Opinion
4A
Thursday, August 20, 2020
Our View
Our use of
Facebook
means
censoring
comments
O
ur recent article about a local woman raising funds to
display a Black Lives Matters billboard in La Grande lit
up our Facebook feed like nothing else.
Most stories we link to our Facebook page receive a few com-
ments. Many of our features covering the COVID-19 crisis receive
dozens or more. The features in June about the outbreak at the
Lighthouse Pentecostal Church
in Island City received some-
FROM THE EDITOR
where in the 90-140 range,
which is substantial for our
PHIL
Facebook page. Subsequent
WRIGHT
articles on COVID-19 have
OBSERVER EDITOR
reached into the three-digit
mark. Our editorial on the Light-
house Church needing to take responsibility for its actions has
almost 200 comments.
But the article on the Black Lives Matters sign blew up, at one
point totaling more than 1,100 comments. Most of those were in
response to other comments, but still, The Observer’s Facebook
page had not seen that kind of activity in the short time I’ve been
here and I doubt ever. Some of those comments were salient, intro-
spective and added to the larger conversation about the Black Lives
Matter movement. Others, not so much. A few threatened violence
against the sign or wished ill upon the organizer.
That’s the wrong tactic when disagreeing with speech. Rather
than shutting down such speech, counter with a different or better
argument. Or in this case, a billboard.
Facebook lets you delete or hide comments, and we do that to
comments that threaten violence, use swear words or engage in
nothing more than insults and the like, but usually we first take
screenshots of the posts. In some cases, we ban people from the
page.
I handled some of that when I was a reporter for the East Ore-
gonian. Some folks asserted this violated their First Amendment
rights to free speech and deleting their comments amounted to cen-
sorship. Well, it is censorship, but it doesn’t stop them from posting
whatever they want on their own page, and it does not violate any
Constitutional rights.
The First Amendment, of course, applies to the government,
prohibiting it from abridging the freedom of speech or of the
press. The law also protects the exercise of religion, the right of
people to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for a
redress of grievances.
The law does not free anyone from the consequences of exer-
cising any of those freedoms. Someone posting on Facebook that
so-and-so is a liar and cheat could face a lawsuit. The First Amend-
ment also does not prohibit businesses from deleting comments
on their own social media pages. As the editor, I’m concerned the
paper could face consequences for leaving a defaming comment on
our Facebook page.
True, deleting comments from The Observer’s Facebook page is
not presenting a better argument. But that is not the issue when it
comes to a business. We use Facebook, Twitter and others platforms
to promote our work and engage with our audience. These platforms
are not free-for-alls for speech but tools that require management,
and that means time and money, commodities too precious for us to
devote much of either for constant debate on social media.
For Facebook, that can mean getting rid of comments that serve
no purpose but to derail a conversation. I would be thrilled to
see such comments dry up from social media, but I’m a realist. I
also enjoy civil discussion and even a good argument. The word
derives from Latin’s augere — to make clear, which, after all, is
central to the role of a newspaper. Name calling and bombast,
then, don’t help with that.
Just as threatening to ruin a billboard does no good for those
who may not like its message.
Letters
Oregon still behind on ADA
accessibility
Most Oregonians would agree that grocery
stores, doctor’s offices and libraries should not
be out of reach to someone because they use a
wheelchair or experience low or limited vision.
Yet, 30 years after the Americans with Disabil-
ities Act was signed into law, we know how far
we have to go.
A December 2017 statewide survey from
ODOT showed that 97% of curb ramps on state
roads and highways across Oregon violate ADA
standards. That data also revealed that Union
County had roughly 500 curb ramps on state
roads, only eight of which met current ADA
standards.
The good news is that a lawsuit filed in 2016
by eight individuals with mobility and visual
disabilities, the Association for Oregon Centers
for Independent Living, and Disability Rights
Oregon succeeded in securing the largest com-
mitment to accessible transportation in state his-
tory. The upgrades underway in Union captured
in “ODOT program eases mobility issues” (The
Observer, Aug. 13) are the tangible results.
If you know of a missing or inaccessible curb
ramp, you can report problems to ODOT using
their “ADA Accessibility Requests” complaint
form. You can use the “Ask ODOT” form for
complaints that are not covered by the settle-
Write to us
Mail: The Observer, 911 Jefferson Ave., La Grande,
OR 97850
Email: news@lagrandeobserver.com
• The Observer welcomes letters to the editor. We edit
letters for brevity, grammar, taste and legal reasons. We
will not publish consumer complaints against busi-
ment agreement but are within ODOT’s control
— such as railroad crossing without barriers or
sidewalk obstacles that make it impossible for
you to reach the curb ramp or use the signal.
