Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 28, 2007)
BY VIP SHORT Society in Denial The burgeoning terror front A s I climbed the many steps of the newly commissioned Battleship Eugene (an ob- scenely expensive and excessive garri- son, with all the charm of Darth Vader’s summer home, and only four bicycle parking spots) to at- tend the first in a series of sentencing hearings for the 10 “let’s paint them terrorist” defendants, I felt cautiously optimistic. I’d seen U.S. Judge Ann Aiken in action a week or two earlier, sentencing some friends who had been polite but unwavering in their antiwar visits to congres- sional offices there. It seemed hopeful that Aiken would put this whole terrorist matter into a more appropriate context. Probably she’d spell out the difference between youthful monkey wrenchers, acutely cognizant of our planet’s desper- ate straits and refusing to sink into apathetic denial even as they made ex- tremely poor action choices, and actual terrorists, those who prescribe both targeted and indiscriminate murder of human life in the delusion that it ad- vances their agendas. Alas, the distinction still requires spelling out, I guess by non-judicial amateurs like me. Real terrorists set out to shoot, lynch, burn and blow up other people. They completely extinguish innocent life because their cause supposedly has such greater importance. The Unabomber is a terrorist. The bombers of N.Y.C., Atlanta and Oklahoma City were terrorists. The KKK and Aryan Nation and all the “pro-life” doctor shooters — duh. And it is very fair to ask, at this point, exactly why the U.S. government is interested in diluting and expanding its notion of what constitutes terrorism. Are we soon going to have color codes to help clarify the degree of threat from all the new burgeoning terror fronts? The peace terrorists can be pink, since the Code Pinkers have already led the way with their scary pres- ence. And of course, any vicious tree-hugger is now a green terrorist. In our system, the courts serve to shape and amend social policies as well as enforce existing law. Judge Aiken was handed an historical opportuni- ty to inform the world that while our community is part of the U.S., this is not Alberto Gonzales’ U.S. But instead the judge opted to go with the script, with the result that we now live among terrorists. (How strange that the guy who was one of the most active perps but turned in all his friends lives here free as a bird and somehow is not a “terrorist.”) J udge Aiken laid responsibility on some of the defendants’ parents, chewing them out for failing their kids. This was not only a cheap shot, it was so off-target as to be a Cheney shot. The judge should have in- dicted the actual failure here: a society in severe denial, intoxicated by ob- scene consumerism and threatening the entire planet with its selfish, bloated and wasteful ways. A society so clueless that it takes a Monday off to celebrate one of its heroes yet completely fails to transmit Dr. King’s message about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to social change. A society that has not even begun to educate its own people about nonviolent methods and philoso- phy. A society that can’t go 10 years without invading and wrecking someone else’s homeland. It’s always easier to punish and put away the truth-telling provocateurs, to scapegoat the canaries in our coal mine. Easier to pretend that some prob- lem has for the moment been “solved” by labeling and demonizing individuals who are serving to symptomize the problem. Apparently the judicial branch of our system is choosing to follow the other two (criminal executive and spineless legislative) down the road of fail- ing its people. Failure to see the big picture and treat holistically ultimately will result in a massive systems failure (i.e. death) of the entire social organ- ism. Ironically, this is what actual terrorists have been going for all along. WHO YOU GONNA BLAME? Vip Short, D.C., of Eugene is a holistic physician and nonviolence trainer. EDITORIAL Editor Ted Taylor News Editor Alan Pittman Reporter Camilla Mortensen Arts & Music Editor Molly Templeton Performing & Visual Arts/Copy Editor Suzi Steffen Calendar Editor Chuck Adams Contributing Editor Anita Johnson Contributing Writers Bryan Andersen, Sara Brickner, Jason Blair, Joshua Blanchard, Jes Burns, Brett Campbell, Rachael Carnes, Wade Christiansen, Michael Cockram, David Constantin, John Dooley, Rachel Foster, Phillip Getty, James Johnston, Zach Klassen, Sarah Mazze, Sharleen Nelson, Mary O’Brien, Aaron Ragan-Fore, Vanessa Salvia, Steven Sawada, Sally Sheklow, Lance Sparks, Eva Sylwester, Adrienne van der Valk Interns Amanda Burhop, Erin Rokita, Deanna Uutela ART DEPARTMENT Art Director/Production Manager Kevin Dougherty Graphic Artist/Webmaster James Bateman Graphic Artists Shannon Browning,Barbara Cooper, Todd Cooper Intern Carly Kratzer Baby Samara Cooper Contributing Photographers Kurt Jensen, Paul Neevel ADVERTISING National Sales Manager Mark Frisbee Display Marketing