Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Thursday March 31, 2005
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■ In my opinion
Where everybody knows your name
“Thank you, Mrs. (pause)
Kekeke.. .KEPner, is it?”
This type of thing may have hap
pened to you too. In line at the grocery
store, purchases made, you are handed
your receipt. The clerk makes a
“friendly” attempt to refer to you
by name.
“No, it’s Nepper,” I reply,
“like KNife.”
“Oh, sorry Mrs. Knee-per.”
I shrug. This is not worth a 20
minute conversation.
On to the video store.
“See ya back here Wednesday,
AnneMarie!”
I turn around. Funny, I didn’t recog
nize the girl when I was checking out.
Did I go to high school with her? No
way, she looks far too young. This is
the first time I’ve ever seen this person
in my life. But, apparently, we are on a
first-name basis. And I won’t be seeing
this stranger on Wednesday; I’m far too
cheap for that. I’ll be back tomorrow
for my dollar credit.
I first noticed this phenomenon
three years ago. After ringing up my
groceries at a local chain supermarket,
the clerk asked me if I had a Club Card.
I did indeed, and began to rattle off my
phone number. The clerk interrupted
me before I could finish, with a terse,
“No, no, no, we don’t do that anymore.
We have to scan the card. ”
_^.
ANNEMARIE KNEPPER
WORKS ON PAPER
When pressed for details as to why,
the clerk explained that the new com
pany policy is to thank every customer
by last name. Having a customer’s
phone number spoken aloud followed
by their last name was a privacy and
safety risk. Makes sense. Except that
the entire issue would be null if it
weren’t for the policy of addressing
customers by name.
1 understand that these service
workers are just trying to do their jobs.
It would be vain and silly to believe
that our 30 second exchange moved
them to want to be my best friend. I’m
sure management made the name us
age decision. It’s possible the workers
feel equally uncomfortable with the sit
uation. So why are so many service
providers jumping on the “proper
name” bandwagon?
It seems to this customer that they
are trying to create a false sense of fa
miliarity, a “homey-ness,” in a cold
warehouse-like setting. An instant
bond between two strangers that, they
hope, will result in repeat business
with the customer.
Well I just can’t buy that. Here’s
why: Giant chain stores are finally
waking up to the fact that people
crave intimacy. I believe people actu
ally do want to feel at home in their
neighborhood grocery store. They
want a friendly environment in which
they can shop. Bully for that. But the
sad reality is that the “neighborhood
corner grocery store” doesn’t exist
anymore in most cities. Tiying to cre
ate that feel by pretending that the
store clerks actually know each indi
vidual customer is an exercise in fu
tility, not to mention somewhat de
meaning to the customer’s actual
value as a human who deserves to
be known.
Instead of creating a genuine sense
of community and friendliness by
taking an interest in the customers’
more complicated needs, the service
providers are taking the easy route,
jumping past the whole paying atten
tion thing and just reading the cus
tomer’s name off a computer. The re
sult is far from the intention. The
customer does not become a friend,
or even a store patron. The customer
becomes nothing more than a Club
Card number.
annemarieknepper@dailyemerald.com
■ Guest commentary
Professor John Baldwin leaves
lasting impression on University
When I arrived at the University
campus in the fall of 1990 to do gradu
ate work in the Environmental Studies
Program, it was immediately evident
that Professor John Baldwin was the
environmental “big man” on campus.
That was the year he founded the Insti
tute for a Sustainable Environment and
began serving as its director. He had
just stepped down as head of the Envi -
ronmental Studies Program, a program
he was instrumental in establishing.
The next year, he became president
of the North American Association for
Environmental Education and went to
Rio de Janeiro for the UN Conference
on Environment and Development
(still one of the great landmark envi
ronmental events).
His Introduction to Environmental
Studies class was popular among stu
dents seeking enlightenment on the
state of our natural world. Most stu
dents got much more than they bar
gained for. John’s lectures were often
stunning, jaw-dropping and eye-pop
ping, as young minds began to grasp
the scope and magnitude of our global
environmental crisis.
John was an extraordinary speaker
who could bring together vast amounts
of information to make a compelling
and dynamic performance. He was al
ways accessible and available to meet
with students and often followed his
students’ progress after graduation,
helping them in any way he could.
Thankfully, the Oregon Student Public
Interest Research Group recognized
him with an award for excellence in
teaching in 1991.
He studied zoology and wildlife
ecology, and as part of his doctoral
work he helped to run a reserve for
sandhill cranes. One day a station wag
on came down the dirt road toward the
visitors’ center driven by a man with
his two kids. The man rolled down his
window and asked John what the pur
pose of this reserve was. John ex
plained the mission to protect the
cranes’ dwindling marsh and wetland
habitat. The man asked, “Well what
are these cranes good for anyway?”
