Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 2017)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Tuesday, October 24, 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 Apologize or don’t, but silence not OK The internet troll, once an and will not enact policies that are biased against classes or groups of anonymous denizen of message people. And in the final line it says boards and chat rooms who held the council is made up of volunteers little sway in the real world, has come out into the light with the who have the right to free speech. prevalence of social media. It’s the kind of statement that We used to be able to dismiss doesn’t make anything better, but his presence as the ugly fringe of is issued to make sure things don’t cyberspace, a reaction-seeking get worse. It’s a safe and generic miscreant spewing inciting, hateful stance that declines to mention the speech from a basement somewhere offending party — Nakapalau — by far away. We name, though it used to be able to does take the time the rationalize that his Nakapalau has to East mention Oregonian, words represent the right to speak who first reported no real human insults, and being, and certainly his mind. And the Facebook, the none we respect or on which admire or who have because he was platform any actual power the comments in our lives. And elected, his words were made. As if we could altogether either are more carry weight. ignore him quite responsible for the easily, as our daily behavior than the lives weren’t so man himself. intertwined with the internet. Nakapalau has the right to But now that we’ve all (or nearly speak his mind. He’s a volunteer all) moved into his domain, the troll councilman solely on the merit of earning eight write-in votes last is everywhere we turn. And we’ve come to the chilling realization that November. And because he was elected, his words — even the he is among us in real life, too. ones he fired off to antagonize and We saw it earlier this month belittle a stranger from another as Echo city councilman Lou state, but never meant to be seen Nakapalau weaponized his Facebook account in a war of words by friends and neighbors — carry weight. The citizens of Echo with a documentary filmmaker. deserve to hear what he has to say Nakapalau accosted director Joe for himself. The people of Umatilla Wilson, who is gay, on the page County and beyond deserve to for his film “Kumu Hina,” using know how the city responds to this slurs and saying if Wilson died of kind of hate. AIDS he would spit on his grave. Echo is not the sleepy town The men have never met in person. it once was. New wineries, Nakapalau has since removed the downtown dining and Main Street comments from the page. restoration have created a beautiful Nakapalau has not responded place for a visit, and events like to several attempts to ask about last weekend’s Oktoberfest and the the encounter, and as the city springtime Red 2 Red mountain council met Thursday about how bike race have brought in new life to address the remarks he sat silent and expressionless in the chambers. and the potential for even more He didn’t say a word as the council tourism. While some have demanded an voted to apologize for his offensive apology from Nakapalau, we don’t words, and none of his fellow believe forcing such a statement council members addressed him. has any value. If he regrets the That’s shameful, and a real statement and the effect it had on shame. another human being, we want to The city issued a broad apology know that. If he just regrets that it to any who were offended by got out, he should say it. the comments and noted that the If he doesn’t have the decency personal accounts of individual or courage to even own up to his councilors aren’t endorsed by the words, we’d suggest he step down. city. It also said the city does not 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 America’s best university president S everal years ago Robert Zimmer makes educational excellence possible. was asked by an audience in “It is the function of speech to free China why the University of men from the bondage of irrational Chicago was associated with so many fears,” Louis Brandeis wrote 90 years winners of the Nobel Prize — 90 in ago in his famous concurrence in all, counting this month’s win by the Whitney v. California. behavioral economist Richard Thaler. It is also the function of free speech Zimmer, the university’s president to allow people to say foolish things so since 2006, answered that the key that, through a process of questioning, Bret was a campus culture committed to Stephens challenge and revision, they may in “discourse, argument and lack of time come to say smarter things. Comment deference.” If you can’t speak freely, you’ll Reflecting on that exchange in quickly lose the ability to think March, Zimmer noted a depressing trend: clearly. Your ideas will be built on a pile While Chinese academics have made strides of assumptions you’ve never examined for to “inject more argumentation and challenge yourself and may thus be unable to defend into their education,” their American peers from radical challenges. You will be unable to are moving “in the opposite direction.” As test an original thought for fear that it might universities go, so ultimately go the fate of be labeled an offensive one. You will succumb nations. to a form of Orwellian double-think without The University of Chicago has always even having the excuse of living in physical been usefully out of step with its peers in terror of doing otherwise. higher education — it dropped out the Big That is the real crux of Zimmer’s case Ten Conference and takes perverse pride in for free speech: Not that it’s necessary for its reputation as the place where fun goes to democracy (strictly speaking, it isn’t), but die. It was out of step again last year when Jay because it’s our salvation from intellectual Ellison, the dean of students, sent a letter to mediocrity and social ossification. In a incoming freshmen to let them know where speech in July, he addressed the notion that the college stood in respect to the campus unfettered free speech could set back the cause culture wars. of “inclusion” because it risked upsetting “Our commitment to academic freedom,” members of a community. he wrote, “means that we do not support “Inclusion into what?” Zimmer wondered. so-called ‘trigger warnings,’ we do not cancel “An inferior and less challenging education? invited speakers because their topics might One that fails to prepare students for the prove controversial, and we do not condone challenge of different ideas and the evaluation the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces’ of their own assumptions? A world in which where individuals can retreat from ideas and their feelings take precedence over other perspectives at odds with their own.” matters that need to be confronted?” The letter attracted national attention, These are not earth-shattering questions. with cheering from the right and caviling on But they are the right ones, and they lay bare the left. But its intellectual foundation had the extent to which the softer nostrums of been laid earlier, with a 2015 report from a higher ed today shortchange the intended faculty committee, convened by Zimmer, on beneficiaries. free expression. Central to the committee’s They’re also questions not enough findings: the aim of education is to make university presidents are