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PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 KeizerOpinion KEIZERTIMES.COM Many question integrity of anonymous op-ed author By DEBRA J. SAUNDERS An anonymous Trump administra- tion offi cial confessed in an opinion piece published last week that many senior offi cials “are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations. “I know. I am one of them.” There are many ways to react to the anonymous piece published by The New York Times. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., offered one take. He told CNN that in his makes it diffi cult to comprehend what world, people don’t care standing anyone banned from a social much about what runs in media platform has to appeal such de- The New York Times. Fair cisions. The corporations can and do enough. enact policies in attempts to mold how Others questioned the their platforms are used, author’s integrity or credentials. but with so many 1s and 0s Ari Fleischer, press secretary for fl ying through the ether at President George W. Bush, tweeted, any moment, there is only “Support the President or don’t work so much any corporate per- there.” son can do to separate the Jennifer Palmieri, former commu- wheat from the chaff. They nications director for President Barack could choose to refrain Obama, noted that “this person could from such activity com- easily be someone most of us have pletely and there would be never heard of ”—‚for example, a dep- relatively minimal repercussions from a uty of a department most voters don’t legal standpoint. know. The humans employed by the cor- Fox News host Tucker Carlson porate persons have taken to likening berated the unknown offi cial’s pre- social media to the new “marketplace sumption for bashing the anti-free of ideas,” albeit one that grew cor- trade positions that Trump promised rupted through the concerted efforts Americans as he campaigned for of- of some users – and their bots – who fi ce. Ditto Trump’s attempts to make discovered how to game the system. nice with Russia, which the author However, given that corporate said steady hands in the bureaucracy speech is now protected, so is the have undermined. corporate right to be biased. Shutting down any type of speech a corporate person rules unprofi table is well within its rights on any platform it owns. Le- gally, it’s no different than an individual By MICHAEL GERSON Since the Council of Nicaea, Chris- choosing Fox News over MSNBC, or tians have been prone to issue joint vice versa. All of this sharpens the irony of statements that are designed to draw Jones sitting in the audience quietly the boundaries of orthodoxy —and pleading for help. During the last cam- cast their rivals beyond them. Another paigns for president, one of the more one, not quite in the same league, was popular InfoWars merchandise items, recently issued by a group including the site run by Jones, depicted Hillary John MacArthur, a prominent (and Clinton in Joker-esque make-up with very conservative) evan- the caption “What difference does it gelical pastor and Bible teacher. make?” The Statement on Social Wherever you fall on the political spectrum, it should make a difference Justice and the Gospel claims where you get your information. It’s that social justice is not, in critical to making informed decisions fact, a defi nitional compo- about who you want running govern- nent of the gospel, and that ment because, one day, you might want it is heresy to elevate “non- them to defend your right to access a essentials to the status of essentials.” marketplace of ideas no matter who As you might expect, the document affi rms traditional beliefs on same- owns it. —Editorial Board sex relationships and “God-ordained” gender roles. But it seems particularly focused on rejecting collective blame in racial matters. “We deny that ... any issue might have been person is morally culpable for another much more convinc- person’s sin,” the statement argues. “We ing on the front page. further deny that one’s ethnicity estab- How about show- lishes any necessary connection to any casing some of the more successful particular sin.” stories of inclusion, if that is your In case this wasn’t clear enough, goal. the document goes on: “We reject any This kind of current coverage is teaching that encourages racial groups not the answer. to view themselves as privileged op- Geoffrey Smith pressors or entitled victims of oppres- Keizer sion. ... We deny that a person’s feelings of offense or oppression necessarily prove that someone else is guilty of sin- ful behaviors, oppression or prejudice.” Christians, in the view of MacArthur and his fellow signatories, must con- demn both “racial animosity” and “ra- cial vainglory.” By way of background, it seems that this statement was created in outraged response to another group of evan- gelicals—the Gospel Coalition —that Consider the source Alex Jones, Charles Johnson and Lara Loomer, three self-proclaimed pillars of conservative thought online, spent last week on the sidelines of con- gressional intelligence hearings on so- cial media’s role in election meddling. They hoped to garner attention and support from congresspeople after get- ting suspended or banned from a variety of social media platforms. Depend- ing on where you get your information, the trio are either white supremacists contributing to the spread of unfounded conspiracy theory or the last bastions of conserva- tive free speech. Regardless of why they were sus- pended or banned, the