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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.