Tom Stenson
Portland
Veterinarians should be allowed
to help all injured wild animals
Today I contacted the governor’s office
asking her to change the Department of Fish
and Game policy of forbidding vets to work on
injured wildlife animals like certain kinds of
squirrels here in Oregon.
It shouldn’t matter what kind of injured
animal is helped. The Fish and Wildlife regula-
tion forbidding vets to help injured wild animals
is mean-spirited and wrong-headed. They get
that way from having too much power and from
not thinking the public has authority greater
than theirs from the Constitution and Bill of
Rights.
State employees work for us — we don’t work
for them. They must listen to the public and do
our bidding. We, after all, pay their salaries, and
if they want to work in our state, they had best
listen to all of us.
Nicholas L. Smith
La Grande
nesses or personal attacks against private individuals.
Thank-you letters are discouraged.
• Letters are limited to 350 words and must be signed
and carry the author’s address and phone number (for
verification only).
• Letter writers are limited to one letter every two
weeks.
• Visit The Observer’s website, www.lagrandeobserv-
er.com, for more news, opinion and other content.
Contact your public officials
President Donald Trump: The
White House, 1600 Pennsylvania
Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500; 202-
456-1414; fax 202-456-2461; to send
comments, go to www.whitehouse.
gov/contact.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley: D.C.
office: 313 Hart Senate Office
Building, U.S. Senate, Washing-
ton, D.C., 20510; 202-224-3753;
fax 202-228-3997. Portland office:
One World Trade Center, 121 S.W.
Salmon St. Suite 1250, Portland,
OR 97204; 503-326-3386; fax 503-
326-2900. Pendleton office: 310
S.E. Second St. Suite 105, Pendle-
ton 97801; 541-278-1129; merkley.
senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C.
office: 221 Dirksen Senate Office
Building, Washington, D.C., 20510;
202-224-5244; fax 202-228-2717. La
Grande office: 105 Fir St., No. 210,
La Grande, OR 97850; 541-962-
7691; fax, 541-963-0885; wyden.
senate.gov.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (2nd
District): D.C. office: 2182 Rayburn
Office Building, Washington, D.C.,
20515, 202-225-6730; fax 202-225-
5774. La Grande office: 1211 Wash-
ington Ave., La Grande, OR 97850;
541-624-2400, fax, 541-624-2402;
walden.house.gov.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown:
254 State Capitol, Salem, OR
97310; 503-378-3111; www.gover-
nor.oregon.gov.
Oregon State Treasurer
Tobias Read: oregon.treasurer@
ost.state.or.us; 350 Winter St. NE,
Suite 100, Salem OR 97301-3896;
503-378-4000.
Oregon Attorney General
Ellen F. Rosenblum: Justice
Building, Salem, OR 97301-4096;
503-378-4400.
State Sen. William S. Hansell
(29th District/Athena): Salem
office: 900 Court St. NE., S-423,
Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-1729.
Website: www.oregonlegislature.
gov/ hansell. Email: sen.billhan-
sell@oregonlegislature. gov.
State Rep. Greg Barreto (58th
District/Cove): Salem office: 900
Court St. NE., H-384, Salem, OR
97301; 503-986-1458. Website: www.
oregonlegislature.gov/barreto.
Email: rep.gregbarreto@oregonleg-
islature.gov.
State Rep. Greg Smith (57th
District/Heppner): Salem office:
900 Court St. NE., H-482, Salem,
OR, 97301; 503-986-1457. Heppner
office: P.O. Box 219, Heppner, OR
97836; 541-676-5154; Website: www.
oregonlegislature.gov/smithg.
Email: rep.gregsmith@oregonlegis-
lature.gov.
Oregon Legislature: Legislative
documents and information are
available online at www.leg.state.
or.us.
City of La Grande: Mayor
Steve Clements, City Manager
Robert Strope; P.O. Box 670, La
Grande, OR 97850; 541-962-1309;
fax 541-963-3333.
Union County Commission-
ers: Donna Beverage, Matt Scarfo
and Paul Anderes; 1106 K Ave., La
Grande, OR 97850; 541-963-1001;
fax 541-963-1079.
Wallowa County Commis-
sioners: John Hillock,Todd Nash
and Susan Roberts; 101 S. River St.,
Room 202, Enterprise, OR 97828;
541-426-4543, ext. 11; fax 541-426-
0582.