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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 2015)
OPINION 6A T HE D AILY A STORIAN Founded in 1873 STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager SAMANTHA MCLAREN, Circulation Manager Who will she be? I Will Gov. Kate Brown’s Portland lens enlarge to include us? WLVRGGWREHVZHDULQJLQDVHFRQGJRYHUQRUZLWKLQ¿YHZHHNV of swearing in the one we elected in November. Because of John Kitzhaber’s sudden resignation, Kate Brown is something of an accidental governor. 8QOLNH 0DUN +DW¿HOG 7RP 0F&DOO or Barbara Roberts, who won election as governor while secretary of state, *RY %URZQ LV QRW ZHOO NQRZQ outside of Portland, where she was a legislator and party leader. As secretary of state, Brown has not made a big impression. When she ran for re-election, in 2012, Oregon newspapers uniformly endorsed her Republican rival, Knute Buehler. %URZQ¶V LPPHGLDWH WDVNV DUH WZRIROG 6KH QHHGV WR PDNH D VWURQJ¿UVWLPSUHVVLRQWRODXQFKKHU candidacy in a 2016 election. As part of that, she must give evidence that she can do what Kitzhaber failed at so badly. ,Q WKH ZDNH RI WKH VFDQGDO WKDW enveloped Kitzhaber, we forget his basic inadequacy as a chief H[HFXWLYHLQKLVWKLUGWHUP7KH&RYHU Oregon debacle was astounding DQG HQRUPRXVO\ H[SHQVLYH 7KH &ROXPELD 5LYHU &URVVLQJ ZDV another expensive misadventure. &RYHU2UHJRQUHYHDOHGWKHJDSLQJ hole in state government’s computer systems. Departments of the state’s multibillion dollar government FDQQRWWDONWRHDFKRWKHU Gov. Kitzhaber left a wound in &ODWVRS &RXQW\ ZLWK KLV GHFLVLRQ WR HOLPLQDWHJLOOQHW¿VKLQJDWWKHPRXWK RIWKH&ROXPELD5LYHU7KDWVXUSULVLQJ gratuitous decision was emblematic of Kitzhaber’s dysfunctional third administration. It has already caused needless economic dislocation. After electing Kitzhaber in three elections, &ODWVRS &RXQW\ YRWHUV FKRVH KLV AP Photo/Don Ryan Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, right, is hugged by former Oregon Gov. Bar- bara Roberts after she is sworn in as governor in Salem Wednesday. Republican opponent in November ²DVWXQQLQJUHEXNHE\DFRXQW\ZLWK such a long Democratic majority. 7KHDELGLQJTXHVWLRQUXUDO2UHJRQ has for Gov. Brown is whether she will see our real needs. When Brown came to Astoria in 2008 as a candidate for Oregon 6HFUHWDU\RI6WDWHVKHZDVDVNHGKRZ she would connect with rural Oregon. %URZQ VDLG VKH NQHZ UXUDO SODFHV She recounted her considerable WLPH LQ :DOORZD &RXQW\ ZKHUH KHU KXVEDQGWKHQZRUNHG For those of us who reside outside the I-5 corridor. Brown is a Portland politician. Whether she will view the state through a Portland lens or something larger will largely be a function of who serves her. As state Sen. Betsy Johnson observed on numerous occasions, Gov. Kitzhaber was badly served during his third administration. We wish our new governor well. Oregon needs a success. College, poetry, purpose have changed By FRANK BRUNI New York Times News Service P +,/$'(/3+,$ ² 2YHU four decades at two XQLYHUVLWLHV $QQH +DOO KDV taught thousands of students, HQRXJK WR NQRZ WKDW WKH\ come to college for a variety of reasons, with a variety of attitudes. 0DQ\ DUH FRQFHUQHG RQO\ ZLWK jobs. Some are concerned chiefly with beer. All would OLNH $¶V $QG too many get them, she said, even from her, because a pro- fessor standing up to grade in- flation is in a lonely place. But what, in Frank an overarching Bruni sense, should students be af- ter? What’s the highest calling of higher education? :KHQ,DVNHGKHUWKLV0RQGD\ VKH VKRW PH D ORRN RI H[DVSHUD- WLRQDOWKRXJKLWJDYHZD\TXLFNO\ to a smile. And I remembered that smile from 30 years earlier, when she would expound on Othello’s FRUURVLYH MHDORXV\ SUHVHQW /DG\ 0DFEHWKDVWKHGDUNDPEDVVDGRURI guilt’s insidious stamina and show those of us in her class that with careful examination and unhurried UHIOHFWLRQZHFRXOGILQGLQ6KDNH- speare