Several days passed. I decided I would no longer be a member of the FADC. On May 8 I sent the following message to all of the club members and to the Citizens Democracy Watch leader who had hung the offensive signs on the library room’s walls. I also sent the message to Senator Roblan’s head staff member.
***
Attached are my notes of Arnie Roblan’s town hall conducted May 4.
I feel compelled to address a few things that have bothered me considerably. Here goes.
I took my audio recorder to the town hall because I sensed I would need an accurate recording of what I thought might transpire. After experiencing the meeting, I knew I had to produce an accurate rendering of what was said. I put in a day and a half doing so, time I would much rather have spent doing things I want to do rather than dwelling on things that make me angry.
The older I get the more annoyed I become with people. We are a flawed species. All of us. I saw Saturday human weaknesses in friends, acquaintances, and people I hardly know or don’t know at all. Weaknesses that I know I am also guilty of. For instance:
knowing so much about a subject that you begin to think you are an expert and anybody who has a shade of difference of opinion has to be wrong,
being so strongly committed to an ideological point of view that anybody who isn’t as strongly committed is looked upon as the enemy, regardless of the fact that the individual has unselfishly devoted his time and energy for the benefit of us all in other areas -- areas that we all agree are important,
a tendency to interpret what a person says to corroborate our opinion of that person,
a tendency to value our own viewpoint so much that we won’t fairly consider a different viewpoint,
an unwillingness to tolerate somebody’s genuinely-held, opposing viewpoint after having considered it,
remembering what you think you heard (which is actually what you subconsciously wanted to believe you heard) rather than what was actually said.
For me, Saturday’s town hall was the ugliest of any town hall I have attended except for a DeFazio town hall in Coos Bay in 2010 when tea partiers had their say. I was especially offended by the signs that were put up over the windows and the one up front. You would have thought that Mitch McConnell was to be the speaker. These were signs put up by friends of mine! The message delivered was “FU, Roblan! You’d better wise up!” I also took them as “FU, Florence Area Democratic Club. We don’t care that you are sponsoring this event. We came in here to create a hostile environment to serve our purposes. Too bad.“
I saw too much of what I’m going to call “ideological intolerance.” God knows there is plenty of political behavior and dishonesty on the right and the selfish, criminal conduct of large corporations to be angry and intolerant about! I saw a man that I have followed and supported for 8 years, a man who genuinely desires to serve and benefit the broad public as he did school children first as a teacher and later as an administrator, a man who is diligent about listening to all sides of issues, who seeks to bring differing people together, a man who is not bought but who makes decisions based, after careful consideration, on his own assessment-making, a man who was remarkably patient over a standing, two-hour ordeal, made the target of ideological hostility.
So I have attached my rendering of what was said Saturday, as accurate as I could make it, soft voices, coughing, dropped voices at the ends of sentences, cross-talking, and rapid talking handicapping me. I hope you find it beneficial.
I’m absolutely weary of politics, what it does to people, and what it is doing to me. I don’t like becoming angry at people who carry on the necessary fight against conservative policies and greedy corporate rule. I don’t need that. You don’t, either. I’m stepping away from political activism. Ten years has been enough. Stepping away also means I’m leaving the FADC. Please know that I wish it good fortune and success.
Harold Titus
***
I received some kind email message from friends.
***
[Filed May 23]
WOW!!
Harold, I can understand your position as I get jaded with ‘friends’ turning out to be on the ‘wrong side’ and I had heard from others that feelings were running high over the GMO bill at the meeting.
The democrats have been getting scorched over the past 8 years just as much as the GOP, by people who are ‘independent’ and can swing with the tide. I’ve heard it for a long time.
I’ll settle down and read your recording and comment if appropriate.
Just wanted to you know I support your decision and agree it’s time to sit back and see what the hotheads can come up with.
It will be full of the ‘Unintended Consequences‘ I rail about because people can’t see all sides.
Enjoy more of your time with Janet and helping your family get set on the better path.
Please take care of you.
Jenny
Harold, please don't step away from the Florence Democrats. I was also disturbed by the signs, I came home and told Bernie when I saw Stew taking them down, I wondered if he had asked our group, permission to hang them.
Harold hang in there with a great, dedicated group. Let's talk soon. Lu
Thank you for taking the time and effort to attempt to bring clarity to a challenging situation. I appreciate you. I, also, am taking a few steps and three months away to consider how I can best helpfully contribute to various issues of mutual concern.
Thank you
again, and I look forward to sharing a coffee in August....
Shalom,
Mary
Harold - Thank you for this synopsis of the meeting that I could not attend. It's most helpful and I can just hear the discord that happened at that meeting. I'm sorry that you must leave the club. You've kept it going in the most respectful way - sorry that it isn't what happened Saturday.
Again, thanks, Nancy
Yes harold, I am sick of polotics and all that seems to drag along
with
it but I'll read your commentary and notes in detail and give you
some of my thoughts of the general sad state of political
affairs and
the many turn offs that go along with it. I will
not be as explicit as
you since I have not been as deeply
involved over the years as you.
