Opinions - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | COLUMNS

Democratic Republic of the Congo: violence, hip-hop

Oct. 26, 2015

The Democratic Republic of the Congo: a country we tend to think of so little that many would struggle to identify it on a map. Many Americans remain unaware of the political corruption and militia violence that ravages the lives of Congolese civilians and refugees residing in the DRC. (Do not fret: I only just learned all this while producing this piece.)

OPINION | COLUMNS

Life lessons learned from flip phones

Oct. 26, 2015

It was an impressive run. Several weeks ago, my iPhone 4S remained uncased, unbent and unbroken. Hubris and the want for less cumbersome technology in my pocket drove my decision to abandon the armor that was my OtterBox. It was inevitable, then, that my iPhone’s demise would arrive with irony. Having survived the many boredom-induced lobs, flips and saturnalias, it would ultimately meet its screen-shattering end by dropping just a foot from the edge of the nightstand.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Going back home: the reality check

Oct. 26, 2015

Coming back home after living somewhat independently in our college-town bubble has always been an interesting, if not perplexing, experience for me.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Editorial: Even on the dance floor, we’re all wallflowers now

Oct. 25, 2015

In 2006’s "Whoo! Alright – Yeah… Uh Huh," Luke Jenner, singer of the now-defunct dance-punk band The Rapture, bemoaned the state of club culture: "People don’t dance no more (what!)/They just stand there like this (uh huh)/They cross their arms and stare you down and drink and moan and diss (that’s right!)." If Mr. Jenner were to write this song today, we can’t help but think the refrain would be a little less cheeky and a lot more critical.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Allies will always be critical in the fight for equality

Oct. 25, 2015

It is easy to feel detached and uninvolved in issues involving discrimination if you’re not in one of the communities affected. However, everyone has a part to play in these issues. The definition of an ally is just that: standing by a community that you are not a part of and working to support them regardless. Allies are necessary for change, no matter the issue, and they can make a sizable difference.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Georgetown professor talks queers, ethnic drag

Oct. 25, 2015

Katrin Sieg is a professor of German and European studies at Georgetown University. She has published three books on 20th-century German theater and performance, which explore nationality, race and gender.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Presidential debates deserve more credit

Oct. 25, 2015

While many Americans are aware baseball season is ending, football season is reaching a sort of midway point and hockey season is just starting, the nation does not seem to fully appreciate that we are currently in the thick of the presidential debate season. The nation has watched three debates — two Republican and one Democratic — and is mentally preparing itself for another Republican debate Wednesday.

OPINION | DARTS LAURELS

Darts & Laurels 10/23/2015

Oct. 23, 2015

Darts & Laurels? With school in high gear, more like Charts & Quarrels, are we right? But seriously, thank goodness Halloween is right around the corner, because we could all use a break. Even though we still have a week to go, in the meantime you can hold yourself over with this week’s edition of… Darts & Laurels.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Nazism is more than a buzzword - Take it seriously

Oct. 22, 2015

On the internet, no one knows you’re not a Nazi.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Consent lessons: not as hurtful as rape

Oct. 22, 2015

Last week, a pretentious dude refused to learn about consent, thus teaching us all why consent is important.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Coming out: sometimes, it gets bitter

Oct. 22, 2015

Every year, folks in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer communities observe National Coming Out Day in the month of October.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Editorial: The Wild West of the Internet is slowly but surely getting settled

Oct. 21, 2015

On Wednesday, YouTube — or Google; let’s just call it like it is — announced a new ad-free subscription service, Red. Red offers YouTube users the same convenience they experienced in the halcyon days of 2005, before content creators and public relations personnel caught on to how profitable the service really could be.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Must we let racists spoil ‘Star Wars,’ too?

Oct. 21, 2015

Most Monday nights I’m holed up in my apartment, elbow-deep in a bag of family-sized Ruffles, spending intermissions between episodes of "Roseanne" on Netflix visiting my ex-girlfriend’s Facebook page (she is so much happier than I am). But this past Monday night was time for a change, and it was the Force that guided me from the dark, damp and Dagobah-like state of my bedroom to the buzz of Mother’s Pub and Grill just a block away. You know, the Force. The thing that gives a Jedi his or her power. That energy field created by all living things. The thing that surrounds us, penetrates us and binds the galaxy together.

OPINION | COLUMNS

The real winner of last week’s debate: Anderson Cooper and the moderators

Oct. 21, 2015

While everybody was busy on social media waging a war over who did better in the Democratic debate, I was in the middle of a caffeine-filled all-nighter for a group project that prevented me from watching the debate live. However, missing out on the initial viewing of the debate proved to be an advantage, as I was able to sit down and actually take my time watching the debate over the weekend. I did not have to bother live-tweeting it or looking out for others doing it. Instead, I could pause whenever I wanted without fear of missing anything. And this capacity for reflection allowed me to realize who the real winner of the debate was: Anderson Cooper and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the moderators.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Editorial: Suicide and the stigmatization of struggle

Oct. 20, 2015

Last Wednesday, a freshman residing in North Hall decided to take his own life. As of writing, this is the only information that has been released publicly.

OPINION | COLUMNS

You may be preparing for the wrong job market

Oct. 20, 2015

Every college student is told to walk the line between chasing a passion they truly love and being realistic in the likelihood of success in those aspirations. The paradox is that many of the most popular fields to pursue are where people are predicted to not find success. Forbes ranked degrees in the arts and humanities as the worst to receive. On the other hand, jobs in statistics and computers, fields that definitely have acquired tastes, show the best projections in the coming decades in terms of employment and overall job satisfaction.

OPINION | COLUMNS

“Homeland” is a poor representation of the Middle East

Oct. 20, 2015

It recently emerged that Arab graffiti artists who had been hired to decorate the set of the Showtime program "Homeland" successfully snuck in subversive messages. These included phrases such as "Homeland is racist" and "#BlackLivesMatter." For those of you who pay attention to the world around them, this should come as no surprise.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Rainbow Rowell and the rise of fanfiction

Oct. 20, 2015

Rainbow Rowell, a young adult novelist, has managed to do something original enough to make a stir in the literary world.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Editorial: As we extend our stay in Afghanistan, the ghosts of Bush and Cheney linger

Oct. 19, 2015

Following the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. firmly and confidently planted itself in the Middle East beginning with Afghanistan in late 2001. At the time, there were few who would have publicly disagreed with this course of action, but then again, how could they? The nation had just been attacked on a scale that had never been seen before and has yet to be matched. We were hurt, and, perhaps more than anything else, we were scared. Not to go after the men who had hurt us so deeply would have been a decision rooted in fear and cowardice.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Conversion therapy poses threat to LGBTQ+ youth

Oct. 19, 2015

On Thursday, the U.S. government issued a report calling for an end to "ex-gay" conversion therapy. A practice devastating to LGBTQ+ children and teenagers, conversion therapies "reinforce harmful gender stereotypes and are not appropriate mental health treatments," according to a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration official.