just about all of human life and human wisdom: every warning we needed to hear, every joy we needed to cultivate. She answered my question about college’s purpose, but not right away and not glibly, because UXVKHG WKLQNLQJ DQG JOLEQHVV DUH precisely what she believes educa- WLRQ VKRXOG EH D EXOZDUN DJDLQVW She’s right. I introduced her in a column last ZHHN ZULWLQJ WKDW ZKHQ , ZDV UH- cently pressed to describe a trans- formative educational experience, what came to mind were her voice and her animation as she read aloud the wondrous words of King Lear. +HUILHOGLV5HQDLVVDQFHSRHWU\ , VWXGLHG WKDW DQG 6KDNHVSHDUH¶V plays with her when I was an En- glish major at the University of 1RUWK&DUROLQD&KDSHO+LOOLQWKH PLGV , QHYHU JRW WR NQRZ KHU ZHOO WKRXJK , GLGQ¶W NHHS LQ touch. But after my column appeared, P olice shootings of civilians in Portland and Seattle have received a lot of attention, and yet such violence is something we have almost come to expect in an urban setting. 7KH GHDWK RI DQ XQDUPHG +LVSDQLF man in a confrontation with three RI¿FHUVLQ3DVFR:DVKLVVRPHKRZ PRUH VKRFNLQJ SHUKDSV EHFDXVH ZH picture human relations outside big cities as providing some degree of LPPXQLW\WRRI¿FLDOYLROHQFH 7KHUH KDYH EHHQ IRXU IDWDO police shootings in the southeastern Washington city since last July. Other eye-catching statistics include only RQH +LVSDQLF FLW\ FRXQFLO PHPEHU in a community that is 56 percent +LVSDQLFDQG+LVSDQLFPHPEHUV LQDRI¿FHUSROLFHGHSDUWPHQW $QWRQLR=DPEUDQR0RQWHV¶GHDWK ODVW ZHHN ZDVQ¶W DQ XQXVXDO RXWOLHU in this scenario of unbalanced power, but an accidental cause célèbre because a bystander happened to video record the shooting and events immediately leading up to it. As with the August 2014 death of 0LFKDHO %URZQ LQ )HUJXVRQ 0R =DPEUDQR0RQWHV FDQQRW EH VDLG WR EH FRPSOHWHO\ EODPHOHVV +H DSSHDUVWRKDYHEHHQWKURZLQJURFNV at cars in the street shortly before SROLFH DUULYHG +H VWDUWHG WR UXQ away when they confronted him. But what he was doing did not merit a spontaneous imposition of the death SHQDOW\E\SROLFH+HZDVXQDUPHG open-handed, arms partially raised as bullets ripped his life away. Pasco isn’t a continent away from Astoria and surrounding communities. Even if it were, we VKRXOGVWLOOWDNHDQLQWHUHVW+LVSDQLF leaders there have called for the U.S. Justice Department to investigate, DQG LW VKRXOG &RPSOHWH REMHFWLYLW\ and thorough professionalism are essential to begin healing the massive distrust that has blown up in the +LVSDQLF SRSXODWLRQ RI 3DVFR 7KH current investigation by a special investigative unit comprised of RI¿FHUV LQ VXUURXQGLQJ FRPPXQLWLHV is nowhere near credible, particularly DIWHU DEVROYLQJ 3DVFR RI¿FHUV RI all blame in the three previous fatal shootings. Beyond advocating for justice, police reform and political empowerment in a small city in our region, this case should interest all of us because it suggests a general need to do a much better job bringing +LVSDQLF UHVLGHQWV LQWR ORFDO SRZHU structures. It is important for that community to assert itself. &LYLF OHDGHUV LQFOXGLQJ VHQLRU ODZRI¿FHUVVKRXOGEXLOGFRQQHFWLRQV with immigrant and low-income communities to build understanding before shootings occur — not as some dismal and half-hearted reaction afterward. AP Photo/Nick Ut Student Jennifer Alvarez poses for a photo at the University of Cali- fornia, Los Angeles campus, Feb. 3. College classes are more geared toward fashionable than traditional topics. she sent me an email. It included piece, master, perspective or even a lament about changes in the hu- manner of speech above others. manities that made me want to hear Not long ago, she said, she PRUH,ZDVFXULRXVWRNQRZZKDW DVNHG VWXGHQWV WR WU\ WR JR IRU DQ the professor who was the high- entire class without letting the light of my time in college thought ZRUG ³OLNH´ GURS QHHGOHVVO\ ² of college today. part conjunction, part stutter — So I visited her in Philadelphia, into their speech. One of them re- where she has been a lecturer at the VSRQGHG WKDW +DOO ZDV D ³FXOWXUDO University of Pennsylvania since capitalist” defending her particular “cultural capital.” 