Wish politics was an easy read
(a little more like it has been in years
gone by) but it has
become unrecognizable with the impregnated
crazyness that is now
commonplace. Sad, very sad. Talk again with
you when I can
settle in for a intelligent (?) response. Lou
Thanks for providing this, Harold. I’ve heard a few comments from others who attended. I’m usually sorry when I miss a meeting, but maybe not this one. Garry
Harold,I'm so sorry to hear we're losing you for good?I know I agreed with a few of the comments made by those who were confronting Arnie..but,I too was embarrassed and thought the CDW was overboard,even dictatorial.I had written an email to him,earlier that week,and said,even tho I,too fear the effects of Monsanto,and altered food,I respected his work and his opinion.Joanne Henderson is the most up in arms.I told her,they should have had an investigation into this matter with results on his desk a lot sooner than this. If we are to educate out statesman,we have to get up early in the morning to be ahead of the incoming corporate powers!I think alot of people are at the end of their rope,and I know we have a national pandemic of paranoia,everyone wants their issue out front.I will truly miss your comradry,friend.I think we'd better have one goodbye coffee for you and Jan.I think,too,that when Arnie stated,he'd have to leave after a few questions,that Hank should have picked up on that,and we'd have given a hand to Arnie,he could have taken leave,and THEN,the candidates for Port could have introduced themselves to us all.I hope Hank gets sharper,and our club lives on under Pat Reno's new design,but I'm not sure l,myself am very tired,as I have stated to you.Never thought I'd lose hope for democracy but,I'm borderline.Thankyou for all your good guidance,good jokes,your friendship.Sincerely,Wende
Dear Harold,
Sharon Stiles forwarded your email to me and I greatly appreciated your precise of the meeting. I too thought that Arnie was remarkably patient and forbearing.
I am saddened to hear that you're dropping out of active participation in local politics. You have been such a staunch defender of the good guys! I also find that as I get older, I have less and less patience for the follies of the human race. Thank you for all you've done for the local Democrats.
Annie
Harold,
Apologies for not following up with another phone call last week. I just wanted to thank you for getting the Roblan TH on paper, so I can try and follow what is going on. Since returning from our recent travel, I have talked to a few people on this Oregon seed issue. It (Monsanto and genetically modfied seeds) is obviously a huge subject, but I believe Arnie is being misunderstood, and a lot of people are "talking past each other".
Anyway, thanks again for your incredible way of talking straight!
Karin
***
On November 2 I wrote for myself my existing thoughts about the May 4 town hall event.
***
I had thought a bit about going to the meeting today and eventually decided not to. I would like to have heard the two speakers, one from Food Share and the other a candidate to oppose [County commissioner Jay] Bozievich next year. But, no. I’ll wait until January or February. Call me irrational or unforgiving or anything else but I cannot (will not) let pass … [the zealot’s] ideological intolerance.
I believe a person who serves as a true public servant, who strives to do what he considers right, who listens to all sides of issues, who makes his decisions based on what he considers fair and just, deserves to be respected. [The zealot] … disrespected Arnie Roblan. As the club’s chair he sent repeatedly to the club members email requests by anti-Monsanto organizations that citizens send messages to Arnie’s office demanding that he stop supporting SB633, a bill that would prohibit local municipalities and counties putting ballot measures up that if passed would regulate the use of GMO seeds. These email alerts were one-sided propaganda pieces designed to arouse public furor. Roblan was deliberately linked with Monsanto. I emailed … [the zealot] that I didn’t like what he was doing after he had forwarded the first email, but he continued doing it. At Arnie’s town hall May 4, … [the zealot] did not moderate the meeting, which caused Arnie to have to suffer listening to accusatory questions and condescending tutorials about GMO seeds all the while insulting signs put up by Citizens Democracy Watch looked down on the proceedings.
I’ve never inquired but I suspect that … [the zealot] probably knew about the signs to be put up and approved of their use. Whether this was true or not, he definitely was anti-Arnie. (As was his wife and at least two of the club members who attended) I’ve seen nothing in his excessive forwarding to members of email messages send by various activist organizations that indicates any moderation of his views or behavior. The bottom line is I am probably as angry today about what was done in May as I was then. (Also, having been the chair, I find fault in how he conducts meetings. How petty of me!) It makes no sense to me that I should sit through any of his meetings all the while angry)
According to the minutes of the last club meeting, … [the zealot] doesn’t intend to stay on as chair next year. If somebody (hopefully a person who respects different points of view) steps forward, then, yes, I’d consider coming back to be a passive member. I like most everybody in the club and miss seeing them. If nobody steps forward (a distinct possibility), then the club will cease to be.
***
I wrote one letter to an editor of a newspaper during 2013 after the town hall meeting. It was printed November 21.
***
The history of mankind has always been a tale of greed and lust for power versus promotion of the public good. You would think that the vast majority of ordinary citizens would value the latter objective when they make judgments about government policy. But no. Such is the power of media manipulation of fact and the GOP’s exploitation of humankind psychological hang-ups.
Case in point is Shari Parker’s letter to the editor Nov. 18. Living in the manufactured Republican/Fox News bubble, she gives us hackneyed GOP talking points: Obama is inexperienced, he is a liar, we need a business person to be president, “Obamacare” adds to (not subtracts from) the national deficit, we already have “the best health care system in the world,” and government should leave us alone.
She comments: “It’s a travesty that we’re saddling our children and grandchildren with a debt that can only impact their lives negatively.” Debt is not our problem. Humongous income inequality and the reasons for it are the problem. Debt is a smoke screen, an excuse to abandon responsibility to meet societal needs that would necessitate the rich having to pay increased taxes.
My concern for everybody’s grandchildren stems from corporate America’s continued pollution of our air (carbon emissions especially) and water (spills, dumping of waste, fracking) and the poisoning of our food (Monsanto, etc.) and the ultimate consequence of corporate, GOP misinformation and greed: human extinction (irreversible global climate change).
Printed November 21, 2013, in the Register-Guard
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