A4
THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, NOvEmbER 24, 2020
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation manager
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Systems manager
GUEST COLUMN
Oregon’s virus message misses mark
A
s Gov. Kate Brown announced
her latest COVID-19 restric-
tions on businesses and social
gatherings, one of the state’s top doc-
tors offered this advice: Learn how to
cook your grandmother’s stuffing recipe
through using Zoom instead of looking
over her shoulder.
It was a rare moment of humanity,
underscoring how Thanksgiving 2020
will be very different so Oregon can
thwart the spread of the
coronavirus.
COVID-19 cases
and hospitalizations
have shot up recently. In
response, Brown ordered
Oregonians — at least
until Dec. 2 — to stay
DICK
away from gyms and fit-
HUGHES
ness centers, only patron-
ize eateries though take-
out or delivery, up their usage of face
coverings, gather with only a handful of
other folks at Thanksgiving, and more.
The governor slightly tempered those
restrictions by subsequently offering $55
million in aid for hard-hit businesses.
But Oregonians can handle only so
many reiterations of, “We’re all in this
together,” “I know Oregonians already
have made tremendous sacrifices,” “The
virus sets the timeline” and “Masks save
lives” before those statements lose their
impact. Oregonians passed that point
months ago.
State-sponsored surveys conducted at
the end of summer confirmed the obvi-
ous: Oregonians’ concerns about corona-
virus, and their willingness to follow the
health protocols, vary by such factors as
their political affiliation and where they
live. But you wouldn’t know that from
the state’s communications strategy.
This downfall is not unique to Ore-
gon. The Institute for Rural Journal-
ism and Community Issues shared this
insight from the work of two public
health professors at the University of
Arkansas: “Poorly tailored public health
messaging could play a role in lower
rural mask-wearing rates.”
The institute noted: “The coronavirus
pandemic is disproportionately hitting
rural America, where the population is
older, sicker and at a greater risk of poor
outcomes from the infection. The Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention rec-
ommends wearing a face mask to reduce
disease transmission, but rural residents
are less likely than the general populace
Oregon has launched an ad campaign to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
to do it.”
A mantra of any marketing campaign
— remember, public health awareness is
marketing — is to know your target audi-
ence and understand what moves that
audience. Yet Oregon continues to fall
for the one-size-fits-all approach.
The public awareness campaign that
Brown announced Thursday offers more
of the same. Developed by the Port-
land-based ad agency Wieden+Ken-
nedy, the statewide campaign apparently
will repeat the strategy of hitting peo-
ple over the head instead of connecting
with them. A sample ad: “Don’t Bring
COVID home for the holidays. Masks
save lives.”
State officials seemingly have done
little to customize their messaging so it
resonates with people of all beliefs and
backgrounds. Along with those ad cam-
paigns, they have employed media avail-
abilities where Brown, doctors and others
read prepared statements in which they
A) stress the need to follow the coronavi-
rus protocols and B) say they recognize
Oregonians’ pain.
Such presentations do not inspire.
They have value in getting the word
out to news media. However, they do
nothing to sway people who have little
faith in the governor or state government.
From their standpoint, Brown has offered
words but not evidence that she empa-
thizes. After all, she and her compatriots
have not lost their jobs due to COVID-19
restrictions. She lives in state-provided
housing and need not worry about where
she’ll find shelter once the eviction mor-
atoriums end. Neither does her livelihood
depend on collecting rent from those ten-
ants unable to pay. Nor does she oper-
ate a business that’s barely hanging on
— if that — because of the coronavirus
restrictions.
The people living those lives are the
ones who can influence others. They are
the E.F. Huttons of today. People listen to
them. They are the ones to enlist in help-
ing change behavior. (For anyone who
is unfamiliar with this cultural reference,
the old brokerage firm was famed for its
tagline, “When E.F. Hutton talks, people
listen.”)
Trust in traditional institutions has
long been waning. Once the pandemic
came to Oregon, the state needed to work
much more closely with communities to
identify the local influencers — the indi-
viduals and organizations whom res-
idents respect and trust, the people to
whom others would listen. These might
or might not be elected officials, school
officials, prominent civic leaders, etc.
They more often might be people less
in the limelight — clergy, youth leaders,
coaches, revered volunteers or owners
of neighborhood gathering spots. Such
individuals have their own connections
and followings, whether through formal
organizations or informal conversations,
emails, social media and the like.