Consultant Jennifer Donohue, Rob Weiss Advertising Traffic Coordinator Geneva “Goddess” Miller Classified Manager Jennifer Donohue Reception Jayme Fuller Classified Marketing Consultant Janus Brezsny BUSINESS Director of Sales and Marketing Bill Shreve Circulation Manager Danica Stiles Baby Persaeus Eilah Zapata Stiles Controller Paula Hoemann Distributors Bob Becker, Matt Bryson, Margaret Garrison, Tobin Herrera, Susan and David Lawson, Tim Risch, Quick Draw, Pedalers Express Printing Signature Graphics HOW TO REACH US BY E-MAIL: (letters): editor@eugeneweekly.com (advertising): ads@eugeneweekly.com (classifieds): classy@eugeneweekly.com (personals): personals@eugeneweekly.com (calendar): cal@eugeneweekly.com (music/clubs/special shows): music@eugeneweekly.com (art/openings/galleries): visualarts@eugeneweekly.com (performance/theater): performance@eugeneweekly.com (literary arts/readings): books@eugeneweekly.com (movies/film screenings): movies@eugeneweekly.com (circulation): distribution@eugeneweekly.com Eugene Weekly • 1251 Lincoln Street • Eugene, OR 97401 • 541.484.0519 • fax 541-484-4044 4 JUNE 28, 2007 TO THE EDITOR DOWNTOWN CLOWNS Sometimes change comes about because people are bored and dissatisfied with them- selves and their lives. They live somewhere for a long time, and one day someone says, “I am tired of looking at that statue of Colonel Pickwick on the town square. Why don’t we replace it with a newer, contemporary art- work like the people over in Alphaville just sired?” And then a lot of people look at the old Colonel, and they can see it. And they say, “John Wisebody is right!” And so, they hire a famous N.Y. art name to create something, and then, when it’s done, they look at it and go “ahh.” But five or 10 years later, they feel empty and depressed again because the prob- lem with their lives wasn’t out there; it was internal. This is the whole basis of our culture: compulsive, addictive consumption. Our the- ory of economics and its need for constant growth feeds our disease. When I read Jerry Diethelm’s article (6/14) about changing downtown Eugene, I waded through childhood reminiscences about the good old downtowns to get to the phrase conveying the real message (and, guess what, it’s about — money): “[to con- struct] a new kind of downtown, one that de- velopers can help us build.” In Lincoln County, there are now 800 houses on the market because developers, in their greed, came in and overbuilt. USA Today rated this area of the coast as the #1 re- sort traffic jam in America. But still the devel- opment keeps coming. After many years of rejections and set-backs, a company has fi- nally gotten approval and started on a devel- opment right next to the Girl Scout Camp that will be the largest in the town. Northwest Portland reminds me a lot of the way my old home, Berkeley, used to be: laid back, home for artists, intellectuals, the unusuals. But developers have been buying up all the cheaper, ordinary properties, tear- ing them down and erecting skyscraper mil- lion-dollar condos. Where the energy used to be calm and human-contact-producing, it is now busy, over-crowded, frenetic. Both of these examples were created in the name of “city planning.” But the real reason was to make a bunch more money for a bunch of people who have enough money already. And change always has consequences that are not foreseen. Building better roads causes more people to feel they need more cars, which then gluts the freeways. If you walk around downtown Eugene, you can see that it’s not a ghost town like many of our bigger cities. There are lots of people walking around, a lot of good shops and a lot of organizations promoting good ac- tivities. You can experience that the energy of this area is a good and positive, just the way it used to be in Berkeley and NW Portland. Compared to most places in this country today, there is no problem here. Therefore, there is no reason to solve it. Abe Frankel Eugene MONGERING FEAR Terrorism: Instilling in us (the general population) an overwhelming fear (terror) of speaking our minds. Gethin Lynes Dexter NO ACCOUNTABILITY In the June 14 Slant, EW mentions the fea- ture editorial in the R-G by EPD Officer Erik Humphrey, who criticizes the City Council, defends the city manager and calls for city- wide council elections. On June 1, 1997, Mayor Jim Torrey, a proponent of citywide council elections and a strong city manager form of government, sat in his car and watched while Eugene police tortured pro- testers in violation of international law (Amnesty International 8/21/97) with pepper spray. The city manager let the cops investi- gate the police from other agencies, and the cops got away with it. In the aftermath of the Magaña-Lara case, sympathetic police consultants were brought in by the city manager, and no one was held accountable even though numerous cops were aware of the complaints against the two sexual predators and did not respond appro- priately. Under the city manager, the cops got away with it. Erik Humphrey bemoans the appointment
