nation X is the real threat
President Bush is worried about
Iraq obtaining weapons of mass
destruction, but there is an even
bigger threat. There is one rogue
Nation X that has used chemicals
weapons in war and has even
dropped atomic bombs on civilian
populations.
This nation refuses to allow it
self to be held accountable for
war crimes by any world court
and has the world’s largest stock
pile of weapons of mass destruc
tion. Nation X thinks it owns the
world and has started more wars
in the last 100 years than any oth
er nation.
Historically founded on slavery,
Nation X talks as if it invented
“freedom” but at the same time fi
nances the enslavement of peoples
all around the world. Nation X fi
nanced the destruction of Palestine
and the enslavement of the Pales
tinian people. Nation X has sup
ported many dictators, including
Saddam Hussein, when it served its
own political purposes or to gain
natural resources.
Nation X — the United States of
America — cannot see its own
“evil” because the human ego
blinds perception. Bush says the
world hates us because we love
freedom.
In truth, the world hates us be
cause we are liars and hypocrites
and are fast becoming Nazis of the
21st century.
Christopher Calder
Eugene
Cookie is missed
I spent much of my youth hang
ing out in the businesses of 1980s’
13th Avenue and Kincaid Street.
As one of Cookie’s buddies, I want
to thank you for the sweet story
about her (“Passing the tongs,”
ODE, Aug. 13).
So often on issues like building
demolition (Les’ Barbershop),
new Eugene Police Department
regulations regarding 13th Avenue
and the passing of local color, the
critical mass of the University
community has about a four-year
memory.
My favorite Cookie story: One
day walking past her stand,
she said, “Hey John, I am going to
die poor.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I’ve given up buying Oregon
scratch-it tickets.”
Cookie did care, she is missed
and she did make a difference in
my life. Thanks again.
John Muir O’Brien
junior
pre-journalism
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