Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Wednesday, July 26, 2017 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor MARISSA WILLIAMS Regional Advertising Director MARCY ROSENBERG Circulation Manager JANNA HEIMGARTNER Business Office Manager MIKE JENSEN Production Manager OUR VIEW Grocers right to be concerned about tax Grocers are going on the The association’s action comes as public employee unions pursue offensive long before a predicted tax battle begins, and it’s probably a placing a corporate sales tax on the ballot in 2018, a pared-down version good thing. of the ill-conceived Measure 97 Last week the The Northwest gross receipts tax defeated in 2016. Grocery Association filed the Grocers were a major opponent of paperwork to petition for a ballot Measure 97. measure in 2018 Under the to constitutionally Food is a proposed measure, bar taxes on food. food industry The initiative would necessity and the would continue to prohibit taxes at every point of food sales, shouldn’t be pay corporate income tax, and the sales from production, taxed. of other household processing, wholesale goods and pet food and retail, with the still would be subject exception of meals to taxes, The campaign will need served at restaurants. It would to collect 117,578 signatures by not include alcoholic beverages, July 2018 to win a place on the marijuana products or tobacco general election ballot the following products. November. According to the initiative’s Joe Gilliam, the association’s language, it would go beyond just president, said the initiative’s intent banning a sales tax — it would is “just protecting people’s access prohibit “a gross receipts tax, commercial activity tax, value-added to food and only food for human consumption.” tax, excise tax, privilege tax, and Gilliam is right, food is a any other similar tax on the sale of necessity and shouldn’t be taxed. groceries.” Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of publisher Kathryn Brown, managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, and opinion page editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. OTHER VIEWS Misogyny alive in media, Republican opposition A better headline from your legislature were up to the task, he said he was just looking for recent editorial entitled “Two people with “big ol’ brains.” men enter, one tax plan leaves” Rep. McLane’s unabashed (Page A4, July 12) would have sexism is shameful and beneath been “Step aside, ladies, and let the leadership position he holds. the men take over.” The fact is, strong women Whether the unnamed leaders in Oregon are authors realize it or not, your responsible for the great strides editorial is the perfect example Jillian of the kind of misogyny that is Schoene our state has taken in the past several years. They are some of still rampant in Oregon politics, Comment our best problem solvers, some despite our state’s reputation for of our boldest leaders, and role having strong women leaders. models who I am proud to hold up to The not-so-subtle message of your editorial is that the women in leadership Oregon’s young people. To me, this is a call to action: We — Gov. Kate Brown, House Speaker desperately need greater diversity in Tina Kotek, House Majority Leader Oregon’s newsrooms — and in our state Jennifer Williamson, Senate Majority Capitol. We need more women, people Leader Ginny Burdick — should step of color, LGBTQ people, working away quietly and give their seat at the class people, young people, and other table to a man. historically silenced and powerless This is sexist belittling, pure and groups to make their voices heard both simple. It’s not far removed from as news writers and news makers. the head-patting insults delivered by Together, we can build a future opponents of women’s suffrage, who where sexist comments like the ones believed that only men were mentally made by Rep. McLane and the East capable of making important decisions Oregonian editorial board are fewer at the ballot. It’s 2017, and we’re and farther between. A future where still dealing with this nonsense from hard-working women are recognized politicians, pundits, and unfortunately for their leadership rather than ignored, the news media. undermined — and asked to leave the We’ve heard exactly this same thing room. A future where the people in from Republican leaders in recent positions of power are as diverse as our days. House Republican Leader Mike beautiful, growing state. McLane announced a list of legislators ■ he thinks should take over revenue Jillian Schoene, of Portland, is reform — and they were all men. executive director of Emerge Oregon, When a reporter from The which works to train and encourage Oregonian called him out for implying Democratic women to run for office. that none of the women in the OTHER VIEWS How cool works today I f you grew up in the 20th century, In an interview, I asked Dinerstein there’s a decent chance you wanted if cool was dead. He said that cool to be like Miles Davis, Billie may not be dead, but it is rare. You can Holiday, Humphrey Bogart, Albert see cool figures like Kendrick Lamar Camus, Audrey Hepburn, James Dean and Lorde, but it’s hard to think of any or Jimi Hendrix. In their own ways, contemporary cool movie icons in the these people defined cool. manner of Bogart and Dean. Perhaps The cool person is stoical, Robert Downey Jr. could have become emotionally controlled, never eager one, Dinerstein said, but these days David or needy, but instead mysterious, Brooks Hollywood pushes actors into the detached and self-possessed. The blockbuster mainstream. Comment cool person is gracefully competent The big difference, he continued, at something, but doesn’t need the is technological. Fans viewed Miles world’s applause to know his worth. That’s Davis from afar. He was mysterious. Today because the cool person has found his or her because of social media, everybody is close own unique and authentic way of living with up, present 