asking, at least people think, not spare them from discomfort. not publicly and persistently. Instead, “Concerns about civility and mutual the prevailing conceit is that nothing is respect,” the committee wrote, “can never really amiss, that censorship concerns are be used as a justification for closing off overblown, that there are always creative discussion of ideas, however offensive or ways to respect free speech while remaining disagreeable those ideas may be to some sensitive to all sensitivities — a balancing members of our community.” act so exquisite that no student need ever be Those are fighting words at a time insulted, and no administrator need ever take when professors live in fear of accidentally a stand. offending their own students and a governor Zimmer knows what bunk this is; that if needs to declare a countywide state of free speech — never a popular idea to start emergency so that white supremacist Richard with — isn’t actively defended, it will rapidly Spencer can speak at the University of be eroded. For using the prestige of his office Florida. They are also necessary words. That to make the case both brilliant and blunt, isn’t because universities need to be the First he has become the most essential voice in Amendment’s most loyal guardians — in American academia today. the case of private universities, the First ■ Amendment generally doesn’t apply. They set Bret Stephens won a Pulitzer Prize for their own rules. commentary in 2013. He began working as a Instead, it’s because free speech is what columnist at The New York Times in April. YOUR VIEWS Softening drug laws will make state worse Well, the ragtag legislators and the misdemeanor governor did it again: They turned hard drugs possession into a nothing sentence. This is what we get for electing poor quality. Now the people will face more crime, and in fact it will bring more drug addicts into the state for sanctuary. Real smart people we have, making stupid laws. It will serve us right when Oregon turns into the armpit of America. Jim Tiede Hermiston Re-election of Larry Givens and other news I hear Commissioner Larry Givens has announced his intention to run for re-election, and it’s about time. After pushing through the EOTEC project being both a board member and commissioner, I’m convinced that he’s the right man to solve that bird nesting and goat-head problem at Hermiston’s new state-of-the-art maintenance-free facility. With Commissioner Bill Elfering as an ally, county funding for any repair work on the damage caused by the birds and a long-term solution shouldn’t be a problem. Then again, maybe it’s time for him to make a choice, the EOTEC Board or county commissioner, not both, and eliminate the obvious appearance of a conflict of interest. Minimum wage increases have perhaps claimed another victim — my paperboy. Remember that young man that gave $1,000 of his hard-earned money to get the fund raising effort off the ground and completed for the July 4th fireworks? Yup, that’s right, the money has been raised, though it looks like unemployment will be staring him in the face at a young age. The latest news on the Rivoli Theater Restoration project looks promising, and city taxpayers may finally be getting a well- deserved temporary break. It sounds like Mr. Picken has a new target — current and retired federal employees. Fortunately, that’s a pretty long list. Meanwhile, those stewards of our public property that balked at deeding the BMCC baseball field over to the college, calling it irresponsible, continue to let the Vert Auditorium rot away while investing in a private project that will compete directly with its venue. City donations total $165,000 so far for the Rivoli Theater project. Really? A City Hall that would lease a public building for $1 a month or give away a building appraised at $300,000 while ignoring the Vert? Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black when it comes to irresponsibility. The city manager states: “We’re not ignoring it, we’re just not talking about it right now,” and then blames a past convention center manager and the budget for the current state of affairs. The apathy shown by the city manager, mayor and city council, those stewards of our public property, is the Vert’s worst enemy. Now, “deferred maintenance” rears its ugly head again as the window replacement at city hall is postponed. Why the Rivoli Theater renovation and moving the Eighth Street Bridge continue to garner a higher priority than city infrastructure is beyond me. “Please help tell our story” pleads the mayor in the latest city newsletter. The condition of the Vert is one sad story that’s desperate for a happy ending. Rick Rohde Pendleton Take a knee, President Trump It has been a year since Colin Kaepernick and others first took a knee during the national anthem before professional football games. This simple but solemn gesture was a non-threatening protest against unequal treatment of African-American citizens by police across the country. Is anyone so naive and gullible to believe that the rash of deadly police/citizen encounters in the past five years were all entirely justified? These players are well within their First Amendment rights of free expression to take a knee, whether the national anthem is playing or not. There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution, or anywhere else that requires us to stand, remove our hats, and/or salute when Old Glory is going up or the national anthem is being played. Sure, we were all taught these things at home or elementary school, so we have just conformed to do what we are expected to do without giving it much thought. Yes, standing is generally considered to be the “norm” when the national anthem is played; however, some might view this as a form of subtle indoctrination. At any rate, here comes President Trump who manipulates the situation into something it was never intended to be — you are unpatriotic and disrespectful to our country and service men and women if you do anything other than what I think you should do. Typical superficial and shoot from-the-hip thinking by our president. The Donald clearly equates military service with patriotism. Then where was Trump when the brutal Vietnam War was raging? He could have volunteered to serve there and fought in the mountains, rice paddies, jungles, streets, or skies of Vietnam. During an interview, shock jock Howard Stern asked Trump about his lack of military service. Trump responded that “chasing skirts” was just as dangerous as serving in Vietnam because he could catch a sexually transmitted disease. This is a blatant insult to the 58,000-plus American men and women who died there, the hundreds of thousand wounded, many grievously, and those still dealing with unseen psychological wounds from trauma, and all of their families. Just like Muhammad Ali in his refusal to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, and the black-gloved athletes at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, I respect Colin Kaepernick, and the others, who demonstrate moral courage and principle in doing something they sincerely believe in, and not just doing the popular thing. Bob Shippentower Pendleton 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 newspa- per reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual ser- vices 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 daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