1998. She’s 69. She has qualms about the way She expressed regret about how little an English department’s of- D XQLYHUVLW\ QRZ PDUNHWV FDPSXV ferings today resemble those from amenities to students and mar- vels at “how many sites there are the past. ³7KHUH¶V D ORW RI FDSLWDOL]LQJ IRU IHHGLQJ WKHP´ 7KH LQFUHDVHG on what is fashionable,” she said. weight given to the evaluations Survey courses have fallen out of that they fill out can be a disincen- favor, as have courses devoted to tive for professors to be rigorous. ³7KH VWXGHQW EHFDPH WKH FXV- any one of the “dead white men,” tomer who’s always right,” she she said. ³&KDXFHU KDV EHFRPH &KDX- said. And yet, she said, there are FHU DQG ´ VKH VDLG ³&KDXFHU DQG :RPHQ LQ WKH 0LGGOH $JHV still many earnest young men and &KDXFHU DQG$QLPDOV LQ WKH 0LG- women who come before her want- GOH$JHV6KDNHVSHDUHKDVEHFRPH ing nothing more or less than to be 6KDNHVSHDUH DQG )LOP ZKLFK LQ bigger, better. She praised an un- P\ FUDQN\ RSLQLRQ EHFRPHV )LOP dergraduate business major in the class that she is cur- QRW6KDNHVSHDUH´ rently teaching, “Po- She didn’t want to etry and Politics in single out any particu- College is for Ancient Greece.” lar course for derision developing “She said that go- but encouraged me ing to college devel- WR ORRN DW ZKDW 3HQQ the muscle of ops something in you is offering this se- PHVWHU 7KHUH¶V ³3XOS thoughtfulness. WKDW¶V OLNH D PXVFOH in the same way that Fictions: Popular Ro- PDQFH)URP&KDXFHUWR7DUDQWLQR´ when you go out and play tennis $OVR ³6H[ DQG WKH &LW\ :RPHQ or whatever sport, you develop 1RYHOV DQG 8UEDQ /LIH´ ³*OREDO FHUWDLQ PXVFOHV´ +DOO WROG PH )HPLQLVPV´ ³&RPLF %RRNV DQG adding that she agreed with the Graphic Novels.” “Psychoanalysis, student. 7KDW EURXJKW +DOO WR KHU RZQ /LWHUDWXUH DQG )LOP´ ³/LWHUDWXUHV answer about college’s mission: of Psychoanalysis.” And while she applauds the at- “It is for developing the muscle of tempt to engage students and diver- thoughtfulness, the use of which sify instruction, she worries about will be the greatest pleasure in life an intellectual vogue and academic and will also show what it means to sensibility that place no one master- be fully human.” Islam and the West are at war decade after another movie by a gunman in a possible GLUHFWRU 7KHR YDQ *RJK hate crime denounced by was slain in Amsterdam for Obama as “brutal and out- rageous.” A tide of retalia- fter a Danish movie PDNLQJD¿OPFULWLFDORI,V- lam’s treatment of women. tory menace rises. director at a seminar on 7KH,VODPLVWV¶ZDULVDJDLQVW Who or what is to blame? “Art, Blasphemy and Freedom freedom of expression, free- 7KHUHDUHWZRVFKRROV)RU of Expression” and a Danish dom of conscience, freedom WKH¿UVWLWLVWKH:HVWWKDW of the press, freedom of is to blame through its sup- Jew guarding a synagogue were blasphemy, sexual freedom port for Israel (seen as the VKRW GHDG LQ &RSHQKDJHQ +HOOH — in short, core character- latest iteration of Western Roger 7KRUQLQJ6FKPLGW WKH SULPH istics of democracies seen LPSHULDOLVPLQWKH/HYDQW Cohen PLQLVWHU RI 'HQPDUN XWWHUHG D by the would-be rebuilders LWVZDUV,UDTLWVEUXWDOLW\ RIWKH&DOLSKDWHDVVLJQVRI (Guantánamo, Abu Ghra- familiar trope: “We are not in the Western debasement. LELWVNLOOLQJRIFLYLOLDQVGURQHVLWV middle of a battle between Islam 'R QRW SURYRNH WKHP ZLWK FDU- oil-driven hypocrisy (a jihadi-funding and the West. WRRQV RI WKH 3URSKHW 0XKDPPDG 6DXGLDOO\ ,W¶VQRWDEDWWOHEHWZHHQ0XVOLPV some say, show respect for Islam, the For the second, it is rather the peaceful faith of some 1.6 billion peo- abject failure of the Arab