4A • COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • SEPTEMBER 26, 2018
O PINION
The First Amendment
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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Political/Election Letters:
Tricks and truths of sexual assault
By Caitlyn May, editor
cmay@cgsentinel.com
E
very 98 seconds, a sexual
assault occurs in the
United States.
Th at is a fact; there’s data and
research — provided by the
Rape, Abuse, Incest National
Network (RAINN) — to prove
it.
I’ve met Ann Curry twice.
It was in her capacity as an
alumna of the University of
Oregon and, in both instances,
she tossed away the public
relations machine that is the
business of higher education
and urgently pressed towards
the truth; the truth of reporting;
the truth of the business.
Th e truth is the truth.
She talked about her thoughts
on native advertising — the new
practice that yields a partner-
ship between journalism and
advertising. “Orange is the New
Black” will buy an ad in the New
York Times if the Times agrees to
run a story on female inmates
in America. Th e story may be
factual but only exists because a
company paid for an ad.
Curry said it made her
uncomfortable
because
journalists should tell readers
exactly what story we’re trying
to tell and why. It made her
uncomfortable because we
shouldn’t trick people.
And that’s why, as a journalist
and a woman, it’s diffi cult to
watch coverage unfold on
Weinstein, Lauer, Moonves and
Kavanaugh. It feels more like
tricks than truths.
It makes me anxious; the
same sort of anxious I felt when
Curry gave a tearful farewell
aft er being fi red. And when Rose
McGowan was ostracized. And
when Weinstein’s abuse was so
systematic and well-known that
it reached the lowest common
denominator — becoming ma-
terial for sitcoms and award
shows.
I watch senators rally for
Supreme
Court
nominee
Brett Kavanaugh’s career by
classifying sexual assault as a
teenage “rite of passage,” and I
feel the same anxious sickness
as when men tell me to smile.
Th ey knew; they knew
and did nothing. Weinstein’s
banishment, Lauer’s termination
— they’re just tricks.
Th e truth is that corporations
terminating sexual harassers
and abusers now that the
culture has changed is just a
new way to exhibit power over
the women. Firing these men so
swift ly, based on the same truths
that have been swatted away
for years, shows it was always
within their power to do so.
Th ey just chose not to.
Th ey chose not to until the
potential loss of profi t rather
than the reality of broken lives
forced their hand. Th eir greed
simply played the Cyrano to
their sympathy so that it may be
perceived as morality.
It feels the same as watching
the very senators who utilized
military
families
during
elections now second-guess
Christine Blasey Ford, insisting
the
accusations
against
Kavanaugh shouldn’t derail
his career — turning the same
blind eye to the 18,900 military
members who experience
unwanted
sexual
contact
according to the most recent
data.
Maybe those 18,900 service
members were drunk. Because
when women are drunk, the
same sect attempting to dismiss
Blasey Ford reasons that a
woman has full authority of her
faculties and therefore remains
at fault. Th ese characteristics,
however, don’t seem to apply for
the abuser.
Instead, they undergo a
metamorphosis that defi es logic
and reason and can only be
attributed to the ugly depths of
ego that says it’s not his fault.
Because, for him, a heightened
blood alcohol level excuses him
from the burden of blame and
the responsibility of guilt.
He was drunk; it’s not his fault.
She was drunk; what did she
expect?
It’s why college basketball
players get to keep playing
despite facing a forcible rape
charge — because there is an
argument that accusations
shouldn’t ruin their lives. It’s an
argument indicative of a broader
narrative: Th at accused men’s
lives hold a greater value that can
be tarnished while the accuser’s
life isn’t worth half as much.
A collegiate basketball career
weighs more than a lifetime of
emotional health and stability.
Th e women are speaking up
and the system is tumbling down.
But the troubling thing about
this fl awed revolution is that
the system was built in the fi rst
place. Th ere was an institutional
decision to protect the abuser
as an “asset” and discredit the
victim as a “liability.”
Even in the instances when
men fi nd themselves the
recipient of a pink slip, a debate
emerges over what they’re owed
and the disturbing argument that
they are entitled to their bonuses
and salaries.
More so than she was entitled
to her body.
More so than she was entitled
to her choice to say “No.”
A choice guaranteed by the
freedom of speech granted to her
— essentially — a full 144 years
aft er he earned the same right
by simply proclaiming he had it,
granted to him by God.
