A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Fake news fi xation
has the power to
reshape our world
A
n early scene in George
Orwell’s legendary
dystopian novel “1984”
has the main character rewriting
history to suit a repressive
government’s political agenda.
What we actually have in 2016,
32 years after Orwell’s fi ctional
world, is a news environment
in which private citizens and
those who want to manipulate
us can create, share and often
believe fake news — fi ctions
that have the power to reshape
our government.
Newspapers and other
“legacy” organizations don’t
have a monopoly on the truth.
We are prone to our own biases
— often a nearly unconscious
belief in moderate politics and
incremental change for the
common good. Even so, we are
traditionally reliable curators
of the news, providing a record
of the facts that is literally
printed in black and white.
Falsehoods and biases are fairly
easily spotted and challenged.
A newspaper that too often
blatantly disregards the facts
doesn’t stay long in business.
Those that have longevity have
done so by building credibility
within the communities they
serve and keeping it on a daily
basis by diligently working to
separate fact from fi ction.
Slippery do-it-yourself
news of the kind so commonly
found on Facebook isn’t so
easily policed or punished by
the marketplace. It has neither
cost nor consequences. In fact,
as Americans increasingly
seek validation rather than
objective information, there
are rewards for even flagrant
lies online, so long as they
achieve enough popularity to
be shared among people with
like beliefs.
“People most readily believe
that which they can believe
most conveniently,” Cliffs
Notes observes in its essay
about “1984.” This is almost
the defi nition of modern
U.S. politics, in which many
Americans choose to believe
or disbelieve stories based
on complicated personal and
political preconceptions.
It is a fact of modern life
that more Americans get
information from Facebook
posts than directly from the
entities that actually do the
hard work of fact-gathering. If
you have friends with diverse
political beliefs and levels
of education, you are certain
to encounter Facebook posts
denying climate change or
asserting the truth or falsehood
of other matters. There was, for
example, a posting last week
that boldly asserted Donald
Trump overwhelmingly won
the popular vote, despite the
objective fact that the opposite
is true.
Facebook founder Mark
Zuckerberg has struggled
with a response to widespread
accusations that his company
aided and abetted the
dispersal of falsehoods that
warped the outcome of the
2016 presidential election.
In essence, his problem is
how to maintain Facebook
as freewheeling marketplace
for ideas, while somehow
not allowing it to be an
easily manipulated stooge
that regurgitates lies that are
packaged in superfi cially
believable ways.
After initially denying it
was the problem, Facebook
now reportedly is looking into
third-party verifi cation services,
better automated detection tools
and simpler ways for users to
fl ag suspicious content.
In a Nov. 18 column
in The New York Times,
John Herrman notes that
these fake news items are
“indefensible, easy to identify
and extraordinarily viral.”
The bigger problem, in his
opinion, is the more subtle
manipulation of people
through a clever blending of
out-of-context “facts” that
mesh with reader biases and
preconceptions.
Herrman is pessimistic
about Facebook actually
correcting a profi table system
in which its members get to
decide on alternative versions
of reality. “Those who expect
the operator of the dominant
media ecosystem of our
time, in response to getting
caught promoting lies, to
suddenly return authority to the
companies it has superseded
are in for a … surprise,” he
observed.
Even on Facebook, it is
possible to be a sophisticated
news consumer. Double check
the credibility of sources
and look for stories by
organizations that have a direct
fi nancial and reputational stake
in being reliable.
Ultimately, there actually is
a true version of the facts. Any
community that wants to play
for real and actually succeed
can best do so by embracing
reality. Facts, not fantasies, are
the path to success.
G UEST C OMMENT
You decide: Pavement
or gravel and dust
By Rep. Cliff Bentz
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
We are losing our paved streets
and roads.
Between 20 and 50 percent of
the streets and roads in many of our
cities and counties are in “poor” or
“very poor” condition. When as-
phalt reaches these conditions, it has
to be replaced — at a cost of about
$200,000 to $300,000 per mile,
twice what it would have cost had it
been appropriately cared for. Obvi-
ously, we should be preventing our
roads and streets still in “good” and
“fair” condition from transitioning
into the “poor” category, but we are
not. Instead, we are letting our good
roads wear out (counties and cities
are fi nancially able to chip coat only
about a third of what they should
maintain each year) while we fi ght
the losing battle of patching patches
on bad roads. Where are we going
to fi nd the $200,000 to $300,000
per mile to replace our hundreds of
miles of roads already “lost”? Or,
for that matter, the $30,000 per mile
it takes, every sixth or seventh year,
to chip coat and preserve our good
roads?
So, should we be paying more
for the use of our roads? That dis-
cussion must start with an under-
standing of how much the average
Oregonian now pays for that use.
Fortunately, most of the tax that we
pay at the pump to the government
is transparent. For example, the cost
of state gas tax, registration fees and
titles fees totals about 44.2 cents per
gallon — 30 cents of which is state
gas tax. The average Oregon driver
drives 10,234 miles per year, so if
her car gets 20 miles per gallon, she
pays about $153.51 a year in state
gas tax. If the state gas tax were to
go up by one penny, she would pay
about 43 cents more per month.
