COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL JUNE 20, 2018
4A
The First Amendment
O PINION
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridg-
ing the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of
the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition their
Government for a redress of greivences.
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a community discussion of issues on the local, state
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Send letters to:
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LETTERS
Give facts, not opinion
Well, here we go again.
God’s out and Ol’ Glory’s
on fi re. Right here in Cot-
tage Grove, it seems local
news paper has become
judge and jury.
I’m talking about the ar-
ticle regarding a new busi-
ness in our town and people
from out of town, like Port-
land, connected to the Anti-
fa mob.
Th e article in the local pa-
per had a very short report
of a woman who broke all
the front windows of the
business. Th e woman even
waited around because she
wanted to make a statement.
She is connected to Antifa
and even had the organza-
tion's phone number if she
got arrested.
Th e article said there was
no motive and she was a
transient. Most of the article
pointed to the business and
how their son was in pris-
on, then went on about the
troubled son who is an adult
and has nothing to do with
this business.
For all who don’t know
what Antifa is, it is an an-
ti-fascist group which came
about in the late 20s. Orig-
inally, it protest against big
government but during the
Obama time changed its
agenda. Now it’s attacking
freedom of speech by dam-
aging property, refusing to
allow people to speak and
spraying people with chem-
icals and paint.
It won’t be long until they
try to stop a business be-
cause it belongs to owners
who are Christians, Jewish
or something else they dis-
agree with.
I ask Th e Sentinel to give
us the facts not opinion.
Let the people decide if a
business will make it in this
town through the power to
HOW TO CONTACT YOUR REPS
patronize.
—Cheryl Mulhall
Cottage Grove
(Managing Editor’s Note:
In the story "Vandalism
Targets
Main
Street
Business" publshed June 13,
the story made no mention
of the suspect, Laura Rose,
being a transient. And at
press time, the police had
not yet verifi ed that the
phone numbers found on
her were associated with
Antifa or the Civil Liberties
Union.)
Will we succumb to our worst or best nature?
cate and inspire — but that
it would require us to
ensure it would be used
towards those ends.
“Otherwise,” he said, “it
is merely wires and lights
in a box.”
In the late 1950s, iconic
newsman Edward R.
Murrow recognized a par-
adox developing as the
advent of television was
transforming news report-
ing from the purely
word-driven medium of
radio into a much more
powerful visual medium
available in homes across
America.
Murrow understood that
news journalism would
never be the same. He also
recognized the responsibil-
ity that accompanies that
kind of power.
In 1958, during a Radio-
Television News Directors
Association
and
Foundation dinner where
he was the keynote speak-
er, Murrow spoke of the
new television medium
and the potential effects it
could have on journalism
and our society as a whole.
Known as his now
famous “Lights in a Box”
speech, Murrrow explained
how the new medium had
the potential to teach, edu-
But things are different
in this era of social media
communalism. It’s no
small irony that, while we
have become increasingly
engaged in sharing our
thoughts and experiences
From the Managing Editor’s Desk
Ned Hickson
Over the course of the
last few years, we’ve seen
social media platforms
such as Facebook and oth-
ers succumbing to the
worst — rather than the
best — we have to offer as
a society.
It’s human nature to be
drawn to things that dis-
turb us. It’s the reason we
gawk at the scene of acci-
dents; why there are more
NCIS spin-offs than any
other genre on TV; and
why Greek mythology is
full of cautionary tales that
end in tragedy.
We find a certain com-
fort in recognizing when
the mistakes of others have
led to their misfortune —
and how we can avoid
making those same mis-
takes.
with more people than
ever before, we have simul-
taneously come to accept
that we are sharing those
very things with people we
will likely never meet.
Through that acceptance
we are slowly laying the
groundwork for the kind
of social disconnect that
we have begun to see with
live streaming of disturb-
ing events — and, perhaps
even more disturbing, hav-
ing them shared hundreds
of thousands of times by
others.
In a way, social media is
promoting a culture of dig-
ital-aged peeping Toms,
encouraging us to gawk
through an endless array of
partially open windows
into the lives of others —
many of whom we don’t
truly know.
We can leave comments
and engage in the conver-
sations of strangers with-
out
consequence
or
accountability.
It’s an era of communi-
cation unlike any other,
and the ultimate repercus-
sions on our culture remain
to be seen.
In the same way that
Murrow expressed the
need for us to have a will-
ingness to use the medium
of television to teach, edu-
cate and inspire, we need
to ask ourselves what
direction we will take with
the evolution of social
media.
Will we succumb to the
worst of our nature or the
best of it?
Will our smartphones
and other digital devices
be utilized to improve the
way we communicate and
broaden our understand-
ing of each other and the
world?
Or will they prove to be
little more than micro
chips and lights in an even
smaller box?
Oregon state
representatives
Oregon federal
representatives
• Sen. Floyd Prozanski
District 4 State Senator
PO Box 11511
Eugene, Ore. 97440
Phone: 541-342-2447
Email : sen.fl oydprozanski@
state.or.us
• Rep. Cedric Hayden
Republican District 7 State
Representative
900 Court St. NE
Salem, Ore. 97301
Phone: 503-986-1407
Website: www.leg.state.or.
us/hayden
Email: rep.cedrichayden@
state.or.us
• Rep. Peter DeFazio
(House of Representatives)
405 East 8th Ave.
#2030
Eugene, Ore. 97401
Email: defazio.house.gov/
contact/email-peter
Phone: 541-465-6732
• Sen. Ron Wyden
405 East 8th Ave., Suite 2020
Eugene, Ore. 97401
Email: wyden.senate.gov
Phone: (541) 431-0229
• Sen. Jeff Merkley
Email: merkley.senate.gov
Phone: 541-465-6750
C ottage G rove
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