more pertinent line of inquiry is why corporations should care at all about suspending or banning anyone for any reason at any time. The platforms belong to the parent corporations and courts have bestowed on corporate persons, as an entity apart and separate from the peo- ple who run them, most of the rights granted to those of us who arrived through the birth canal. The journey to corporate person- hood began in 1868 when headnote attached to a Supreme Court deci- sion claiming the Court felt corpo- rations fell under some of the equal protection rights granted by the 14th Amendment – an amendment meant to redress some of the most egregious echoes of slavery. The court affi rmed the concept two years later, has reaf- fi rmed it repeatedly ever since and, more recently, started down a path of more expansive corporate liberty. In 2010, the Supreme Court decided corporate political speech is protect- ed and, in 2014, provided for corpo- rate exemptions when regulations are deemed offensive to the corporation’s religious beliefs. Some of the rights were needed to facilitate business, but the ever-wid- ening gyre of corporate personhood debra j. saunders our opinion Hate art is a step too far KEIZERTIMES.COM Results How long is your commute to work? 10 to 30 minutes – 50% Less than 10 minutes – 35% More than 30 minutes – 15% Vote in a new poll every Thursday! GO TO KEIZERTIMES.COM Keizertimes Wheatland Publishing Corp. • 142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303 phone: 503.390.1051 • web: www.keizertimes.com • email: kt@keizertimes.com Lyndon A. Zaitz, Editor & Publisher One year: $25 in Marion County, $33 outside Marion County, $45 outside Oregon PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY Publication No: USPS 679-430 held a conference on the 50th anniver- sary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. MacArthur clearly wants to paint the participants, including prominent pas- tors Tim Keller, Russell Moore, Thabiti Anyabwile and John Piper, as liberals at risk of heresy. Where to start a response? First, there is the matter of judgment. Ma- cArthur surveys the evan- gelical movement in 2018 —increasingly discredited by rank hypocrisy and close ties to an angry, ethno- nationalist political move- ment—and concludes that its main problem is too much ... social justice. It is a sad case of complete spiritual blindness. Second, there is a matter of history. Elsewhere MacArthur complains that evangelicals have a “newfound obses- sion” with social justice. This could only be claimed by someone who knows nothing of the evangelical story. In the 19th century, northern evangeli- calism was generally viewed as insepa- rable from social activism. Evangelist Charles Finney insisted that “the loss of interest in benevolent enterprises” was usually evidence of a “backslidden heart.” Among these enterprises Finney listed good government, temperance reform, the abolition of slavery and re- lief for the poor. The Gospel, preached abolitionist Gilbert Haven in 1863, “is not confi ned to a repentance and faith that have no connection with social or civil duties. The Evangel of Christ is an all-embracing theme.” But most damaging is the MacAr- thur statement’s position on racial matters. What could a group of large- ly white evangelicals, many of them southerners, possibly mean by criticiz- ing “racial vainglory”? Is it vanity to praise the unbroken spirit of Africans other voices Web Poll SUBSCRIPTIONS thor’s piece “gutless,” and later tweet- ed, “TREASON?” The White House press corps’ re- action was to ask every administration suit who walked near a camera if he or she wrote the piece. Cable TV could not get enough of the story. Pundits were demonstrably unperturbed at having to rely once again on an anon- ymous source. The story had every element that many Americans hate about the news media: a backstabber hiding in the shadows, palace intrigue in lieu of policy and a reward for lack of loyalty. Like the anonymous author, I sup- port Trump’s commitment to deregu- lation and increasing military spend- ing. I strongly approve of his Supreme Court picks, his decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and his decision to reach out to Egypt after President Obama. Still, I believe that there are people in the administration toiling to pro- tect the president from himself and the country from the president’s worst impulses. And I believe that one of them snapped. After the story appeared, Vice Pres- ident Mike Pence’s offi ce and mem- bers of Trump’s Cabinet tweeted de- nunciations of the “gutless op-ed” and declarations denying authorship. But I believe the anonymous of- fi cial in The New York Times, however high or low that person might be. I believe it because I’ve read the presi- dent’s tweets. (Creators Syndicate) A passion for social justice letters To the Editor: Well, the Keizertimes has truly reached a new low with their recent despicable artwork which will cer- tainly serve to fan the fl ames of ha- tred in this community. I fi nd it shameful that you would feature the ugly face of hate in this way when a different approach to the Carlson found the notion that staff- ers would try to sabotage an elected offi cial’s policies downright anti-dem- ocratic. First lady Melania Trump had a message for the author: “To the writer of the op-ed, you are not protecting this country, you are sabotaging it with your cowardly actions.” Indeed, the piece seemed writ- ten deliberately to send the president down a nasty rabbit hole with rants