4A |
WEDNESDAY EDITION
| DECEMBER 9, 2020
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
| 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
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Siuslaw News
Th e danger of forgetting our ‘Day of Infamy’
I was nine years old the
last time our nation fired
a shot while openly de-
claring war with another
nation. And while we have
certainly spent the major-
ity of the last few decades
fighting abroad and
sacrificing the lives of our
young men and women in
places like Kuwait, Qatar,
Baghdad and Syria, the
horrific attacks of Sept. 11
are the closest that many
of my generation have
come to experiencing war
first-hand.
As a child, I was only
peripherally aware of the
Vietnam War and even
less so of the Korean War,
which ended before I was
born. Yet, as the last shot
was being fired in Viet-
nam, I already knew what
Pearl Harbor was.
I knew how, on Dec.
7, 1941, a quiet Sunday
morning was transformed
into a fiery nightmare
by Japanese planes that
claimed the lives of more
than 2,400 servicemen.
I knew about the USS
Arizona, and how in less
than nine minutes more
slowly recurring “black
tears” of oil that still bub-
ble to the surface from the
USS Arizona — serve as a
reminder of the ultimate
price demanded by a
world at war.
From the Editor’s Desk
Ned Hickson
than 1,000 men became
entombed in the wreck-
age that now rests like a
shadow below the harbor’s
surface.
I also knew it was a
morning filled with as
many acts of heroism and
sacrifice as there were mo-
ments of the horrific. Over
the years, images in text
books, commemorative
issues from publications
like Time magazine and
stories captured in movies
impressed upon me the
virtues of valor.
At the same time, and
perhaps more important-
ly, those images and the
stories that surface each
year — much like the
In an age when many
of our youth entertain
themselves with gaming
systems that center around
killing enemies with
everything from grenades
and knives to sniper fire
and IEDs (Improvised Ex-
plosive Devices), lessons
learned from the sacrifices
of the past are in danger
of becoming diluted by
pre-packaged valor and
conditioned gaming
responses.
Admittedly, my friends
and I spent countless sum-
mer days of our youth as
soldiers rescuing our pla-
toon and driving the Nazis
out of our backyards. The
difference between then
and now is that, as kids,
we were drawing from
those text books, com-
memorative magazine
articles and movies that
dug such deep grooves in
our memories.
Without knowing it,
we were reinforcing our
own understanding of war
based on what we knew of
history — and in particu-
lar the sacrifices made by
soldiers at places like Pearl
Harbor and the beaches of
Normandy.
Today, the knowledge
of those sacrifices — and
the lessons learned from
them — aren’t digging
nearly as deep a groove in
the minds of our children
as they once did.
As they say, history for-
gotten is a history bound
to repeat itself.
Unless we take the time
to ensure that each gen-
eration understands what
our “Day of Infamy” truly
means, the black tears
slowly surfacing from the
USS Arizona will be for
more than the servicemen
who came to rest within it.
Looking forward to leaving the chaos behind
(Editor’s Note: Viewpoint sub-
missions on this and other topics are
always welcome as part of our goal to
encourage community discussion and
exchange of perspectives.)
In reading the Guest Viewpoint by
Cliff Worley in the Siuslaw News on
Dec. 5 (“Without a Voice, We Will
Lose Our Democratic Republic”),
I agree that we will lose our Dem-
ocratic Republic if we don’t use our
voices through our right to peaceful
protest and our right to vote.
However, my view of where the
threats to our way of life are coming
from differ from Mr. Worley’s.
I don’t view the Governor’s stay-
at-home orders, limits on the size
of gatherings or mask mandates as
“punishment.” We are experiencing
an out of control virus that is cur-
rently killing about the same num-
ber of people every day as we lost on
9/11.
We have lost nearly 300,000 souls,
so far. This is a public health crisis.
The current President abdicated
responsibility and left each state’s
Governor to manage the crisis. And
every state has a different response.
I am grateful for Governor
Brown’s efforts to flatten the curve
and keep our hospitals from being
overwhelmed and filled to capacity.
If we follow the Governor’s direc-
tions, we will keep our community
members, friends, family and our-
selves healthy.
The research saying lockdowns
“do more harm than good” are few
and far between, or come from folks
who have almost no epidemiologi-
cal background.
Scott Atlas, who has the ear of the
current President, is a neuro-radiol-
ogist. He reads MRIs. While I am
sure he is excellent at his job, he has
no knowledge or experience with
infectious diseases as I understand
it.
Guest Viewpoint
By Marybeth Marenco
Florence
From my perspective, the current
President is the biggest threat to
both our health and our democratic
way of life. If he mentions the virus
at all, he says we’re “rounding the
corner.”
Maybe we are.
But it’s the wrong corner.
Cases and deaths are nearly dou-
bling every day in this country. The
U.S. represents about 4 percent of
the world’s population and we are
leading the world in the number of
cases and deaths.
Our President has never acknowl-
edged the massive death toll from
this virus, or expressed any real
sympathy to the devastated families
left behind.
Neither Governor Brown nor
Portland Mayor Wheeler condoned
the violence in Portland; they ob-
jected to the President sending un-
asked for federal agents to “help.”
They arrived in unmarked black
vehicles, dressed in black, no iden-
tifying insignias and no identifi-
cation. They then proceeded to
randomly grab peaceful protesters
and violent thugs alike and shoved
people into their vehicles refusing to
identify themselves or read people
their rights, and refused to answer
whether folks were being arrested.
This is Nazi-like behavior; it is
wrong in a Democracy.
The President is currently filing
one unsuccessful lawsuit after an-
other in an attempt to void the will
of the voters. He is working to si-
lence the voices of 80 million voters
while he pursues his own interests.
He views the Department of Jus-
tice as his personal attorney to wield
its power to investigate and prose-
cute his political enemies for phan-
tom crimes while enriching himself
from taxpayers’ money.
He wants to make laws.
In a democracy, Congress makes
the laws. Watching his rallies re-
minds me of watching Hitler’s rallies
in the 30s, or Jim Jones at Jonestown
in the 70s.
If we ignore the past, we are
doomed to repeat it. I may not agree
with Joe Biden on all issues, but I am
looking forward to a President who
will obey the laws and work to pro-
tect American citizens.
I am looking forward to leaving
the chaos behind.
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WHERE TO WRITE
Pres. Donald Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD Comments:
202-456-6213
www.whitehouse.gov
Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, Ore. 97301-4047
Governor’s Citizens’ Rep.
Message Line:
503-378-4582
www.oregon.gov/gov
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office
Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
541-431-0229
www.wyden.senate.gov
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753
FAX: 202-228-3997
541-465-6750
www.merkley.senate.gov
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio
(4th Dist.)
2134 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6416
541-269-2609
541-465-6732
www.defazio.house.gov
State Sen. Arnie Roblan
(Dist. 5)
900 Court St. NE - S-417
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1705
FAX: 503-986-1080
Email: Sen.ArnieRoblan@
oregonlegislature.gov
State Rep.
Caddy McKeown
(Dist. 9)
900 Court St. NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1409
Email: rep.caddymckeown
@oregonlegislature.gov
West Lane County
Commissioner
Jay Bozievich
125 E. Eighth St.
Eugene, OR 97401
541-682-4203
FAX: 541-682-4616
Email: Jay.Bozievich@
co.lane.or.us