There are several other govern-
ment organizations that raise mon-
ey for roads, such as local road dis-
tricts and the federal government,
but the purpose of this editorial is
to highlight two things: fi rst, how
much the average Oregonian pays
in state gas tax, and second, despite
what we are currently paying, our
roads and bridges are failing.
About half of any new state gas
tax is sent back to Oregon’s cities
and counties. The other half goes to
the Oregon Department of Trans-
portation. This money is constitu-
tionally dedicated to roads. Not to
mass transit. Not to state police. Not
to any other non-road related use.
Three quarters, more or less, of
the gas tax is paid by those on the
west side of the state, so a large part
of what is needed for maintenance
of Eastern Oregon’s state highways
comes from the Willamette Valley.
Said another way, the cost of main-
taining the thousands of essential
miles of state highway in Eastern
Oregon vastly exceeds what we
in Eastern Oregon pay in state gas
tax. So, if you raise the gas tax or
registration and title fees statewide,
you are assuring that there will be
money to bring from west to east to
repair the state highways we use al-
most every day.
Every conversation about need-
ing more money for road mainte-
nance must address increases in
the cost of road repair materials.
For example, the cost of oil needed
for asphalt has gone up, since just
2004, by almost 270 percent. Com-
pare this 270 percent increase to
the state gas tax, which in 24 years
was only raised once by 6 cents (24
percent). Not only that, the cost of
labor, gravel and cement has also
gone up by 50-75 percent.
As co-vice chair of the Interim
Legislative Committee charged
with addressing, in the 2017 legisla-
tive session set to begin in February,
preservation of our road systems,
what you think about these issues
is important to me. If you think that
we should continue to “use up” our
roads and bridges, rather than pay-
ing necessary maintenance as we
go, please tell me. Or, if you think
that we should pay a higher gas
tax, or higher registration or title
fees, knowing that this money must
be used for our roads and bridges,
please say so. I need to hear from
you.
Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ontario) is
an assistant Republican leader in
the House and has served in the
Oregon Legislative Assembly since
2008. In addition to his role as
vice-chair of the Joint Committee
on Transportation Preservation &
Modernization, he is also the vice-
chair of the Revenue Committee,
and sits on the Transportation &
Economic Development Committee,
Energy and Environment Commit-
tee, the Joint Committee on Depart-
ment of Energy Oversight and the
Legislative Counsel Committee, as
well as on various work groups and
task forces.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Abandoned dog now
loved by foster family
To the Editor:
I am writing this in response to
the letter submitted last week by
Mya Ennis. I will echo her senti-
ments: It is not cool to dump your
animals, and furthermore, it’s not
cool to have animals you are not
willing to treat as members of the
family and care for until their lifes-
pan is complete, or assure they are
placed in caring and loving homes
if your situation changes and you
are no longer able to provide care
for them.
The elderly dog Mya refers to
— and I believe she is the one who
found her and brought her to John
Day River Vet Clinic to await re-
uniting with her family — has not
been reunited, and despite social
media attempts and outreach by
the wonderful volunteers of Hope
4 Paws: Grant County, no one has
stepped forward. But why would
they? She is past her prime and use-
fulness and garbage to them.
The happy news is she is in a
loving foster home, which will un-
doubtedly become her fi nal home.
She now has a name, a comfortable
dog bed and large yard to explore,
regardless of her failing eyesight,
hearing and stiff limbs. She is loved
and valued as a member of the fam-
ily, and that is cool.
Jan Keil
Mt. Vernon
Volunteers set positive
example for all of us
To the Editor:
As divisive rhetoric continues
to permeate life in Grant County,
I fi nd it refreshing that two young
ladies have seen fi t to work for the
betterment of our communities.
Both of these women have consis-
tently taken the high road and used
their talents to volunteer for various
causes and programs over the years.
Joan Bowling and Helen Bogart are
indeed diamonds in the ruff. Over
the years, Joan has been actively
involved in the Scouting program,
earning Scouting’s highest honor,
the Silver Beaver. Joan has been the
face of Red Cross blood drives and
the local Disaster Assistance Team,
recently being recognized by Pres-
ident Obama. These programs are
and continue to be an integral part
of Grant County. Helen and her late
husband, Ken, were instrumental
in starting the local credit union, to
helping establish the People Mov-
er and Air Life of Oregon. Over the
years, I have had the privilege and
honor to work with these women.
They have shown that dedicated in-
dividuals, working with others, can
make positive contributions to Grant
County. We should all applaud their
efforts and encourage others to get
involved in our local communities.
Instead of working to be a divisive
factor, let us all try and work to solve
the issues facing Grant County now
and in the future. By taking a posi-
tive attitude and a respectful manner,
both Joan and Helen have shown us
all what dedicated time and efforts
can accomplish. You both are what
makes Grant County a special place
to call home.
Chris Labhart
Grant County Commissioner
John Day
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