They are the ones to carry the corona-
virus-safety campaign where the gover-
nor and her colleagues cannot.
Such influencers are not a new phe-
nomenon. Long before social media was
a thing, I knew a guy who had amassed
an email list exceeding 3,000 names, to
whom he sent his recommendations on
political candidates and elections. He
operated out of the public eye, yet had
amassed substantial influence.
This is a corollary to grassroots poli-
tics. The late U.S. Sen. Mark O. Hatfield
understood that. The grassroots organi-
zations he built and maintained in all 36
counties were essential to his election
victories. That concept remains intact
though its strategies have evolved. Peo-
ple today are more inclined to heed an
endorsement from someone they know
personally than a political elite they
don’t.
In short, COVID-19 in Oregon is a
public health crisis made worse by a
communications crisis.
dick Hughes has been covering the
Oregon political scene since 1976.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Coexist
he Gearhart elk herd has Gearhart Golf
Course owner Tim Boyle demand-
ing local government do something about
them, because they leave hoof marks and
dung on his greens and fairways.
Elk have roamed this area since long
before we showed up. Yes, they are big.
If you’re dumb enough to approach them,
they could view you as a threat. Your
pooch will get trampled if you let it run
free through the herd.
Boyle ominously warns of the elks’
potential threat to people and pets, while
concurrently spreading herbicides and pes-
ticides to create an artificial environment
— chemicals linked to bee and other polli-
nator declines, and proven to cause cancer
in humans. Cognitive dissonance, anyone?
Catch and relocate? How, and to where?
Even if you can move them far, far away
(otherwise they will simply return), who
will pay for this? Boyle? Or does he think
all Clatsop taxpayers have deep pockets,
like him?
The herd has passed through and bed-
ded down on my property. I am impacted.
We maintain a respectful distance and they
leave us alone.
Culling the herd is clearly necessary.
But even if we remove every last one,
more will eventually move in. It will be an
ongoing issue, and we must find a way to
live with it.
We disrespect and destroy nature at
our own peril. We cannot make nature go
away. We must find a way to coexist —
and in the meantime, Boyle can build net
fencing around his overpriced golf course.
BILL GRAFFIUS
Gearhart
T
Extraordinary sacrifices
rom the mid-1970s, our military has
been a 100% volunteer force. Some
enlist due to lack of employment. Some
join for the sense of adventure.
But all who sign their name and swear
an oath are doing what most Ameri-
cans don’t do. They are earning their cit-
izenship. Just like all those amazing first
responders, these true Americans are lit-
F
erally standing the wall so you may have
the freedoms the rest of the world is envi-
ous of.
Most of the people would agree ver-
bally with the statement above, but don’t
really understand. The sacrifices of not just
the soldier or sailor, but also the mother of
that young person.
The sleepless nights of a spouse. The
younger sister still in school, waiting impa-
tiently for that maybe or maybe not weekly
call home. How about that 8-year-old ball-
player needing his catching partner to help
him learn?
These are only some examples of the
extraordinary sacrifices our Americans in
uniform and their families must endure for
our freedoms.
So, stop talking and start acting. Call
your senators and state representatives.
Why is the Wounded Warrior Project not
funded by the government? Let’s put our
money where our mouths say to.
Way too many of our veterans will need
lifelong care. Some sacrificed body parts. I
know it’s a volunteer thing, but how many
of you are standing for what most of us
believe?
They have earned their freedoms. Have
you?
TROY J. HASKELL
Astoria
Cheers to you
n the Nov. 14 article in The Astorian,
“Students debate change to mascot,” I
saw a young woman put her feet forward
with a thought, an idea and an opinion.
I
Oppression can be strong or subtle in its
mannerism, but the message will always be
the same. In this time of strife, confusion
and lack of civility, maybe we should turn
and grasp the spirit of our young people.
Maybe we should celebrate a fresh
thought, a fresh idea and admit change is
inevitable. God said we were created in his
image, the U.S. Constitution says we are
all equal; maybe we should practice what
our forefathers and our creator set out for
us to follow.
Constance Rouda, cheers to you, and
the courage it takes to bring forth a new
idea, and no matter what the mascot name
is, you will still carry integrity within your-
self. Isn’t that what we all want in all of
our children?
DAVID HARPER
Astoria