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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 2003)
Newsroom: (541) 346-5511 Suite 300, Erb Memorial Union P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 Email: editor@dailyemerald.com Online Edition: www.dailyemerald.com Wednesday, January, 15,2003 -Oregon Daily Emerald Commentary Editor in Chief: Michael J. Kleckner Managing Editor Jessica Richelderfer Editorial Editor Pat Payne Fog REbJ-ri , X 3\»ST DotiV i£T it U)EVe OpENEb VAP BR£*hW To Attract Mote eusiwe^p To the t>ou*orrou)H EU6EME k Area, but wvVi ioont j AW'feoD'f COME? p-^^rri^EEz. whei r SttcML-t* we. £TA£T? f WITH £l\6£M£'£ twrz ~ GfiCVtW PoUCHi0*'^ 1 FACT THAT ^OU GUHS “• K*-.AU- losers'^ Steve Baggs Emerald f Letters to the editor University should review involvement with Nike In his article, “Now Corporations Claim The ‘Right To Lie”’ (published on Jan. 1 by CommonDreams.org) Thom Hartmann wrote: “While Nike was conducting a huge and expensive PR blitz to tell people that it had cleaned up its subcontractors’ sweat shop labor practices, an alert consumer advocate and activist in California named Marc Kasky caught them in what he alleges are a number of specif ic deceptions. Citing a California law that forbids corporations from inten tionally deceiving people in their com mercial statements, Kasky sued the multibillion-dollar corporation. “Instead of refuting Kasky’s charge by proving in court that they didn’t lie, however, Nike instead chose to argue that corporations should enjoy the same ‘free speech’ right to deceive that individual human citizens have in their personal lives. If people have the con stitutionally-protected right to say, The check is in the mail,’ or, ‘That looks great on you,’ then, Nike’s reasoning goes, a corporation should have the same right to say whatever they want in their corporate PR campaigns. . . . but Nike isn’t a person — it’s a corpora tion. And it’s not their ‘say’ they’re ask ing for: It’s the right to deceive people.” After the University completes a re view of its association with KUGN, it would do well to review its association with organizations, such as Nike, that have no problem with lying. It is not good for the University’s image not to mention its truth-seeking mission - to lie with the liars. Franklin W. Stahl professor molecular biology Talking Stones vandalism racist, biased Tn responses the recent defacing of four of the newly-installed Talking Stones in the Whilamut Natural Area of Alton Baker Park, the City of Eugene Human Rights Commission wishes to express disapproval and sadness for this disrespectful and offensive act. Four of the Talking Stones were defaced the day after they were in stalled. The perpetrator or perpetra tors and their intents are unknown, and the act itself is reflective of racist and biased acts of intolerance. These stones have been placed in the Whilamut Natural Area as edu cational tools. They feature Kala puya words — and accompanying English translations — which high light cultural, historical and physical aspects of the landscape. The stones were intended to adorn the park and provide a reclaiming of this natural area for the enjoyment of all people in the community. The last and most significant message of the stones is to honor the indigenous people, known as the Kalapuya, who were the first people to reside in the Willamette Valley, and to recognize present-day Native American resi dents descended from the Kalapuya. As community human rights advo cates, we must respond to intolerant acts. The Human Rights Commission wishes to help speak out on acts that show disregard and contempt for hu man rights. We appreciate the com munity members who have brought this to light and applaud them for speaking out. May we all together continue to work toward tolerance and respect, so all human beings shall enjoy free dom of speech and belief, and free dom from fear. Marcy Middleton Navajo Nation James Dean members Human Rights Commission Racist charges undermine core beliefs Guest commentary Following the controversy sur rounding republican Sen. Trent Lott, an Emerald editorial recendy raised its concern over the percep tion that the Republican Party needs to do more to reach out and demonstrate its sensitivity with re spect to race relations in America. While that sincere concern has had relevance in the past, the contin ued use of the GOP-as-racist stereotype ignores the fundamen tal beliefs of republicans. We don’t want blacks. We don’t want whites. We want your best and brightest. We don’t care what you were bom as, so long as you want to improve life for your chil dren and live in a meritocracy that respects all individuals according to their own qualities and capabilities. It is young republicans and libertarians, those who believe that the main measure of a per son is their character and their ability to produce for themselves and society, that are now the tme defenders of justice and the highest ideals of a society based on individual accomplishment. So, even as the GOP continues on its path to remove the rem nants of racism or sexism from its reputation, there continues to be the perception that republicans can be casually assumed to have racists in their midst. Why does that notion continue? A few bumps in the road like the Lott in stance, and the continuation of race-based politics by those who profit from such perceptions. Every election, there are plen ty of democratic candidates who tar their opponents with the brush of racism because it is an easy method to drive up “nega tives” in polls and increase their own chances of victory. And de mocrats continue to support poli cies, such as affirmative action and race-based government con tracts and loans, that favor partic ular groups at the expense of free and open market forces, which ul timately will favor whoever is most productive and whoever produces the best results. This point is evidenced in the Emerald editorial when even as the ODE voiced its concern over republican Lott’s “insensitive” remarks, they did not mention democratic Sen. Robert Byrd’s for mer affiliation and alleged recent ties to the Ku Klux Klan. Was this just an honest oversight of the edi torial board? Readers of this page can reach their own conclusion. There is a common and under standable assumption that identi ty politics are here to stay. After all, they win elections for democ rats and it makes liberals within this isolated and self-righteous campus community feel better. But those who hold the highest ideals, that anyone can achieve given a level playing field, are slowly winning the hearts of the American people. Race will continue to be a stumbling block for the GOP only so long as it allows liberals and win-at-all-cost democrats to frame issues with race as a cen tral theme. That tendency is evi dent at this University, where specific classes are taught (and even given more weight through their ability to satisfy general ed ucation requirements) with spe cific ethnic groups or women as their central theme. That demo graphically focused vision of the world is not productive, nor is it founded in any meritocracy. Ultimately, the republican mes sage that all can achieve through hard work and a level playing field will undeniably carry die day. And for that, we should all be proud. Bret Jacobson is publisher of the Oregon Commentator.
