Page 4 - Reedleyt Exponent 7-5-18 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent A4 Thursday, July 5, 2018 Editorial & Opinions
Serving “The World’s Fruit Basket” since 1891
A Mid Valley Publishing Newspaper
Founded March 26, 1891, in a two-story building on the corner of 11th and F streets, by A.S. Jones
Fred Hall — Publisher
In my OPINION
This country has seemingly entered a real dan- ger zone where at least a part of our population is approaching a nervous breakdown! CNN, MS- NBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, The Washington Post and The New York Times and several media outlets nationwide have, for some reason, abandoned any real news reporting and have gone “anti-Trump, all the time.” We’ve lost track of the number of lawsuits which the attorney general of California has filed to avoid the enforcement of federal law, especially dealing with illegal immigration!
It appears that the “resistance to Trump”
group has completely lost touch with reality
when they appear willing to encroach upon the civil rights of those who realize that the president has been making huge strides in “mak- ing America great again.”
There has always been a great unwritten rule that the children of politicians are held blameless and should be left alone by political opponents of their parent(s). Demonstrably, that has not been the case when it comes to Donald Trump, where his children are concerned. Trump’s wife, children and even grandchildren have been openly at- tacked by both Hollywood and their acolytes in mainstream press.
Let’s face it, the Democrats were talking about impeachment before the president was even sworn into office. That’s almost as il- logical as Barack Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize from that renowned leftist group before he had done anything that even hinted at being qualified for such an honor.
We’ve grown accustomed to the drone of America’s left wing press carrying on about the great “blue wave” which the talking heads tell us is coming for the mid-term elections without any em- pirical proof that it is even remotely feasible. It just makes a great talking point! This far-left wing of the Democratic party and their rabble rousers display every symptom of blowing up whatever natu- ral, historical edge they may have had. The American people do not tolerate hateful rhetoric or hateful deeds when it comes to our civility.
Talk about representing the canary in the mine. We always thought Democrats were smarter — well, at least some of them — than pil- ing on a man and his family in such a devious and spiteful manner. It seems that all he did was win an election and set about fulfilling promises to the forgotten American who Washington had ignored for so long. This is the sort of infantile behavior that does nothing more than virtually guarantee a second term of the Trump administration.
Remembering the Steve Scalese shooting about one year ago, one can’t help being concerned for the safety of the targeted government officials as their antagonists become more personal and physical. It appears – at least to me — that it’s just a matter of time before the promoters of this craziness — like Maxine Waters and Hollywood wind up with blood on their hands because of some nut they inspire.
Realizing that it will probably serve no useful purpose for this small town newspaper to offer a suggestion, I will offer one anyway. Perhaps the time has come for this group of people who have tak- en such umbrage at the election of a president they feel should have never been able to defeat a member of the Democrat royal family, the Clintons! Ouradvicetothemistobegintodevelopaplatformbased on discussions with and truly listening to the wants and needs of the American people. Realize that the government has indeed become the “deep state” and is driven by a need for enrichment and preser- vation of the ruling class. Trump saw the damage being inflicted on the average American and reached out to them, offering to assist in
the alleviation of their suffering and neglect.
Rash decisions and rash behavior is always the result of decisions
made and action taken in anger. Get over the election, return to civility with the citizens of this country and formulate some kind of real plan to win back the electorate. Continue on this current stupid course and risk doing real harm to American while becoming irrelevant and undesirable source of leadership. This group of naysayers has already done great damage to our society but, at this point, we’re not sure it is irreparable.
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Letters from readers
Jon Earnest — Editor
Chris Aguirre — Sports Editor Felicia Cousart Matlosz — Panorama Editor Budd Brockett — Editor Emeritus
QUOTE
“I’m not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a PART of hell will break loose... it’ll be much harder to detect.”
George Carlin (1937-2008)
Here are some worthy causes to put your mind — and donation — toward
Fred Hall
There’s enough going on in the world right now to give a person pause. You only need to turn on the national news — choose your network — to find world, U.S. or California events guaranteed to make you shake your head and wonder.
There’s the heated debate over children separated from parents and family, yet another mass shooting (this one in a smaller, East Coast daily newspaper), and animal adventures (ill-advised hand feeding of sharks, even more ill-advised hunting of 18-year-old black giraffes). It’s there in sports as well. There’s national de- spair in each World Cup knockout de- feat (Mexico, Spain and Argentina to name three) and the Lakers and War- riors battling to see who more heavily can make it rain green.
For a little clarity about that NBA spending spree, let’s bring a little bit of logical clarity to worthy spending.
Reedley resident Sarah Hill could use a little monetary assistance, af- ter digging into her own pocket for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The 31-year-old Reedley College music graduate is traveling to Italy later this month to participate in the In- terHarmony International Music Festival. At the 12-day event, she will attend voice classes from internation- al instructors, practice and perform on multiple occasions and receive a unique musical education.
You could call Sarah an aspiring singer, but her vocal aspirations are especially noble. She is studying to
become a musical therapist, special- izing in singing and working with Alzheimer’s and dementia patients. It’s part of a desire she has to help work with her grandfather, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and other elderly seniors battling neurological issues.
The InterHarmony International Music Festival is a prestigious invite- only event that students much apply to attend. Hill is among the extremely fortunate to be chosen. But it doesn’t come cheap. Total cost to attend the event, including travel and lodging, is about $4,000.
Sarah has paid the required mon- ey for the Festival, but is on the hook for about half the cost. She has re- ceived help from the Dinuba Lions, Reedley Kiwanis and Kingsburg Ro- tary among others, but happily wel- comes donations from anyone wish- ing to further reduce those costs.
