Parroting the Company Party Line

Anarchists?

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Tom Davis

The letter written by Mr. Jack Krause, which appeared in this week's issue of the Mason County Journal under the heading "Civility has deteriorated", was baited with demagoguery and ripe with misinformation. And here's why:

First, Mr. Krause accuses opponents of biomass fueled incinerators as "...reverting to anarchistic methods of dissent".

To assert that citizens exercising their civil rights is somehow anarchistic is not only demagoguery, but pure nonsense.

This is the second time I have heard such drivel put forth by a grown man who should know better; the first time was in an article in the Washington Pilot's Association (WPA) newsletter, authored by John Dobson, Port of Shelton Director and president of the WPA. Coincidence?

Mr. Krause is a friend and fellow pilot of Port Commissioners Hupp and Wallitner, and of Port Director, John Dobson. It is reasonable to think he would mention these associations.

Mr. Krause also asserts that Rising Tide is a "radical movement." But Rising Tide is nothing more than a group of Evergreen College students- our very own sons and daughters (or grandsons and granddaughters)- who care enough about our environment to get involved in the political system. With all the talk about how our children are our future, you'd think Mr. Krause would be delighted to see young people getting involved in non-violent, political pursuit of their values.

To the part of the letter where Mr. Krause states that attending a Port of Shelton meeting "...means confronting obnoxious paparazzi poking cameras in your face and screaming, I know my rights;" I've attended nearly every Port meeting since April, and I've never seen a single instance of anything even remotely resembling Mr. Krause's depiction of events. I also don't recall ever having seen Mr. Krause at a Port of Shelton public meeting, though he may have attended one.

But what I have witnessed is ignorance, arrogance and a stunning disregard for the health and welfare of the residents of Mason County by Port officials, who pack the chambers with rowdy individuals brought in from outside the county, who apply rules arbitrarily, who ignore petitions signed by thousands of residents and many medical professionals, and who continue to throw millions of dollars into a worthless airport facility to accommodate their buddies, while the city of Shelton is forced to literally turn out the lights to save a couple of bucks.

And the list goes on and on...

Finally, Mr. Krause warns the public to be wary of smooth-talking, well educated "easterners...coming to save us poor country folks". To this I offer the following advice: if you need to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find a piece of emotionally charged crap to support your argument, then you may want to reconsider the merits of your case.

What we have here is nothing more than another Hupp buddy parroting the company party line.

Let me be clear on this point. In my opinion, Mr. Krause is a man who has come late to the party, bringing only a need to assert his opinion of events he knows absolutely nothing about.

But I suspect that the real purpose of Mr. Krause's letter is not so much to lament the demise of civility, but as an instrument of distraction from the issue at hand: The biomassacre of Mason County.

Shelton Blog invites Mr Krause to comment if he so wishes.

Photo by Christine