Editorials

• It’s Time to Stop Worshipping at the Altar of Objectivism

  Editorials October 3, 2011 at 11:19 pm 3 comments

  Nothing really inflamed me this week — but then again, I’ve had a pretty busy week. Between school and athletics, it can be tough to catch up on current events. I haven’t watched any presidential debates recently and haven’t given much thought concerning Michael Jackson’s death trial. I haven’t, this week, pondered the best way to relieve our country from its deficits nor have I disagreed with any peers or professors. (As you might be able to tell by now, I do disagree with everyone pretty often.) I did, however, notice a quote on a friend’s Facebook wall. It was a quote by Elizabeth Warren, a candidate running against Scott Brown in the U.S. Senate and it read: “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there — good for you! “But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces [sic] that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding […]

   

• Facebook Is Your Life

  Editorials October 3, 2011 at 11:19 pm Comments are Disabled

  “Pimp My Ride” was a former MTV show hosted by rapper Xzibit. In each episode, Xzibit takes a lucky contestant’s beat-up clunker and completely rebuilds it — or “pimps” it. The finished product was then adorned with every gadget and upgrade possible. Whenever the car was re-introduced to its owner, Xzibit would slip a phrase that went something like: “Yo, dawg, I heard you like (fill in the blank), so I got you (fill in the blank with said like but in excessive quantities).” I found a comic with a picture of Xzibit with a caption over it reading “Yo, dawg, I heard you like Facebook, so we put a Facebook in the upper right of yo’ Facebook so you can Facebook while you Facebook.” So funny. So true. This Internet meme — a popular concept spread on the web — was calling attention to the ever-evolving applications of the social network. Creator Mark Zuckerburg has recently released a video letting us know what to expect with the coming changes so we’re not all flipping tables in rage and confusion. I plan on doing it regardless because I am set in my Facebooking ways. In his presentation, Zuckerburg explains what […]

   

• Mainstream Sexism Is Leading Girls to Hurt Themselves For Beauty

  Editorials October 3, 2011 at 11:18 pm Comments are Disabled

  Persuasion is a means of social influence used to affect attitudes and beliefs. When persuasion permeates thinking, people adjust opinions, ideas, attitudes and then actions. This concept has been studied in depth for decades. Persuasion enables peace treaties, compels individuals to take part in everything from safe sex to wearing seatbelts and now, more than ever, it is planting images of the way in which people, women in particular, should look in order to receive maximum approval. Approval, after all, is the most basic criterion in molding how people think, and subsequently how they behave. According to Malcolm Gladwell, author of “The Tipping Point,” mass media has become viral. In other words, the images and information that are constantly bombarding an audience become settled opinions, creating the norm. Generally, viral marketing has been linked to word-of-mouth and to the Internet. It successfully provides a means of expanding brand awareness, duplicating ideas and spreading ideals to a broader audience. As you sit back in your La-Z-Boy and turn on the television, you are exposing yourself to advertisements, television shows and movies. With one flick of the remote, you are setting yourself up to be persuaded whether you realize it or not. Typically, people realize […]

   

• There Is No ‘I’ In ‘We The People’

  Editorials October 3, 2011 at 11:16 pm Comments are Disabled

  Nothing really inflamed me this week — but then again, I’ve had a pretty busy week. Between school and athletics, it can be tough to catch up on current events. I haven’t watched any presidential debates recently and haven’t given much thought concerning Michael Jackson’s death trial. I haven’t, this week, pondered the best way to relieve our country from its deficits nor have I disagreed with any peers or professors. (As you might be able to tell by now, I do disagree with everyone pretty often.) I did, however, notice a quote on a friend’s Facebook wall. It was a quote by Elizabeth Warren, a candidate running against Scott Brown in the U.S. Senate and it read: “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there — good for you! “But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces [sic] that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding […]

   

• The Next Watergate

  Editorials October 3, 2011 at 11:15 pm Comments are Disabled

  In 2009, the Department of Energy loaned $535 million in taxpayer money to Solyndra LLC, a solar panel manufacturer and former flagship for green energy. After running into major financial problems in late 2010, the company filed for bankruptcy this September. So how does such an unstable company receive over half a billion dollars from the federal government? As the story unfolds, it’s looking more and more like the Obama administration knew the risks associated with Solyndra and yet, still pushed the loan through with devious intentions. In front of a congressional committee, Solyndra executives refused to testify and pled the Fifth Amendment. You don’t plead the Fifth if you’ve done nothing nefarious; you only invoke that right to avoid incriminating yourself. There is clearly something sinister going on here. The Los Angeles Times now reports that even Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the poster boy for incompetence in this administration, expressed concern over awarding loans to companies like Solyndra. The Times discovered an internal battle between key administration officials over whether the loan program for green energy initiatives was too risky. A now- public internal memo showed that Geithner, along with Chief Economic Advisor Larry Summers and Chief of Staff […]

   

• Where’s the Pride?