24/7, familiar and un-iconic. nonchalant intensity. That makes a huge difference in how public In his entertaining book “The Origins of personalities are received. Cool in Postwar America,” Tulane historian I started to look around to see if there Joel Dinerstein traces the diverse sources of might be another contemporary ethos that has this style — from the West African concept of replaced the cool ethos. You could say the “itutu,” which means mystic hipster ethos you find in, coolness, to the British stiff say, Brooklyn qualifies. But upper lip mentality. Jazz that strikes me as less of a musicians, especially people cultural movement and more like Lester Young, brought of a consumer aesthetic. these influences together A better candidate is the into what we now call the “woke” ethos. The modern cool style. Jazz influenced concept of woke began, the film noir directors, as far as anybody can tell, and then carried cool over with a 2008 song by Erykah to France, where it was Badu. The woke mentality embraced by existentialists like Camus. became prominent in 2012 and 2013 with the Dinerstein shows that cool isn’t just a style, Trayvon Martin case and the rise of Black it’s an “embodied philosophy” that is anchored Lives Matter. Embrace it or not, BLM is the in a specific generational circumstance. most complete social movement in America Cool was first of all a form of resistance today, as a communal, intellectual, moral and and rebellion, a rejection of the innocence, political force. optimism and consumer cheeriness that The woke mentality has since been marked the mainstream postwar experience. embraced on the populist right, by the It emerged specifically within African- conservative “normals” who are disgusted American culture, among people who had to with what they see as the thorough withstand the humiliations of racism without corruption of the Republican and Democratic losing their temper, and who didn’t see any establishments. See Kurt Schlichter’s way to change their political situation. Cool Townhall essay “We Must Elect Senator culture in that context said, you can beat me Kid Rock” as an example of right-wing but I am not beaten, you can oppress me but wokedness. you can’t own me. To be woke is to be radically aware and It became a way of indicting society even justifiably paranoid. It is to be cognizant of the if you were powerless, a way of showing your rot pervading the power structures. The woke untrammeled dignity. It was then embraced manner shares cool’s rebel posture, but it is the by all those who felt powerless, whether opposite of cool in certain respects. they were dissident intellectuals or random Cool was politically detached, but being a teenagers. social activist is required for being woke. Cool Cool had other social meanings. It was was individualistic, but woke is nationalistic a way of showing you weren’t playing the and collectivist. Cool was emotionally whole Horatio Alger game; you weren’t a reserved; woke is angry, passionate and smarmy career climber. It was a way to assert indignant. Cool was morally ambiguous; woke the value of the individual in response to failed seeks to establish a clear marker for what is collectivisms — to communism and fascism, unacceptable. to organized religion. The cool person is Culture is the collective response to the guided by his or her own autonomous values, core problems of the times. Today’s general often on the outskirts of society. disgust with institutions is producing a new To be cool was to be a moral realist. style of collective action. It remains to be seen The cruelties of the wars had exposed the how substantive, rigorous and effective this simplistic wholesomeness of good and evil new collective action will be. middle-class morality. A character like Rick ■ Blaine in “Casablanca” is trying to live by his David Brooks became a New York Times own honor code in an absurd moral world. Op-Ed columnist in 2003. Cool isn’t just a style, it’s an “embodied philosophy.” YOUR VIEWS GOP must find own ideas about taxes, health care Once again, as has taken place on so many occasions over the past 70-plus years, our federal Congress and chief executive have managed to spin their wheels madly in the quest to “solve” this country’s health care problems — only to end up producing yet another miserable “bust.” Republican Senator Mitch McConnell and President Donald Trump, who appeared fairly confident of their ability to completely annihilate the ACA when Trump assumed office last January, stand revealed now as politicians who in the end could not keep a very important promise. Despite their efforts, “Obamacare” still stands in spite of its imperfections. While ineptness and legislative clumsiness certainly played a role in foiling the Republicans’ anti-Obamacare plans, a much more important reason for McConnell’s and Trump’s humiliating letdown was simply the immensely unappealing nature of their alleged “alternative” to the ACA. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates forecast that the GOP’s anti-Obamacare crusade would produce a massive increase in the number of health care paupers. Conversely, Obamacare remains predicated on the notion that tens of millions of additional patients will stream into the health care system. This naturally has great appeal to doctors, HMOs, pharmaceutical interests and hospitals. If the health care system can be likened to a store, then Obamacare is akin to a store that’s packed with customers while the GOP’s rival establishment stands bare of significant numbers of buyers. Trump and the congressional GOP may have more luck “reforming” the tax system and initiating a meaningful public works program, but this will only occur if the Republicans decide to discipline themselves and truly function as a political party with sophisticated ideas. Frank W. Goheen Vancouver, Wash. LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a phone number. Send let- ters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.