A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
We are not
enemies
T
oday’s political rhetoric
sounds as if our nation is
embroiled in a civil war.
The term “enemy” is used so
frequently it seems as if people
have forgotten how many true
enemies we have had to face
to secure and maintain our
freedom.
An enemy is not someone
with whom a person disagrees,
despite how the term is often
used lately.
According to Merriam-
Webster, an enemy is “one
that is antagonistic to another,
especially one seeking to injure,
overthrow or confound an
opponent; something harmful
or deadly; a military adversary;
a hostile unit or force.”
In the true sense of the
word, an enemy is someone
with whom a person cannot
coexist. Not because of trivial
differences but because the
enemy is actively trying to
harm a person’s well-being.
A political rival is not an
enemy — unless that rival is
armed with an intent to hurt
someone. Yet, that type of
language is commonplace.
While politicians often
use hyperbole to persuade
voters, real problems result
when people begin to react in
their daily lives in the same
exaggerated nature of many of
these rhetorical claims.
People believe and act on
these exaggerations. They start
treating rivals as if they were
enemies, in the literal sense.
Our republic, founded on the
principles of democracy, gives
a voice to each citizen, but it
belies the very system when
all the voices are yelling and
no one is listening — when the
people who must work together
to govern this system that
provided our freedom treat each
other as enemies.
This government of, by and
for the people requires, at a
minimum, that people believe
more in the common bond with
their countrymen than in any
political difference.
This country would not
have been established without
that strong belief in the
commonalities we share. It
cannot move forward without a
restored belief that we are more
alike than we are different.
Yet, this is not what we hear
from politicians. Each side
attacks the other with such
growing fervor that it seems
the real point of our political
process — the country itself
and our commonalities — has
been forgotten.
If we do not restore civility
to our political discourse, the
chasm will continue to grow as
the country swings from one
pole to the other until the entire
system has been unraveled.
It is those who describe their
countrymen as enemies who are
the true enemy of this country.
G UEST C OMMENT
The importance of a free press
By Judy Patrick
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
notforsale
W HERE TO W RITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201
S. Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-
575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon
City 97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax:
541-575-0515. Email: tocc1862@centu-
rylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville
97825. Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-
987-2187. Email:dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day,
97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-
575-1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long
Creek 97856. Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax:
541-421-3075. Email: info@cityoflong-
creek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument
97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025.
Email: cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt.
Vernon 97865. Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax:
541-932-4222. Email: cmtv@ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie
City 97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax:
820-3566. Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca
97873. Phone and fax: 541-542-2161.
Email: senecaoregon@gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State
Capitol, Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-
3111. Fax: 503-378-6827. Website: www.
governor.state.or.us/governor.html.
• Oregon Legislature — State Capitol,
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
P UBLISHED EVERY
W EDNESDAY BY
Salem, 97310. Phone: (503) 986-1180.
Website: www. leg.state.or.us (includes
Oregon Constitution and Oregon Revised
Statutes).
• Oregon Legislative Information —
(For updates on bills, services, capitol or
messages for legislators) — 800-332-2313.
• Sen. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario – 900
Court St. NE, S-301, Salem 97301. Phone:
503-986-1730. Website: www.oregonlegis-
lature.gov/Bentz. Email: Sen.CliffBentz@
oregonlegislature.gov.
• Rep. Lynn Findley, R-Vale – 900 Court
St. NE, H-475, Salem 97301. Phone: 503-
986-1460. Website: www.oregonlegislature.
gov/findley. Email: Rep.LynnFindley@
oregonlegislature.gov.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
• The White House, 1600 Pennsylva-
nia Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500;
Phone-comments: 202-456-1111; Switch-
board: 202-456-1414.
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D — 516 Hart
Senate Office Building, Washington D.C.
20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. Email:
wayne_kinney@wyden.senate.gov Website:
http://wyden.senate.gov Fax: 202-228-2717.
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D — 313 Hart
Senate Office Building, Washington D.C.
20510. Phone: 202-224-3753. Email:
senator@merkley.senate.gov. Fax: 202-
228-3997. Oregon offices include One
World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St.,
Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; and 310
S.E. Second St., Suite 105, Pendleton, OR
97801. Phone: 503-326-3386; 541-278-
1129. Fax: 503-326-2990.
We’ve been complacent.
We thought everybody knew
how important a free press was
to our world and that all this talk
about us being the enemy of the
people would be dismissed for the
silliness that it is.
But the reckless attacks have
continued, instigated and encour-
aged by our president.
When the leader of the free
world works to erode the public’s
trust in the media, the potential for
damage is enormous, both here and
abroad. We once set an example of
free and open government for the
world to follow. Now those who
seek to suppress the free flow of
information are doing so with im-
punity.
The time has come for us to
stand up to the bullying. The role
journalism plays in our free society
is too crucial to allow this degrada-
tion to continue.
We aren’t the enemy of the peo-
ple. We are the people. We aren’t
fake news. We are your news and
we struggle night and day to get
the facts right.
On bitter cold January nights,
we’re the people’s eyes and ears
at town, village and school board
meetings. We tell the stories of our
communities, from the fun of a
county fair to the despair a family
faces when a loved one is killed.
We are always by your side. We
shop the same stores, attend the
same churches and hike the same
trails. We struggle with daycare and
worry about paying for retirement.
In our work as journalists, our
first loyalty is to you. Our work is
guided by a set of principles that
demand objectivity, independence,
open-mindedness and the pursuit
of the truth. We make mistakes,
we know. There’s nothing we hate
more than errors but we acknowl-
edge them, correct them and learn
from them.
Our work is a labor of love be-
cause we love our country and be-
lieve we are playing a vital role in
our democracy. Self-governance
demands that our citizens need to
be well-informed and that’s what
we’re here to do. We go beyond the
government issued press release or
briefing and ask tough questions.
We hold people in power account-
able for their actions. Some think
we’re rude to question and chal-
lenge. We know it’s our obligation.
People have been criticizing the
press for generations. We are not
perfect. But we’re striving every
day to be a better version of our-
selves than we were the day before.
That’s why we welcome criti-
cism. But unwarranted attacks that
undermine your trust in us cannot
stand. The problem has become
so serious that newspapers across
the nation are speaking out against
these attacks in one voice today on
their editorial pages.
As women’s rights pioneer and
investigative journalist Ida B. Wells
wrote in 1892: “The people must
know before they can act and there
is no educator to compare with the
press.”
Judy Patrick is the vice president
for editorial development for the
New York Press Association.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
‘Unacceptable
behavior’
To the Editor:
It’s a horrible day in Grant
County when the younger working
population, representing our com-
munity at the John Day city pool,
humiliate a 13-year-old child over
5 cents. She was short 5 cents and
was told to “go scrounge the park-
ing lot,” while the pool employee
started letting other people in. This
is unacceptable behavior from the
young people that lifeguard at the
pool and represent our community
at the pool front desk. Are we not
more compassionate than that?
Jennifer Medico
John Day
L
etters policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues. Brevity
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letters. Submissions to this page become property of the Eagle. The Eagle reserves the right to edit letters for length and for content. Letters must
be original and signed by the writer. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Writers should include a telephone number so they can be reached for
questions. We must limit all contributors to one letter per person per month. Deadline is 5 p.m. Friday. Send letters to editor@bmeagle.com, or Blue
Mountain Eagle, 195 N. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845; or fax to 541-575-1244.
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