  Editorials October 3, 2011 at 11:15 pm 1 comment

  I got an email this week about buying a school ring, which led to a question forming in my head: Do people actually still buy those things? And just as a train of thoughts tends to do, my mind raced to other scholastic memorabilia like letterman jackets and on to school spirit in general. It’s just not looking good. When I was in high school, I was a varsity wrestler and my letterman jacket, with my varsity letter on it, was one of my most prized possessions. Call me crazy or cliche, but wearing that jacket helped me walk a little taller and added a little pep in my step. As a kid with a ton of confidence issues, it was like wearing a superhero costume. It gave me strength that I didn’t know I had. Then there was the ring dance. I’ve asked around and it turns out most people have no clue what the heck I’m talking about when I say “ring dance.” Once again, when I was 16 years old, the ring dance was a big deal. And I’m not coming across as too biased or just talking about the traditions at my school. It was a […]

   

• A Response To “Obama’s Jobs Act Will Not Save Us”

  Editorials September 26, 2011 at 8:11 pm Comments are Disabled

  While I respect Mr. Moore’s objections to the American Jobs Act, I believe he is off the mark on his analysis. He repeats the common claims of many on the right that are factually inaccurate. He starts by saying that all it would take to fix the economy would be to cut government spending, lower taxes and reduce regulation. Quite frankly, this policy would lead us further to the brink of economic collapse. I will break my reply into three paragraphs, debunking each fiction as I go along. First I will start with government spending. Government overspending is a big problem; anyone who looks at the national debt and deficit knows this. However, a hacksaw attempt to cut the deficit will cripple this country and throw it into what we all feared in 2008: a depression. There are specific cuts that can be made to continue ensuring sound investments in our future while cutting a great deal of waste. Across-the-board cuts will only lead to jobs being destroyed in this economy. The fact of the matter is that the Stimulus Bill passed in 2009 saved 2.4 million local and state government jobs. This is based on the average salary of […]

   

• Who Can Save Us?

  Editorials September 26, 2011 at 8:10 pm Comments are Disabled

  Unless you are a political junkie, you probably aren’t too concerned with the daily minutiae of the 2012 presidential race. GOP debates seem to appear on television nightly and Barack Obama never stopped campaigning after he started in 2007. Begrudgingly, it may be time to get on board with someone. However, with a dozen or so legitimate candidates for president, how do you decide whom to support? There are a number of issues and policies that might help you narrow your selection. Judging the merits of each candidate based on these variables could be useful to your selection process. First, Social Security and Medicare. To see how much trouble Social Security is in, you only need to look at the statements you receive from the Social Security Administration (yes, you do get them) to know it will become insolvent in our lifetimes. Medicare is in even worse shape. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Medicare fund for hospital care will be depleted by 2017; Social Security should run until 2037. Confronting these programs is considered political poison. Any time a solution or reform is offered the opposition launches an all-out attack, claiming seniors will be thrown on the streets […]

   

• Our Foreign Policy Will Be Our Undoing

  Editorials September 26, 2011 at 8:09 pm Comments are Disabled

  Since September 11, 2001, U.S. foreign policy has seen trillions of dollars flow into multiple wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Libya, and the occasional bombing endeavor in countries such as Yemen and Somalia. It seems nowadays that no matter what party is elected to office, they immediately write a blank check for the military-industrial complex and advocate more foreign military intervention. What was left of the anti-war movement after Bush left office blew away like dust in the wind and, not surprisingly, Obama’s refreshing anti-war rhetoric and non-interventionist promises fruited into more military spending and unjustified murder. When asked what the motivations of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were, Republicans give the “they hate us for our freedoms” talking point. And Democrats? Well they don’t seem to even have opinion on that one. In the Sept.12 CNN Republican presidential debate, only one person, Congressman Ron Paul, stood out from the rest when explaining the motivations of Osama bin Laden for the 9/11 attacks. He spoke amidst a barrage of boos and cheers explaining bin Laden clearly stated that the U.S. was attacked because we had bases on their holy lands in Saudi Arabia and were too involved in Middle […]

   

• Bullying Is A Cancer—A Dirty, Filthy Cancer

  Editorials September 26, 2011 at 8:09 pm Comments are Disabled

  How can anyone in this world justify berating, belittling and threatening others for the choices they make, especially where their sexuality is concerned? Bullying is an epidemic, a plague on society, and it’s time we did more than give people false hope. One year ago, headlines across the country were filled with what seemed like a different name every week. Tyler Clementi, Billy Lucas, Harrison Chase Brown and Seth Walsh were all victims of extreme bullying that eventually lead to their suicides. The “It Gets Better Project” is a campaign that was created in the wake of their deaths to let those struggling with sexual identity around the world know that it gets better. But for one 14-year-old boy who told the world that it gets better, it turned out to be a lie. Jamey Rodemeyer made a video for the “It Gets Better Project” where he told the world about anonymous messages people had left on his Formspring account such as “I wouldn’t care if you died. No one would. So just do it 🙂 it would make everyone WAY more happier.” Despite the comment, Rodemeyer went on to tell everyone, “…it does get better because when I came […]