The TV series called "Portlandia" showcases the capital city of Oregon as a paradise of coffee and left-wing progressivism. Until now the national media has been too busy in its navel-gazing exploits in Washington, D.C. to disabuse us of the notion.
But finally CNN has found something to fill its Saturday programming that was really quite interesting. It was in a segment of "CNN Newsroom with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul" (though I don't much care for CNN's biased coverage of late, I like both of them) that a professor named Randy Blazak appeared, not expressly to debunk the popular myths about Portland (though he did that perhaps inadvertently) but to call for peace between dueling political factions scheduled to show up for competing political demonstrations tomorrow (Sunday).
“We have this bubble we sort of live in –that it’s this sort of Portlandia liberal paradise but in fact there’s this racial tension been underneath all along.”
Blazak imparted a bit of interesting Oregon history, previously unknown to me. (It's that state tucked up into the corner there so. . .) During the Civil War era, Oregon had a bitter discussion regarding whether to be a slave state or to outlaw slavery in the state. The anti-slavery group won the debate but with the provision that it be an "all-white" state.
In other words, no blacks allowed? Never heard of such a thing? But this is a de-facto collective sociological disorder among liberal states of the Northeast -- thinking of Vermont and New Hampshire particularly as I write this.
Professor Blazak advised that one or both groups should cancel in order to prevent violence. He was particularly concerned that professional disruptors were coming from outside Portland with the intent of violent confrontation. He described the left-wing organizers coming from out of town as feeling "there is a need to violently address the other side.”
I'm of largely conservative leanings, and as such very vehement in my concern for civil rights, and I agree with Professor Blazak. Even if the progressive left threatens violence and mayhem in protest of the train stabbings that occurred during the past week, I think the conservative free-speech demonstrators planning a meetup in a park separated from the other by just one street should re-schedule theirs for another day.
Of course, they couldn't and shouldn't reschedule twice. But it would be an informative exercise for the public. It would clearly show who is really for 1st Amendment rights, and who really is operating in the interests of the country and its people.
