Yesterday's post on my travel blog was about Bloom Tour 2023, with floral-themed art installations at downtown businesses:
https://sporktogo.blogspot.com/2023/06/portland-bloom-tour-2023.html
There are festivals like this on a regular basis, and I always try and check them out. It is an area of personal interest for me, but also I get really frustrated by the constant conservative refrains of Portland being a cesspool or a landfill or having burned down, none of which is true, or even close to true.
Yes, there are homeless people, and they became more visible during the pandemic. That is not unique to Portland.
I know that for the most part those commenting so regularly on every post are not local; they do not know the truth, but they don't care about it either. Unfortunately, there are people who don't know that, so as we plan our excursions we currently get admonitions to be careful or questions about being scared to ride the MAX.
One of the recent entries has been a song from John Mellencamp, "The Eyes of Portland", largely known for its video footage of homeless people not coming from Portland. (I have heard there is footage from New York and San Francisco as well, but everything I saw in the video looked like Los Angeles.)
This post is not going to be so much about defending Portland or roasting John Mellencamp (though it may do a little of both), but more about that issue mentioned previously of getting good information, and knowing when you have good information.
Because of that, the article we are going to focus on is badly reported. There are better articles out there and I am going to link to them:
The OregonLive article by Lizzy Acker is more humorous, while still making good points. The PDX Monthly article is more indignant, seeing a branding problem for Portland. That is true, but Mellencamp's song is more a fruit of concerted anti-Portland branding from talk radio than a main factor in it.
For my opinion on the song, Acker is write to mock the lyrics; he sure did not try hard. The guitar work is actually pretty good, but Mellencamp's voice sounds terrible, like maybe he is trying to be a low-rent Tom Waits. He may not have much career left, and if this gives him a boost (or doesn't so he can claim he was canceled for it), bully for him. I remember him sounding better and coming up with better lyrics, back in the day.
In terms of the heart behind the song, there doesn't seem to be the contempt for the homeless you hear from other Portland haters. I mean, it does seem like he thinks someone should do something to help the homeless, even though he is not offering any ideas or any deeper understanding.
Many of the more right-wing focused articles refer to him as liberal. I mean, I'm not sure his support for Farm Aid wouldn't be a conservative cause now.
So let's get to that one article!
One interesting aspect is the headline: "Resident Cheers John Mellencamp's New Song for Portland: 'Land of Plenty Where Nothing Gets Done'
Yes, that is singular.
It has to be. They actually talked to two people who thought the song was good, but the other one moved. (And if the first is the Bridget Barton a brief search turned up, she is actually in West Linn.)
I say that focus in interesting, but I guess I mean weird, except it's less weird if you don't have other options.
If there were many residents cheering it, that might be a story. If it was a high-profile resident, like the mayor or someone who did a lot of work with the homeless, there could be a story there. If it were a great song, that might be a story.
They went with what they had, and one two sentence quote from a named resident is a little thin. How did they augment that?
There is a reference to Portlandia, and the change of the loving hippie stereotype to chaos and disorder. I suppose that's obligatory at this point. There is even a Portlandia photo leading the story, which would make more sense if that were not merely a humorous aside.
The other things are worse, and it makes it hard to know in what order to address them.
The best is probably a reference to another story about a lawsuit using ADA laws to sue Portland for the crowded sidewalks that are unusable:
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/09/07/portland-sued-over-tents-on-sidewalks-ada-accessibility/
I say this is the best because in the link to their own (equally bad) article is a link to a real news source, with real reporting (that is the link that I copied). There are some important issues with that lawsuit, and you get a better grasp on it through the OPB article.
In all fairness, a side reference in an article about something else is probably not going to get in depth.
"More egregious" might describe the link to another of their articles with an even worse headline: Homeless Woman Gives Brutally Honest Answer - She Has a Better Handle on the Crisis Than Most Blue City Leaders
The headline is clumsy and not even attempting fairness, but the real problem with this article is everything they get wrong, including placing her in Seattle.
I believe the reason for that is the person who filmed her, Kevin Dahlgren, works with We Heart Portland, which is an offshoot of We Heart Seattle. Still, he is with the Portland branch, has Gresham ties, and that video was very specifically Portland.
What is more worth noting is that the next day there was a video of her crying about how hard being homeless was.
(I think this article still gives Dahlgren too much benefit of the doubt, but it at least tries harder.)
The thing is, I remember seeing the first video, and sensing that she was looking at and judging other homeless people, believing that she herself was not like them. It was easy to talk like that to Dahlgren because he was going to help her replace her teeth, but I can't help but wonder how many people he spoke to before he found someone who said what he wanted.
From the point of view of the Western Journal, it's all good because Portland and Seattle are both blue cities, but the carelessness in details is a tell.
Finally, they address the issue of the footage not being from Portland, but this is their answer for that:
If anything, using footage from other places reinforces that the same wretched conditions are festering wherever the Democrats are in control.
Yes, the wretched condition of homelessness grows when there is income inequality, which has been especially paired with tech booms and rising growth in income inequality. Blue states where they attempt to support good education and infrastructure are much more likely to have tech booms. Then we need to work on restraining the inequality part, which Republicans would hate, but a long trend toward assuming capitalism makes everything better has festered on both sides of the aisle. Capitalism needs checks, because greed has none.
I could point out other flaws in the article, but I just want to point out two more things on the page.
From the header: EQUIPPING READERS WITH THE TRUTH
Just below the article: We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism.
They sure aren't.
And this is just one (using the term loosely) news source; there are plenty of others. I use this example to point out that sometimes these sources fall apart under a very slight scrutiny. It is worth paying attention.
If they are not careful about details, that might be purposefully agenda-driven or it might just be sloppiness, but neither of those makes for a good source.
In addition, apply those same criteria to what you hear from people. If someone is always passing along misinformation, they may not be doing it maliciously, but you should also know not to accept what they say at face value.
The truth matters. Sometimes that is for our own protection and benefit, but if it is still only about how we treat and view others, that has everything to do with our purpose here.
Related post:
https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2023/05/do-they-know-or-care-that-they-are-lying.html
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