world, its DQGQRQ0XVOLPV ple. But what, pray, was the “provo- EORFNHG VRFLHWLHV ZKHUH GLFWDWRUV It’s a battle between values based cation” of Dan Uzan, the Jewish se- face off against political Islam, its on the freedom of the individual and FXULW\JXDUGRXWVLGHWKH&RSHQKDJHQ repression, its feeble institutions, its DGDUNLGHRORJ\´ synagogue? sectarianism precluding the practice 7KLVVWDWHPHQW²ZLWKLWVHFKRHV Islam is a religion that has of participatory citizenship, its wild RI 3UHVLGHQW %DUDFN 2EDPD¶V YDJXH spawned multifaceted political move- conspiracy theories, its inability to references to “violent extremists” ments whose goal is power. Islam, as provide jobs or hope for its youth, uncoupled from the funda- such, is fair game for com- that gives the Islamic State its appeal. , ¿QG WKH VHFRQG YLHZ PRUH SHU- mentalist Islam to which mentators, caricaturists and said throat-cutting extremists This is cartoonists, whose inclina- VXDVLYH7KHULVHRIWKH,VODPLF6WDWH pledge allegiance — scarce- not the WLRQ WR PRFN WKH GHSUHGD- and Obama’s new war, are a direct re- ly stands up to scrutiny. It is tions of theocracy and polit- sult of the failure of the Arab Spring, HPSW\WDON work of ical Islam’s cynical uses of which had seemed to offer a path out Across a wide swath of the Prophet cannot be cowed RI WKH GHDGORFNHG MLKDGLVSDZQLQJ societies of the Arab world. territory, in Iraq, in Syria, in a ‘dark by fear. 2QO\$UDEVFDQ¿QGWKHDQVZHUWR $IJKDQLVWDQ LQ 3DNLVWDQ LQ Over the more than 13 Yemen, the West has been or ideology’ years since al-Qaida at- this crisis. But history, I suspect, will is at war, or near-war, with but of WDFNHG$PHULFD RQ ZH QRW MXGJH 2EDPD NLQGO\ IRU KDYLQJ WKH0XVOLPZRUOGLQDIDLOHG have seen trains blown up in failed to foster the great liberation bid to eradicate a metasta- jihadi 0DGULG WKH 7XEH DQG D EXV PRYHPHQW WKDW URVH XS LQ 7XQLVLD sizing Islamist movement ERPEHG LQ /RQGRQ:HVWHUQ /LE\D (J\SW 6\ULD DQG HOVHZKHUH of murderous hatred toward terror. journalists beheaded, the staff Inaction is also a policy: Noninter- Western civilization. RI &KDUOLH +HEGR VODXJK- vention produced Syria today. ,KHDUWKHZRUGVRI&KRNUL%HODLG 7R FDOO WKLV PRYHPHQW ZKRVH WHUHG-HZVNLOOHGLQ)UDQFHDQG%HO- most potent recent manifestation is JLXP DQG QRZ 'HQPDUN 7KLV LV QRW WKHEUDYH7XQLVLDQODZ\HUVKRUWO\EH- WKH,VODPLF6WDWHD³GDUNLGHRORJ\´LV WKHZRUNRID³GDUNLGHRORJ\´EXWRI fore he was gunned down by Islamist fanatics on Feb. 6, 2013: “We can dis- OLNHFDOOLQJ1D]LVPDUHDFWLRQWR*HU- jihadi terror. man humiliation in World War I: true On the right of Europe’s politi- agree in our diversity but within a ci- EXWZKROO\LQDGHTXDWH7KHUHLVOLWWOH cal spectrum, anger is rising against vilian, peaceful and democratic frame- point in Western politicians rehears- ,VODP DJDLQVW PDUJLQDOL]HG 0XVOLP ZRUN'LVDJUHHLQRXUGLYHUVLW\\HV´ 7R VSHDN RI D QRQVSHFL¿F ³GDUN ing lines about there being no battle communities, who in turn feel discrim- between Islam and the West, when inated against and misrepresented, ideology,” to dismiss the reality of in all the above-mentioned countries with cause. Several thousand young FRQÀLFWEHWZHHQWKH:HVWDQG,VODP WHQV RI PLOOLRQV RI 0XVOLPV ZLWK (XURSHDQ 0XVOLPV WURRS RII WR MRLQ is also to undermine the anti-Islamist much carnage as evidence, believe the Islamic State. Europe’s Jews are VWUXJJOHRIEUDYH0XVOLPVOLNH%HODLG the contrary. on edge, with cause. Israel calls them ² DQG WKHVH 0XVOLPV DUH WKH RQO\ 7KH 'DQLVK ¿OPPDNHU )LQQ 1RU- KRPH,QWKH8QLWHG6WDWHVWKUHH0XV- people, ultimately, who can defeat the JDDUG ZDV NLOOHG D OLWWOH PRUH WKDQ D OLP VWXGHQWV ZHUH NLOOHG WKLV PRQWK EODFNÀDJJHGMLKDGLGHDWKPHUFKDQWV By ROGER COHEN New York Times News Service 3DVFRNLOOLQJLVD A familiar refrain Build better intercultural connections now to avoid violence THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015
