Editorials

• Freedom of Speech Stretches Only So Far

  Editorials April 9, 2012 at 3:22 pm 3 comments

  I am a strong believer in freedom of speech. I believe that if you think abortion is wrong, you have a right to express that opinion. If I’m walking to class, and you approach me about anything — whether you just have to talk to me for, literally, the sixth time about Heavenly Mother, the Church of Latter-Day Saints, the environment chickens have to live in, your ongoing abortion protest — I will smile, take your pamphlet and drop it in my notebook. I hate to see passersby who often forget their manners. Activists are people with feelings, not brainless, inanimate objects, so I make sure to never be rude. Though I may already have an opinion about the subject you’re advocating or protesting, one that I do not expect to change — give me a pamphlet because I’ll take it, and I’ll look at it. One thing I strongly disagree with, however, is the manner in which the most recent abortion protest unfolded. We have censorship on television for a reason; if you are opposed to seeing graphic images on television, you switch off the TV. But if I need to get to class and there are 20 pictures […]

   

• Construction at Mason: A Double-Edged Sword

  Editorials April 9, 2012 at 3:21 pm 1 comment

  Construction: You hear it, you see it, you smell it — it’s everywhere. It’s part of daily life here at George Mason University. You can walk your regular route one day and find out the next day that it’s going to take you an extra five minutes to get to class because construction workers just broke ground on a new project. It can be a hassle in the everyday lives of students, but at the end of the day, the finished products are part of the reason why Mason is such an innovative university with a rapidly expanding student body. Construction at Mason really is a double-edged sword. It’s amazing how many new buildings and parking decks have sprung up in just the past few years. When I was a freshman just four years ago, there was no Recreation and Athletic Complex, School of Art, Eastern Shore, Hampton Roads, Rogers and Whitetop, Rappahannock Parking Deck, Mason Inn, Engineering Building or University Hall. In fact, Southside was just opening. Buildings like Thompson Hall have been completely renovated, and Science and Technology is getting a huge expansion, with STII in the process of being completely gutted. A lot has obviously changed over […]

   

• Online Dating: Has it Gone to Far?

  Editorials April 9, 2012 at 3:20 pm Comments are Disabled

  Many of you are probably familiar with online dating sites such as Zoosk, Match.com and eHarmony — websites specifically designed to help you find a compatible partner. But now, with the advancements of technology and the growing number of participants, many of these online dating sites are coming up with new strategies to draw even larger crowds. Virtual dating is a relatively new type of dating system. Like online dating sites, it allows individuals to form relationships with others all over the world. The interesting concept of virtual dating is it combines online dating with online gaming. Like online dating sites, you are required to create your own profile and search around for people who interest you. Once you come across a profile you like, you simply click a button and ask that person out on a date. This is where virtual dating starts to branch out onto its own path. On an online dating site, if that person responds “yes,” you would have to pick a place to meet and show them a good time, whereas on a virtual dating site, you would go on a “virtual date.” You choose an avatar image that will best represent you, and […]

   

• Keystone Pipeline XL: A Bad Idea

  Editorials April 2, 2012 at 4:07 pm Comments are Disabled

  Nasty stuff happens when you let other people think for you — especially if those people happen to be House Speaker John Boehner and his allies, who are still mourning the death of a bill last month that would have let them approve the Keystone Pipeline XL. The bill was killed in the Senate by just four votes. Proponents of the bill were mostly Republican. However, a few Democrats joined Boehner, including our own Sen. Jim Webb, because they feared their chances for re-election might die along with the bill. But every George Mason University student should be dancing on its grave. The Keystone Pipeline XL is an anti-green project, and when I say “green” I mean your money. According to a September 2011 study by Cornell University, if Keystone XL is ever built, your gas could cost you between 10 and 20 cents more per gallon. Unless you believe the June 2010 Perryman Group study, which claims that the building of Keystone XL would lower gas prices by an uncountable amount. Since the Perryman study was funded by TransCanada Corporation, the very company that wants to build Keystone XL, I think it’s safe to assume the people at Perryman […]

   

• The Inconvenient Truth About Racism

  Editorials April 2, 2012 at 4:05 pm Comments are Disabled

  The recent hateful murder of Trayvon Martin in Florida and the xenophobic beating and subsequent death of Shaima Alawadi in her own home in California accentuate the fact that racism still exists. Events such as these deflate the fantastical notion that we have developed a racism-free utopia. It is an inconvenient truth that racism — compounded by xenophobia and religious antipathy — not only exists in today’s world, but is an innate part of human nature. It will exist for as long as the human race endures. Racism, defined by Webster’s Online Dictionary as “the discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of another race,” exists in one form or another on every continent and in every country, every society, every neighborhood and every individual. Surprisingly, even our own human immune system behaves in a such a manner. Immunologists speak of a process in which our bodies react defensively to an “unwanted intrusion” by “foreign non-self” elements that are not recognized by the body. Sometimes, however, the process breaks down and the immune system attacks its own cells and tissues leading to what’s called “autoimmunity.” In this state of hypersensitivity, much like overt racism and hatred, the body attacks normal cells […]

   

