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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 23, 2022)
Page 2 The Skanner Portland & Seattle March 23, 2022 Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Opinion Freedom, Our Brains on Social Media, Disinformation, WMD, Nazis Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor E Jerry Foster Advertising Manager Patricia Irvin Graphic Designer Saundra Sorenson Reporter Aurora Hernandez Digital Content Monica J. Foster Seattle Office Coordinator Susan Fried Photographer The Skanner Newspaper, established in October 1975, is a weekly publication, published every Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc. 415 N. Killingsworth St. P.O. Box 5455 Portland, OR 97228 Telephone (503) 285-5555 Fax: (503) 285-2900 info@theskanner.com www.TheSkanner.com The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Association and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. ©2022 The Skanner. All rights re served. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission prohibited. ach human on Earth seems to have a social media identity as unique as a fingerprint, so we all see what the cybergods algo- rithmically feed us. (Disclaimer: I am a social scientist, not a brain scien- tist.) One driver is conflict, espe- cially negative, destructive interactions. People seem to feel that sitting in their home behind locked doors is the perfect time to insult, threat- en, demean, and just general- ly crudely attack others. Another driver, which fits into the first one in many cas- es as part of a an amplifying feedback loop, is “news” that is crafted to outrage. When we read something that makes us mad, we tend to engage on the platform that brought us that news. Our eyeballs, so to speak, are thus delivered to advertisers. And of course there is con- firmation bias. When we like or love a post, the digital de- mons file that knowledge into our relentlessly updating cy- berprint and we are fed more of the same. So what we hate the most and what we like the most is what we get. Social media seems to be creating our own personal polarizing instru- Tom H. Hastings PSU, PeaceVoice mentalia. Nice. For at least some folks, so- cial media is addictive, trig- gering dopamine into our brain’s reward pathways, say the neurobiologists. Most humans want to rep- licate those bursts of reward, “ We have some regions of the net amplify- ing and exag- gerating dis- information and of connection with others who tend to support, praise, agree, and compliment them. So, we can become poseurs, reposting, retweeting terri- bly incorrect information that our favorite people like, love, share, and comment on with the approbation we seek. And sure enough, we have some regions of the net ampli- fying and exaggerating disin- formation, such as “Ukraine is a paragon of freedom and one of the most democratic countries on earth,” or, con- versely, “Ukraine is riddled top to bottom with Nazis.” The former statement nat- urally increases outrage at Putin. The latter statement natu- rally excuses Putin. Neither is true. Looking at one of the most unbiased examiners of mea- sures of freedom in the world’s nation-states, Free- dom House, they rank the least free countries as Syria, South Sudan, and Tibet, bare- ly better in that respect than North Korea, Turkmenistan, Eritrea, Western Sahara, and Eastern Donbas—the last two of which are not actual na- tion-states but rather territo- ries, at least currently. The most free countries, by Freedom House rankings, are Sweden, Norway, and Fin- land, followed closely by New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, and Uruguay. The rankings are based on 100 possible points, and the worst are just 1-4 points, with the best at 97-100. Freedom House links to their methodology so you can judge for yourself how much stock you place in it, though they have been doing these rankings for decades. Newer similar ranking systems have similar results. The US just a few years ago had rankings routinely in the mid-90s and we were usually in the top 10 most free coun- tries in the world. Now (latest rankings only reflect through the end of 2020), after four years of Trump, the US slid precipitously approximately 12 points, down to 83 points in the 100-point scale. We are now ranked number 62, less free than 61 other countries. Of the 210 countries and ter- ritories they rank, Ukraine is more in the middle, with a score of 61 points, rated “part- ly free” nearly the same as Li- beria and Madagascar. Russia is in the not free group, with just 19 points out of 100. We hear justifications, ex- cuses, and many convoluted reasons for Putin invading Ukraine, just as we heard ex- cuses for the 9.11.2001 attacks on the US. Yes, there are reasons. But none are good enough unless we suspend all ethics, morals, and compassion in favor of a litany of criticisms of NATO, of Germany and the US in particular, and unless we in- genuously swallow Putin’s lies about needing to de-Nazi- fy Ukraine and his lies about WMD in Ukraine. Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com We Need Some New Farmers! B Local News Pacific NW News World News Opinions Jobs, Bids Entertainment Community Calendar LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS LOCAL EVENTS Updated daily online. d ay ! • L i ke u s o n F ebo m me • nts TheSkannerNews o k • learn • co in y o u r c o m m u n to y • ac it Hear about it first. Sign up for Breaking News and Events at lack History comes in chapters, but the best of it is unwritten and cul- tural. It has always been how we do, what we do, when forced to do it that makes the Black experience unique. Long sentence, but you get the message! During and before the “Modern Age,” we as a peo- ple had a footprint in two worlds. One was urban; the other was rural or agricultur- al. The Modern Age ushered in technological innovations, scientific discoveries, and the like. Opportunities in the city drew us from the farm. One advantage of having a presence in two worlds was that our children were exposed to the best of every- thing. “Student or Foreign Exchange” programs were prevalent among privileged children, but we had our own low-budget exchange pro- gram. We called it “Going to the country for the summer,” and it worked. That transfer pro- gram also worked for rural kids who got a chance to go to the city. The unofficial Black Exchange Program made us better. Much better. This idea came to mind late- ly when I talked to a friend, Deacon Charles Johnson. He hipped me to some history I was clueless about. He told me Vincent L. Hall Texas Metro News, iMessenger Media that he had been a member of the New Farmers of America. The Indiana University Li- brary records lend an enlight- ening synopsis. “The New Farmers of Amer- ica (NFA) began as a nation- al organization for Afri- “ ‘Student or Foreign Ex- change’ pro- grams were prevalent among priv- ileged chil- dren, but we had our own low-budget exchange pro- gram. can-American farm youth in 1935 to promote agricultural leadership, character, thrift, scholarship, cooperation, and citizenship. This organiza- tion served its members for 30 years providing experi- ence in leadership and educa- tion in the agricultural field. Programs and contests de- signed for the organization awarded youth for achieve- ment within the NFA and their community. In 1965 the NFA merged with the Nation- al FFA Organization. At the time of the merger, the NFA consisted of 1,004 chapters in 12 states and over 50,000 members.” According to the Communi- ties of Practice website. “George Washington Ow- ens, a professor at Virgin- ia State College, and H. O. Sargent, Federal Agent for Special Populations (Negro, Hispanic, Native- Americans) provided the leadership for establishing the NFA. Owens was Black, and Sargent was white. Owens was the first Black person to graduate from Kansas State University. His personal and professional papers are in the KSU library archives. Sargent was a grad- uate of Auburn University. He was killed in a car accident in 1936 in Louisiana.” Interestingly enough, in- stead of sporting the cross-sec- tion of an ear of corn, like the FFA badge, the NFA used the outline of a cotton boll. Their colors were black and gold with NFA on the emblem. Al- though picking cotton is now seen as a duty of drudgery and discrimination, the NFA held it out as an aegis of pride. This newfound nugget bol- stered an idea that came to me 20 years ago. We need an ac- tive and viable program that encourages the exchange of 10-15-year olds and swaps the city life for the “country life” for at least a few weeks each year. It irks me that too many chil- dren in this community have an outlook on life limited to a five square mile area near their residence. We could reduce crime and a lot of de- pression by broadening hori- zons. Yes, lots of our kids have not been diagnosed but live with depression. Caring for farm animals, planting crops, and learning to appreciate creation would help immeasurably. Likewise, touching diversity, visiting recreational venues, and be- ing exposed to urban realities would help the small-town kid. You can’t be on social media all day, dreaming about life, when you got chores and fish- ing to do. And nowadays, no one depends on technology as much as farmers. Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com nt • lo c a l n e w s • eve
