Our favorite thing to tell toddlers is how unique they are, that each and every one of them is a special snowflake. Although they are each made of the same stuff, ice and air, their bodies, personalities and experiences are individualized. Then, for the lives of a good half of them, we find ways to make them feel less so.
"And you touch me and I’m like…ooh ooh" — "Empire" by Shakira.
On Tuesday, the animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere released an exposé of a top-rated Whole Foods turkey supplier that found thousands of birds in cramped, filthy sheds with open sores and crippled legs. This investigation confirms my personal experience searching for "humane" animal products: When you look behind the closed doors of animal agriculture, you will find violence and cruelty that companies strive to keep hidden from the public.
Do you know someone who could tell you the capital of Venezuela? Or someone who knows where Iraq is on a map? It would be extremely difficult to find an average American who could point out more than two African countries on a map, if even that. On the other hand, I’m sure it would be easy to find someone who not only knows where France or Germany are located, but also wants to visit one of these countries.
With Thanksgiving now in the rearview mirror and the weight of finals looming heavily over us all, we students will likely degrade into a cluster of anxiety as opposed to reminiscing fondly on this past holiday.
As we all reveled in Thanksgiving Break by taking endless pictures of our dogs, skillfully dodging questions about our futures and binging on relaxation, something else loomed eminent on the horizon. Interspersed among social media proclamations of being #thankful were posts of a much different nature. It was "FSU Hate Week," and there was no escape.
The possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1. The odds of an American being killed in a terrorist attack (including terrorist attacks carried out overseas) are 1 in 20 million. C-3PO enlightened us with the former cosmic fact in 1980, while The Washington Post gave us the latter just two years ago. Despite the data, more than most on the campaign trail, including plenty who hold power in Washington, D.C., vie for further increases in discretionary spending for defense and cite the threat of terrorism (specifically attacks carried out by radical jihadists) as the primary reason for this necessity.
Say what you will of the political right, but at least they are politically consistent. From the decrepit-moderate branch to the slow-people bible study group that controls the most powerful country in the world, Republicans just want to hurt people. Jeb Bush is fine with "stuff" happening to the poor and disadvantaged, and Ted Cruz needs women to suffer for their chromosomal sins. Our left doesn’t know what it wants, especially in our generation, and it only wants to point out the ideological sins of its compatriots.
In keeping with Florida’s tradition as a gun-friendly state, the Legislature is now preparing a bill that would allow concealed weapons on college campuses. Legislation like House Bill 4001 has been batted around every so often in the Florida House and Senate. For some reason or another, it always fails to become law. Now, signs indicate it might pass the chambers and actually make it to Gov. Rick Scott’s desk.
Last week, a White Student Union page was created on Facebook under UF's name. Most of the posts allege UF doesn’t have enough safe spaces for European American students whose culture is not celebrated enough. While it’s not patently clear if the page is a hoax or if it was actually created by UF students who believe such fiction, it is very apparent the page has become a hub for racist messaging and posts that stoke fear about whites as the minority.
In light of the Charlie Hebdo shootings this past January, and the recent attacks in Paris, many have reacted by painting Islam and the Middle East as being fundamentally at odds with Western values such as free speech.
The sexual violence on college campuses is not an issue that can be swept under the rug. Universities have served as the focal point for media coverage, awareness campaigns and congressional legislation in the discussion about sexual assault, regardless of whether they help or hinder the issue at hand. We’ve all experienced some offshoot of this, whether it was through last year’s Walk Safe program, the Interfraternity Council’s "It’s On Us" campaign or UF’s Sexual Assault Awareness month.
America is not and will never be a Christian nation.
Politics is a rough-and-tumble business. More than that, it’s also confusing. But rest assured, dear reader, this columnist is the one-stop shop for all of your political questions and quandaries. So without delay, let’s clarify some political points your Politico friend keeps on talking about:
I remember the first time I went to UF in the winter of my senior year in high school. The red brick looked almost authentically collegiate Gothic. I remember the feeling of life beginning, one I tried to recapture during Preview weekend while driving in the snow-white blur of rain on I-75. I laughed at the billboards erected by the autochthons of my new home, who apparently still feared they might be aborted, performatively reading Schopenhauer in the stadium.
I lived primarily off two things when I had a meal plan: Gator Dining chocolate chip cookies and unlimited pineapple.
I thought I might write something about Friday’s horrific scenes from Paris. I thought I’d write about how we could use this to take events in the Middle East seriously from a humanitarian perspective without falling into the obvious trap the Islamic State group has set for us, whereby we abandon the very multiculturalism and tolerance that has made the West a place of relative peace and security. It’s these very attitudes the huddled masses who flee ISIS’ apocalyptic cruelty yearn for. And, while writing, I could hope in vain that far-right, Eurosceptic freaks won’t ride a wave of nationalist reaction and ethnic resentment into office, dismantling the diplomatic structures that have maintained relative peace in Europe for 70 short years (not counting a genocide against Muslims in Bosnia). I would also really like it if, when vicious goons like Marine Le Pen and Nigel Farage lead their gangs into parliament halls, they wouldn’t plunge the world into a second Dark Age, complete with our very own crusades.
Earlier this year, Martin Shkreli, the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, increased the cost of a life-saving HIV drug by about 5,000 percent. The price raised from $13.50 per pill to $750 per pill.
A frequent refrain among heartbroken and sexually frustrated young men: "She doesn’t like me because I’m a nice guy." No, not really.
I love the phrase "Every Gator Matters." It expresses the value of every member of the Gator family and our care for one another.
Solutions by The State News