John gave a lengthy explanation about
the magnificent sandhill cranes, their
limited habitat, their long migrations,
the vulnerability of their species and so
forth. The man was still perplexed.
“But are they good to eat?” he finally
asked. John leaned over to him and
said, “Are your children good to eat?”
He was a big-picture thinker. No
field of study was outside his reach, be
it science, philosophy, business or poli
tics. He knew the past and the present
and used them to shape the future. He
never got lost in the details, but never
lost sight of them either. John keynot
ed many international environmental
conferences around the world and ac
cepted virtually every invitation to
speak on environmental topics.
John wrote the best early book on
environmental planning in 1984, “En
vironmental Planning and Manage
ment,” and co-authored “Corporate
Environmental Policy and Government
Regulation” in 1994. As an associate
professor in Planning, Public Policy
and Management, he taught courses
on environmental planning and impact
analysis, world energy policy and plan
ning, sustainable development, and
Oregon’s land use program. He served
twice as PPPM department chair.
John’s outspoken intellectual hon
esty was one of the qualities I appreci
ated most. Environmental figureheads
often get caught up in a “feel-good”
version of environmentalism. This ver
sion is intended to appeal to a wide au
dience by telling people what they
want to hear: We can solve the world’s
environmental problems if we simply
switch to recycled stationery or drive
smaller cars. But this is fundamentally
misleading. At best, these strategies
will gain us a few moments to actually
address the real problems. As long as
human population and consumption
keeps expanding, we will continue to
push other species off the planet until
our ecological support system is com
pletely overwhelmed. John made it
clear that the time for action is now.
“Look at your hand!” he would im
plore of his students. “Your hand is
made from dirt. Your body is just a step
or two on the food chain from the soil
we walk on. You’re a product of the
earth.” John was more the pragmatic
realist than the sentimentalist or ro
mantic, so I don’t think he was preoc
cupied with matters of his own death.
“Dust to dust” and cycles-of-life were
more his philosophy.
John shocked us all by passing away
March 7 of an undiagnosed illness.
John made a real difference in this
world and will always be an inspiration
to those who knew him. We will dearly
miss his clear voice, brilliant mind and
hearty laugh.
Eben Fodor lives in Eugene
■ Editorial
Weapons
proliferation
reveals Bush
hypocrisy
Hypocrisy and the U.S. government are
terms which certainly go hand in hand, but
this one really takes the cake.
An ongoing federal investigation has dis
covered Pakistan may have illegally pur
chased U.S. nuclear technology through an
Islamabad businessman said to have ties to
Islamic militants. According to the Los An
geles Times, “U.S. law prohibits the sale of
equipment that can be used in nuclear
weapons programs to Pakistan and some
other countries as part of the effort to curb
nuclear proliferation.”
Now get this. During the federal investi
gation into Pakistani weapons technology
on one side of the White House, the Bush
administration was busy with its own task
— promising Pakistan the sale of F-16 fight
er jets from the U.S. as a reward for Pak
istan’s cooperation in the War on Terror.
Pakistan requested the technology to build
up the country’s defenses; however, Pak
istani Information Minister Shaikh Rashid
Ahmed has firmly articulated that the sale
of the jets is not dependent on a reduction
in Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program.
And that’s not all. According to the Asso
ciated Press, “Mindful of the fragile balance
of power in South Asia, the administration
also gave a green light to India for its own
purchase of sophisticated weapons.”
Well, just as long as it’s fair.
Both amusing and disturbing here is this
fact; Federal money is funding an investiga
tion into Pakistan’s purchase of nuclear
technology in an effort to crack down on
nuclear programs, but investigators could
easily walk down the hall into the Oval Of
fice, slap someone, and achieve the same ef
fect. The Bush administration is effectively
speaking out against an arms race while
sneaking up and injecting both competitors
with a hearty dose of steroids.
The message is that nuclear technology is
acceptable, as long as it is in the interest of
the United States. Technology purchased
from militant groups deserves an in-depth
investigation, but technology from the Unit
ed States is a bountiful reward, an agent
of balance.
Our government must recognize that nu
clear weapons are not a bargaining chip.
Luckily, Congress still needs to sign off on
the export of this technology before either
country can receive the F-16s. Congress
must make a decisive stand against this
inane decision and affirm that the power to
wipe out entire nations, not to mention the
planet, belongs in the hands of no one.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Jennifer Sudick Steven R. Neuman
Editor in Chief Managing Editor
Ailee Slater
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