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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 2007)
TO THE EDITOR in addition to her essentially volunteer posi- tion on the Eugene City Council, has risen far beyond her duty to advocate for the neighbor- hood interests of city AND county residents in the River Road neighborhood. Meanwhile, the well-paid Commissioner Green has ap- parently lost interest in responsible represen- tation of many of his constituents. This seem- ing lack of interest has resulted in the disen- franchisement of many citizens. Until meaningful campaign reform gets enacted, citizens can only hope that Commissioner Green will begin to advocate for the broader public interest on issues cru- cial to all of the neighborhoods in the county’s North Eugene district. Meanwhile, the commonwealth is lucky and blessed to have such scrupled and dedi- cated elected officials as Councilor Ortiz. Rob Handy Eugene HOLD YOUR NOSE As all 6.5 billion of us are reminded daily, Anna Nicole Smith is completely dead, her body finally following her mind. Of course our vigilant mass media sees this as a 24- karat opportunity not to celebrate Anna’s life — as there is little there to toot about — but to celebrate itself. After all, the media created Anna, and when such creations finally morph into oblivion, the expired product is fre- quently re-morphed with a new expiration date determined only by the commercial po- tential. Think of Elvis. Or Ronald Reagan. So we’ll undoubtedly see more of Anna in the coming months than we saw while she breathlessly breathed. We’ll watch her morph from larva to pupa to blonde-bewigged but- terfly. She’ll flutter clumsily across our reti- nas whenever a news bite is needed between another Gasex commercial and the latest mayhem in Iraq. We’ll hear warm encomi- ums for her bad habits by the cynical folks who created her. I wish I’d never heard of Anna Nicole Smith. Or Paris Hilton. Or Donald Trump. Or the other media creatures who bump and swarm about our psyches like a room full of buzzing … Annas. They are neither news- worthy nor noteworthy. They offer nothing yet receive much. Their existence belittles honest work and sincere endeavor. They are marketing products forced upon us because our amoral, capitalist juggernaut is the domi- nant paradigm of our endlessly cynical cul- ture. And we’re now fighting an endlessly marketed war because of it. We need some big bug spray. Or — hold your nose — a revolution. Tom Erwin Eugene FREE SPEECH, BUT … My wife and I just finished reading the letters in the latest issue, which we do every week to see what sort of craziness transpires. All the hubbub about Dan Savage seems to fit part and parcel with the general attitude of a lot of Eugeneans I keep meeting. They like to start sentences off with “I believe in free speech, BUT ...” What they don’t say is that they believe in free speech except for when whatever the expression is upsets them. I’m an art teacher, and I have to work with this all the time. When little boys want to draw guns and people cutting off each other’s heads, the pacifists pipe up. “This is just un- healthy and wrong.” Last time I checked, art was a pretty good place for expressing stuff going on in your head. It’s much better than wandering the streets and disrupting the lives of passersby or bottling it up and having a heart attack. Intolerance and protectionism are very strong here in Eugene amongst peo- ple of all political stripes. I can imagine vege- tarians going bonkers over that big pulled- pork sandwich on the cover of the issue fea- turing Papa’s. You’ve got it with the green-anarchist people too, desperately trying to close Pandora’s box to protect us and the world from ourselves. “Stop using language!” The whole sexual repression deal is really strong here too, whether it’s from regular old prudes or radical Christian jihadists. I’ve got advice, of course: lighten up, live and let live, and in- stead of protecting your kids and yourself from reality, teach them to be strong and of sound character so that they can deal with the world on their own terms. Also, you might want to go get therapy if the sexual practices of other people freak you out so much. Sean Aaberg Eugene SEX IN THE OPEN I would like to follow up on last week’s letters to the editor regarding the sensational journalism I’ve seen on KEZI-TV lately. First of all, bashing a column that brings sexual topics out in the open is just another example of yellow journalism. Besides, I think most of us agree that it’s time to bring sex topics out into the open where they belong, rather than in the closet. I am so happy to see Eugene Weekly openly addressing issues like cross- dressing, adultery and sex toys. Secondly, I’m tired of self-righteous TV journalists try- ing to tell me how to live my life and then try- ing to sell me a car or a McDonald’s ham- burger. KEZI is just the worst. I can’t even watch them now. Their on-air product has been re- duced to silly gimmicks, intended to strike fear into the viewer, with the intention of tricking them into watching more news. Heck, the other night they ran a story about a murder in Medford. Why would a Eugene viewer care about a murder in Medford any- way? It’s all an act of desperation for the pur- pose of boosting ratings. Do these TV news FEBRUARY 22, 2007 5