• The Coffee Sundress

  Editorials April 2, 2012 at 4:04 pm Comments are Disabled

  We frequently hear that imperfections make us unique and beautiful, but this idea of the importance of individuality is incomplete. Imperfections are what make us gorgeous, but only when we embrace them unconditionally. All too often, however, we exaggerate and obsess over our perceived “flaws,” thereby confining ourselves to a mentality akin to slavery. We allow ourselves to be consumed by silly externalities that no one else actually notices. Our keen eyes seem to be constantly searching for something to be unhappy about. Who cares if your hips are big or small? Maybe you’re on your way to loving yourself unconditionally and regardless of your “deviant” waist-to-hip ratio. You’re beginning to feel that it’s the way you’re supposed to be — completely and uniquely you. Then a friend who is secretly wearing devil horns steps into your happy situation and starts making snide comments about you. These remarks stem from her envy of your ability to simply adore yourself, but you still feel guilt and shame. All of a sudden you’re the odd girl out just because your friends all settled for self-hatred whereas you are on track to an emotionally healthy state. Loving yourself seems like it should be […]

   

• The Evolution of Animosity in Classrooms

  Editorials April 2, 2012 at 4:03 pm Comments are Disabled

  Jonathan Leonberger took a seat toward the back of room 103, Innovation Hall’s largest lecture hall, as his 236 classmates began to fill the 287-seat auditorium. “One of the fascinating things about sitting this far back is that you are able to see what all of the other students are doing,” said Leonberger, a sophomore marketing major at George Mason University. One by one, students pulled out their notebooks and laptops. “In a class of 236, paying attention is a choice rather than a requirement,” Leonberger said as he pulled out his i>clicker2 handset, which are used in large classes to perform tasks ranging from taking attendance to administering quizzes The classroom of antiquity was not the large lecture hall with rows of students squished together listening to a teacher’s monologue but an arena of interactive and explorative philosophical thought. Socrates created a method of interactive teaching known today as the Socratic Method. He used thought-provoking questions to force students to examine their own beliefs and form hypotheses. The Socratic classroom was an open forum of discussion for the betterment of both the student and the teacher. With successive technological advances, we seem to have strayed from this method of […]

   

• Ads and Body Image Don’t Mix

  Editorials April 2, 2012 at 4:02 pm Comments are Disabled

  Decades ago women were cherished for their overtly round hips, plump buttocks and full, natural breasts. However, in the 21st century the idea of naturally occurring beauty has all but disappeared, leading to an incessant need to alter bodies in order to have “normal” appearances. “Clearly, there’s an idealized breast out there, round and very full. Trouble is, it doesn’t quite go with another ideal — the slim, slim torso,” Canadian freelance journalist Judith Timson states in her article “Breast Stroke.” “Those Victoria’s Secret models, for instance, with their slender bodies and major boobage — this is not an anatomically normal set of events. No exercise, diet or potion can produce those contradictory proportions for most women. But surgery can.” The reality is that people, namely women, are consulting plastic surgeons to obtain ideal bodies whether or not their bodies are anatomically correct. In the 21st century, American society has done away with uniqueness and created a norm which most women feel the need to conform to. “Comedian Joan Rivers was asked on an A&E documentary to come up with one word to describe breasts today,” Timson continued in her article, “and, ever succinct, she replied ‘plastic.’” Breast augmentations aren’t […]

   

• Flawed Process Leaves Little to Voters

  Editorials April 2, 2012 at 4:01 pm Comments are Disabled

  The state of American presidential politics is simply depressing. The media has taken the reigns of the Republican primary and continuously injects Americans with their two anointed candidates, Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney. These candidates have records of expanding government, increasing spending and advocating market and foreign interventionism. On the other side we have our president who ignores the calls for restoring fiscal sanity, respecting civil liberties and halting the expansion of our overseas empire. The similarities between the “frontrunners” make them nearly indistinguishable; Americans might as well flip a coin to decide whom they will vote for come Election Day. Our severe lack of choices should not come as a surprise. The unabated, diminishing interest in policy and increasing focus on both the electoral horse race and party labels have diluted American politics and pushed out philosophical voters. Ask your average voter why he supports a certain candidate. The usual response seems to be, “I want this person because he is a better option than the other.” What this shows is not only a symptom of widespread ignorance of the issues but also the fact that people aren’t completely satisfied with their choices. Some may take this lightly and […]

   

• Student Government: Inefficient or Incapable?

  Editorials April 2, 2012 at 4:00 pm Comments are Disabled

  Student Government is holding a “What Do You Want Wednesday” this week. I really regret that I can’t attend as I’m sure whatever problems I’d like to see solved here at George Mason University — lower tuition, lower parking fees, less wasteful spending, traffic lights at the overcrowded intersections — would certainly be tended to immediately and efficiently. It’s comforting to see that when students say they want to see a reduction in penalties for drug possession, SG understands this to be code for “We want plastic bag taxes, $9,000 worth of Gold Rush T-shirts and then Donald Garrett, the guy who privately raised half the funds to buy these shirts, to be impeached and then kicked off of the presidential ballot.” But, hey, at least they give you a cookie. Since I’ll be gone on “What Do You Want Wednesday,” I decided to conduct my own version by asking some students here at Mason what they would like to see done on campus and include the list in Broadside. Not only are some of the students I asked currently campaigning to make SG better, more useful and less wasteful, but some of the students I asked are in SG […]