Editorials

• Bullying Regulations Go Too Far

  Editorials October 24, 2011 at 7:38 pm Comments are Disabled

  Earlier this year New Jersey enacted the toughest anti-bullying law in the country. The aptly named Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights was put in place after the death of Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi. It also stemmed from a handful of other high profile bullying-related incidents across the country. While instances of this type of harassment are tragic, they absolutely do not require an across-the-board government solution. According to the New Jersey law, “Each school must designate an anti-bullying specialist to investigate complaints; each district must, in turn, have an anti-bullying coordinator; and the State Education Department will evaluate every effort, posting grades on its website. Superintendents said that educators who failed to comply could lose their licenses.” The added costs to this government overreach are putting already financially stressed school districts in dire straits. As a result, in East Hanover, New Jersey, lunch-line bullies can be reported to the police anonymously through a Crime Stoppers hotline. Additionally, localities must appoint a safety team to review bullying complaints. Administrators and teachers have to attend training seminars and children must attend workshops and put up with posters, programs, and cheesy role-playing exercises to increase awareness. These overreaching regulations teach kids to snitch on […]

   

• The Princess Who Quit Disney

  Editorials October 24, 2011 at 7:37 pm Comments are Disabled

  Everything changes when we see a handsome man. Sitting on the subway, staring out of the window into the fleeting darkness. We take a second longer to look, hopeful that he might glance our way and smile. Then, the entire ride and our happiness is solely based on whether or not he looks over, smiles and thinks of some cute line to introduce himself. It’s quite sad, actually. A woman’s life almost revolves around this chance of meeting the hopeful bachelor who wants to be in a committed relationship and will one day want to settle down, have children and be wealthy enough to have a pool in his backyard. And where exactly is this okay? Yup: in the fairy tales we grew up reading and the movies we become old watching. So, you’re at the local coffeehouse reading the paper as your attention slowly fades and enters another dimension where only he exists. You feign amusement in the paper just to show that you’re engaging enough to pique his interest. He finishes his cup, attention directed to the keystrokes of his laptop, and then he quickly gets up to leave, as if he was never there, a figment of […]

   

• Letter to the Editor: Mason to Metro Needs Work

  Editorials October 24, 2011 at 7:37 pm Comments are Disabled

  I applaud Mason’s past efforts to encourage public transportation by providing, and then fortifying, shuttle bus service to the Vienna Metro. Unfortunately, a recent decision was made to route all Mason-to-Metro shuttles through campus congestion from the Mason Inn to Rappahannock. This decision has, in effect, thrown Mason’s public transportation commuters “under the bus”; the very people who are part of the solution to vehicular traffic on campus end up suffering the most. (Should it really have to take commuters an extra 45 minutes to get home whenever there’s “an event” on campus?) We all know that the key to successful public transportation is efficiency. A direct route from Rappahannock to the Metro is common sense. The current quagmire is not. The Mason community can do better. Sincerely, Jim Lepore Professor

   

• How Do You Spell Google?

  Editorials October 19, 2011 at 3:49 pm Comments are Disabled

  Google was recently on trial for potentially owning two-thirds of the cyber market. Ken Auletta’s “Googled: The End of the World as We Know It” was an accurate premonition of the heat Google is now receiving for monopolizing the web. Just last June, the Federal Trade Commission began investigating the web monster to see if it’s been promoting its own products in searches and whether its behavior has been legally sound. The government has developed concerns that the search engine has become the threat that Auletta warned it could be in his book. Auletta described the two faces of Google; the possible violation of antitrust law has shined a spotlight on the more nasty one. Last month Google Chairman Eric Schmidt testified in front of the Senate, claiming that the company has yet to abuse a dominant business position and is therefore not violating any specific law. He also said that Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, has been having an influx of traffic and Google’s perceived dominance. Schmidt did admit, however, that his company is teetering on the border of a monopoly, but it wouldn’t matter either way because monopolies are legal. I do like how Auletta’s book discussed both pros […]

   

• Television Ignores Black Culture

  Editorials October 19, 2011 at 3:49 pm Comments are Disabled

  With the arrival of the new television lineup a few weeks ago came a slew of new shows that eased their way into my viewing queue. One that particularly caught my eye was ABC’s historical drama “Pan Am,” which follows the lives of stewardesses and airline pilots during the iconic era of flight in the 1960s. Hoping it would be somewhat similar to the airline nostalgia found in the film, “Catch Me If You Can,” I tuned in. Not surprisingly, the show glamorized the innocuous, joyful escapades of the characters, devoid of any major worries, including small quips of romance and mystery along the way. The thing that did surprise me was the complete lack of blacks portrayed, except for a few extras in the background. Flipping around on other TV channels, I realized that most major network shows (excluding law and criminal genres), are void of any central black characters, especially in historical fiction. For some shows such as “The Tudors,” it’s more understandable, seeing as the slave trade hadn’t happened at full-scale yet. However for others, the opportunity is obviously there to include black culture and society. Networks, producers and scriptwriters often fear backlash from viewers regarding the […]

   