and recriminations—the exact behavior to which the un- known author objected. President Donald Trump’s reaction was a combination of rage and self-pity. The president addressed a group of sheriffs gathered in the East Room shortly after the Times post- ed the piece. “A lot of times you’re looked at and you’re scorned,” Trump told the room, scorned, that is, by “the media because the media is very dis- honest.” Trump then offered that the men and women in uniforms were “I guess, a little bit like me.” Trump cited the good economic news under his watch—4 million jobs created, 400,000 new manufacturing jobs and record unemployment—all claims that were close enough to ac- curate and worthy of praise. And he was right that he does not get enough credit for the strong economy. Then he called the unknown au- POSTMASTER Send address changes to: Keizertimes Circulation 142 Chemawa Road N. Keizer, OR 97303 Periodical postage paid at Salem, Oregon in America during more than four centuries of vicious oppression, which was often blessed by elements of the Christian church? Is it vanity to rec- ognize the redemptive role played by African-American Christianity in call- ing our nation to the highest ideals of its founding? The purpose of “The Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel” is clear enough. It is, as one prominent evan- gelical leader put it to me, “to stop any kind of real repentance for past social injustice, to make space for those who are indeed ethno-nationalists, and to give excuse for those who feel Chris- tians need only ‘preach the gospel’ to save souls and not love their neighbors sacrifi cially whether they believe as we do or not.” The MacArthur statement is de- signed to support, not a gospel truth, but a social myth. America, the myth goes, used to have systematic discrimi- nation, but that ended with the Civil Rights Act. Now racism is purely an individual issue, for which the good people should not be blamed. This narrative has nothing to do with true religion. It has everything to do with ignorant self-satisfaction. It is neither realistic nor fair to ig- nore the continuing social effects of hundreds of years of state-sponsored oppression, cruelty and stolen wages. It is neither realistic nor fair to ignore the current damage of mass incarcera- tion and failed educational institutions on minority groups. Prejudice and in- stitutional evil are ongoing -- deeply engrained in social practice and ratifi ed by indifference. Repentance is in order -- along with a passion for social jus- tice that is inseparable from the Chris- tian gospel. (Washington Post Writers Group) That’s a big fuss over a knee My wife and I went out for lunch with friends the other day. Along with conversation that ac- companied bites from pan-fried oysters and a creamy cole slaw, Colin Kaepernick—in name only mind you—joined us. Because NFL football is underway again, Kae- pernick is also a topic of conversation; now for being Nike’s latest post- er boy. Kaepernick, you’ll recall, led the way in NFL football player pro- tests during the playing of the na- tional anthem by taking a knee. His schtick was and continues to be as a leader of the movement against so- cial injustice in matters having to do with the way persons of color are inordinately badly treated. Meanwhile, Nike features Kae- pernick in a new advertisement where he’s represented as steadfast in principle behind his protest and ac- cepting of what he calls his sacrifi ce for that in which he believes. Then, too, Nike may appear to sacrifi ce for the sake of Kaepernick support but has realized enhanced company profi t as their endorsement deal with Kaepernick has brought them dollars by the millions in post-support purchases. This case reminds one that there have been many cases in our history where American individuals have stood to test the limits of our Constitution’s Bill of Rights in its allowance for freedom of expres- sion. Of course, these norm depar- tures rile and upset other Americans who have personally adopted the old order of how things are done and abide by them. Yet, if we Amer- icans should stand fi rmly on the way things “have always been done” then we’d continue to practice slav- ery, keep women from the vote, and allow all matters of workplace dan- ger to continue unabated. From our beginning and throughout our history we Ameri- cans have been groundbreakers in freedoms of expression. In fact our Constitution and rule by law sup- port and encourage the liberties we gene h. mcintyre individually and collectively prac- tice and enjoy. Fortunately there has always been enough of us to be suffi ciently open-minded and ac- cepting, letting that which is new and different to pass into common use. That condition of American life enables me to allow a Kaeper- nick to “Just Do It” without getting bent out of shape. Is he hurting me? No. Is he threatening my security or the nation’s? No. So what. I’ll not drop on a knee during the playing of the Star Spangled Ban- ner. Nevertheless, I want Kaeper- nick and any other American with a non-violent protest to be able to do so and view this kind of thing as reassuring America’s future as the “land of the free.” When we take that right away from our people then we may as well tear up the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights and rule of law and get used to life as it is in so many other nations today where despots rule and citizens are slaves to power and privilege. (Gene H. McIntyre shares his opinion in the Keizertimes fre- quently.)