“I took out a credit card to meet the deadline,” Sarah said. “I realize this will benefit me as a student and when I’m applying for transfers. It definitely will open doors for me. Even if I can’t fundraise it all, it is worth it.”
Still, it would be a happy story if the generous Reedley community further helped a young person who already is paying it forward. Hill plans to do volunteer work with local seniors when she returns from Italy.
•••
There are other charitable causes
worth sending a donation. Especially if the donation were in the name of
Pam Melville, the dynamic downtown Reedley business owner and commu- nity advocate who died June 23 fol- lowing a long battle with cancer.
Two organi-
zations near and
dear to Pam’s heart
were the Reedley Parks and Recre- ation Foundation (she was a member of the city’s commission for 19 years, including more than 10 as chair) and the Reedley Parkway Foundation. You also could choose your favorite nonprofit to make a donation.
•••
This time of year, I always make
it a point to practice caution and good judgment when out swimming or boating on the Kings River or any foothill or mountain lake. But no mat- ter the time of year, please be extra careful when you drive on rural roads outside Reedley, Dinuba, Parlier and Orange Cove.
Tragically, a Reedley couple lost their lives July 1 when the vehicle they were riding in was broadsided by another vehicle that ran a stop sign at the intersection of Bethel and Rose Avenue east of Selma. Despite clearly marked signs at the inter- section, a lapse in attention proved deadly.
Of course, there’s no need to even consider the idea of driving impaired. Just don’t do it.
Toxic social media ‘influencers’ a catalyst for violence
By Jay York
Guest columnist
The senseless murder of five employees from the Capital Gazette in Annapo- lis, Md., on June 28 was pre- ceded by a long, complicat- ed history of harassment, veiled threats and growing anger — most of which oc- curred on social media.
Five human lives — peo- ple who worked day-in and day-out to tell the stories of the city of 39,000 people — were taken thanks to a misguided, angry gunman emboldened by hateful and violent rhetoric directed at journalists at large.
Working in the media and primarily on social me- dia, you see the real side of journalism. The passion, the dedication, the desire to “get it right.” The ones look- ing to keep our population informed and then go home to their families at night.
The dangerous rhetoric of framing journalists as en- emies of the United States is simply not a reasonable per- ception based on my expe- riences in the industry. And yet, there it is. For years now, news that doesn’t jibe with our personal opinion of a topic has been called “Fake News.” Don’t like something you read? “Fake
news.” The dog whistle here is that journalists, by and large, are organized, professional liars looking to misinform the populace for nefarious reasons. The problem is — it’s not true.
But what happens when you call journalists liars, the news fake, and those covering it the “enemy of the American people” who “need to be curb-stomped”?
To those with a history of mental illness, or others harboring long-held, hate- filled grudges, or some hav- ing a desire to make their political allies proud, or those making a misguided attempt to “preserve” free- dom, this sort of rhetoric is emboldening. It gives them an excuse to do something horrific, with the badly mistaken self-perception that they’re doing some- thing heroic. Result: five hard-working newspaper employees are murdered at their jobs on a sunny Thurs- day in Annapolis.
The emergence of so- cial media has provided a platform for hateful rheto- ric to spread like wildfire in a way that we’ve ever seen before. It has created “influencers” that have emerged solely because of their willingness to sow venom more than their
reasonable competitors. It has nursed and cultivated a dangerously divisive dynamic to our already divisive political system. Those who aren’t inherent- ly violent people unknow- ingly give these personali- ties power which, in turn, allows them to influence those who do have a pro- pensity towards violence.
Our tweets and posts have consequences. Words matter, especially to those who aren’t of stable mind. Social media influencers and politicians who choose to spread this angry, hyper- bolic rhetoric are giving agency to the most delicate and dangerous among us.
The man who walked into the Capital Gazette and opened fire had a very close relationship with social me- dia. His original conviction stemmed from cyber stalk- ing and harassment, and for years he used multiple Twitter accounts to harass and demean the publica- tion and its journalists. He spoke both cryptically and literally. He turned his Twit- ter profile into a veritable manifesto for the violent atrocities he would eventu- ally commit.
Journalism’s role has never been more important than it is right now.
We live in a society that not even a century ago battled fascism and authori- tarian rule, and now we see its rise happening again. The founding fathers un- derstood the dangers of not having a free press to educate our citizens and provide a check on poten- tially malignant, powerful entities.
Social media — and the hateful, violent language spewed upon it by misguid- ed, profit-seeking talking heads — needs to be taken seriously. We cannot con- tinue to pretend words don’t matter and that actions don’t have consequences. We cannot disregard the fact that unstable, misguid- ed, or impressionable peo- ple are sitting at home right now reading what we say and using it to justify their twisted, violent desires. We cannot continue to be at war against our free press.
Our journalists deserve respect, not indignation. We won’t always like the news we hear, but we’re lucky to live in a society where it can be shared free of authoritar- ian oversight.
Jay York is the Senior Digital Marketing Strategist at News & Experts (www. newsandexperts.com), a national publicity firm.
Jon Earnest
A belated funeral notice
Funeral notice — After a three-month illness, the Trump presidency passed away on May 9, 2017. Robert Mueller, funeral director, is researching the achievements of the Trump presidency in order to write a proper eulogy.
The date of final interment is yettobedetermined.Condolenc- es may be sent to Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin, Moscow, Russia.
This political chuckle is brought to you by the Trump for ex-President Committee, Kings- burg, Calif.
Sam Hagen Kingsburg
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