• Playing Dress Up

  Editorials October 19, 2011 at 3:46 pm Comments are Disabled

  Can we buy sexy? Can we simply blanket our insecurities and sell our sexy? We can paint our faces every morning, drown our clothes in perfume and dress ostentatiously, but strip it all away and we’re rough-skinned little girls with no heart. Isn’t the purpose of performing all these circus acts to compensate for the lack of confidence and hide our physical “flaws”? All the clown makeup and big hair is supposed to make up for the lack of self-love; unfortunately, it’s not that easy. I was at work earlier today and I saw a shirt with a provocative picture of the infamous Marilyn Monroe plastered on it. I’ve always felt a slight sourness from the mention of her name. She simply exuded “whore.” Then it dawned on me that I was mistaken. She’s just like most women: She had a natural beauty, wore an extensive amount of makeup and was the epitome of desirability when it came to men, or at least she aspired to be that way. But Monroe was a sad, lonely girl who battled depression, loved reading novels and poetry, and spent a lot of time in deep thought. She was and still is an icon […]

   

• A Manifesto For Occupy Wall Street

  Editorials October 19, 2011 at 3:42 pm Comments are Disabled

  As the Occupy Wall Street protests stretch into their fourth week, an initially inattentive media is asking just what the demonstrators hope to accomplish. The movement hasn’t exactly provided an answer. “It doesn’t matter what you’re protesting,” The New York Times reported one leader saying. “Just protest.” It does matter what they’re protesting, though. It matters a lot. Occupy Wall Street is acting as a voice for long-simmering anguish. Unless they want it to end there, it isn’t enough to “just protest.” They need to organize. They need to mobilize. They need to express a set of ideas and get candidates for political office behind them. They need to do this by next year’s elections. The protesters could effect real political change, as the Tea Party has, but only if they can show the world what they stand for. They should begin by committing to these beliefs: •That all citizens are entitled to affordable, quality health care. •That all qualified individuals are entitled to a free or heavily subsidized higher education. •That our elderly, whom we rightly respect and cherish, deserve an ample pension in their golden years. •That a free market is essential to fostering innovation but that an […]

   

• Student Government Monthly

  Editorials October 19, 2011 at 3:41 pm Comments are Disabled

  Welcome back to another edition of Student Government Monthly. During October, SG will be busy hosting numerous events for both the student body and our surrounding communities. On Thursday, following the Senate meeting, SG members will walk with administrators and university staff throughout campus at night searching for any unlit areas, problematic features and safety hazards. A compiled report will be presented to administration for necessary changes. This is an annual tradition that SG undertakes to maintain a safe and friendly campus environment. Moving forward to the next week, Oct. 23 to 30, SG will be holding three big events, starting with the AIDS Walk Kickoff on Oct. 25. The event will be held on the Johnson Center North Plaza from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will include giveaways, free food, performances and, most importantly, guest speakers who will be presenting educational statistics to help educate George Mason University about the AIDS pandemic. SG hopes this event inspires students to participate and walk with our own Mason team at the AIDS Walk on Oct. 29 in Washington, D.C. For more information regarding the AIDS Walk please visit aidswalkwashington.org. Two days later, on Oct. 27, SG will be teaming […]

   

• ‘Occupy’ is Far From United

  Editorials October 19, 2011 at 3:40 pm Comments are Disabled

  McPherson Square in downtown D.C. was alive last weekend with protest signs and angry chants as more than 100 people took part in the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations spreading throughout the country. The edges of one end of the park were scattered with sleeping bags, blankets and cardboard signs, and the main sidewalk was complete with an information table, food supplies and a “take one, leave one” cigarette box. Most of the protesters gathered on the grass where organized “assembly meeting” speakers shouted scheduled times for various workshops about talking to the media and handling the police. The group would creepily repeat what another speaker was saying line-by-line, and then shake their hands in the air in unison when they agreed with a speaker. But aside from the unorthodox collective mentality, their message was in no way unified. I was pleased to see veterans and military personnel in uniform holding anti-war signs. It brought back memories of the days when the antiwar movement actually existed. There were signs about everything from advocating free health care to demanding jobs and better pay. Some simply claimed they were the “99 percent” — the group that is not part of the wealthiest 1 […]

   

• The World Has Me Down

  Editorials October 19, 2011 at 3:40 pm Comments are Disabled

  I feel uninspired this week. Sure, the world is filled with tons of events worth writing about — Occupy Wall Street, the death of Steve Jobs, heck even the newest episode of “South Park” provided witty commentary that might be worth tackling — but I’m just not feeling it. Perhaps that’s because I’m far enough into the semester that I’m starting to feel burned out. Or, maybe it’s because writing about all the things wrong in this world on a weekly basis is just exhausting. This whole year, starting back in January, has just been like one long waking nightmare for the world and I think I’m just starting to become numb to it all. Earthquakes, crooked politicians, the slaughter of 77 people in Norway: At some point, how can you not just choose to put up a wall? I feel like we should honestly be gathering supplies and building bomb shelters, so sad and dark are the times we live in. I know I’m coming across as a Debbie Downer, but it’s just how I’ve been feeling. I look at the protests going on in New York, and now D.C. and Norfolk, and just wonder what, if any, impact […]