And when people ask why
women don’t come forward, it’s
because they don’t understand
all of this.
Th ey don’t understand that 94
percent of women experience
PTSD aft er being assaulted
and 13 percent attempt suicide.
Th ey don’t understand that 994
accused assailants will go free for
every 1,000 accused.
In other words, 99 percent get
away with it.
And they don’t understand
that while one woman is deciding
whether or not to come forward
— whether or not she was raped
“enough” for it to count — she
doesn’t even get two minutes
(120 seconds) to make the
decision without it happening to
another woman somewhere else.
LETTERS
Some veterans
have no knees to
kneel on
Some NFL players have ex-
ercised their 1st Amendment
right to take a knee during our
National Anthem.
Our armed service members
have fought and died to sup-
port the right of free speech.
A signifi cant amount of our
wounded warrior veterans
don't even have knees to kneel
on if they wished to.
Th ink about for a second…
—M.F. Gotcher
Cottage Grove
Great ‘First Harvest
Moon’
Th e autumn was brought
into the Grove well this past
Saturday at the Harvest moon
Benefi t Concert. We were de-
lighted to have so many young
Election-related letters must address pertinent or
timely issues of interest to our readers at-large.
Letters must 1) Not be a part of letter-writing
campaigns on behalf of (or by) candidates; 2) Ensure
any information about a candidate is accurate, fair
and not from second-hand knowledge or hearsay;
and 3) explain the reasons to support candidates
based on personal experience and perspective rather
than partisanship and campaign-style rhetoric.
Candidates themselves may not use the letters to the
editor column to outline their views and platforms
or to ask for votes; this constitutes paid political
advertising.
As with all letters and advertising content, the
newspaper, at the sole discretion of the publisher,
general manager and editor, reserves the right to
reject any letter that doesn’t follow the above criteria.
Send letters to:
nhickson@cgsentinel.com or cmay@cgsentinel.com
HOW TO CONTACT YOUR REPS
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
S entinel
(541) 942-3325
Administration
Jenna Bartlett, Group Publisher
Gary Manly, General Manager ..................................................... Ext. 1207
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Editorial
people attend.
Th ere were quite a few fami-
lies with kids and youth at this
kid friendly music event at the
Cottage Grove Armory. All the
artists who preformed were
very impressed with the warm
welcome shown by Cottage
Grove.
About $1,400 was raised
by the show and was divided
equally among the four par-
ticipating organizations, Mu-
sic Money 501C3, KSOW real
rural radio, Cottage Grove’s
Swinging Bridge and Cougar
Mountain Farm.
Th e organizing committee
has a lot of people to thank.
First of all our generous spon-
sors. Please help our commu-
nity by shopping locally and
supporting these businesses
who help make this a reality:
Th e Brewstation, Brad’s Cot-
tage Grove Chevrolet, Banner
Bank, the Opal Center for Arts
and Education, Green Day
Garden Supply, B&A Automo-
tive and Boyce and Sons land-
scaping and building supply.
Also the City of Cottage
Grove helping with the venue
and supporting the techni-
cal needs for a quality, down-
home show.
Lastly, thank you to all of
the volunteers who showed up
to help with set up, educating
our community at the info ta-
bles, and with the thankless
task of taking it all down again
aft er the show. So thank you
for your support, coming out,
dancing and being a part of
what makes Cottage Grove a
great place to live!
—Dana Merryday
Cottage Grove
Big, loud truck just
a sign of vanity
I live on a second fl oor
apartment. I can hear and see
these things at all hours.
Big trucks.
I was out shopping recently
one morning only to fi nd upon
my return that one was parked
in my very clearly assigned
parking space. Aft er parking,
I told them that they needed
to move on. My request was
returned with a most hostile
response.
Someone who drives a new,
noisy, $50,000-plus truck who
has obviously never seen any
scratches in the bed is surely
only doing so for reasons of
vanity.
Th is sort of conduct must
end. Usually it is young males
who responsible. Where they
get the money for these trucks
is beyond my comprehension.
— Charles Ames,
Cottage Grove
Ned Hickson, Managing Editor...............................................541-902-3520
nhickson@cgsentinel.com
Caitlyn May, Editor. ....................................................................... Ext. 1212
cmay@cgsentinel.com
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zsilva@cgsentinel.com
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