Opinions - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | EDITORIALS

The curse of living in ‘interesting times’

Feb. 15, 2017

There’s an old quote — attributed to Chinese philosophers for some reason, even though the exact origins are dubious — that wishes to the listener, “May you live in interesting times.” This wish is called the “Chinese curse.” Now, at first that might seem a little odd. Don’t we want to live in interesting times? But it doesn’t take much reflection to get what the quote actually implies.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Get in touch with your emotions: Let yourself feel

Feb. 14, 2017

It feels like modern society idolizes logical thinking over emotional thinking. Bring feelings into an argument and you get labeled overemotional and hysterical. Gush about how much you love something and you’re given a side-eye for being too enthusiastic. Vent about how much you hate something and you’re told you’re being too passionate. It’s not clear when this preference for subdued emotions became the norm. It’s not even that society prefers totally logical thinking to the emotional way — we’re expected to have emotions, of course, but we need to keep them in check.

OPINION | COLUMNS

February relationship series: notion of ‘innocence’

Feb. 14, 2017

Any conversation about intimacy would be remiss to ignore the subject of sex, and I think it is vital to examine a longstanding social trend known as “purity culture.” Society has deemed sex as the single act in human experience which is detractive. The term “virginity” has no parallel in our language. You don’t avoid learning to swim because you can never again be a “non-swimmer.” Let’s take a look at why.

OPINION | COLUMNS

A way to mend a fractured union: Consider understanding the other side

Feb. 14, 2017

Much has been said, and much will be said, about the recent presidential election. It appears that many are still wrestling with the potential consequences of the outcome, and I doubt this wrestling will cease anytime soon. Unfortunately, this was my first presidential election. I have no other experience of how an election normally goes. Yet, this one did not seem to conform to anyone’s — except President Donald Trump’s — idea of how an election ought to go.

OPINION | COLUMNS

I hate concerts: a reflection on concerts, and why I hate them

Feb. 14, 2017

I hate concerts. There, I said it. I hate concerts. I hate being packed like a sardine in a big crowd of sweaty people. I hate nodding my head idly to the lackluster performances of small-time opening acts. I hate it when opening acts play long sets. I hate ticketing websites’ “convenience fees.” I hate overpriced T-shirts. I hate that touring acts always sell warped vinyl. I hate buying something at the merchandise table at the beginning of the night only to realize I have to hold it for the rest of the show. I hate people loudly singing in my ear when I am trying to enjoy the show. I hate how sweaty my legs, armpits and forehead get while I am standing in the audience. I hate the way the bottoms of my feet ache after standing for three hours. I hate bouncers. I hate other people’s body odor. I hate poor mixing. I hate poor lighting. I hate the way sold-out shows are so crowded and some venues are so poorly designed that in a fire, several people would certainly be trampled on their way out of the venue.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Tell someone you love them today

Feb. 13, 2017

Valentine’s Day gets a lot of backlash nowadays. And you know, some of it is warranted. Why are we reducing love to pink hearts, stuffed bears, dozens of roses and expensive restaurants? Why do we compare what we give our signicant others to what our friends give theirs and vice versa? Somehow, Valentine’s Day has ingrained itself in our culture; it was a day for class parties in elementary school, awkward dances in middle school, embarrassing singing telegrams in high school, television specials, dinner deals, sales on candy, and so on. It’s as if we try to cram all this obsession with romance into one day.

OPINION | COLUMNS

‘La La Land’: Music is wonderful, but you can't equate it to the writing process

Feb. 13, 2017

I’ve spent the past two weeks reading and rereading the stories in Samuel P. Garvey’s “The Tales of Captain Albert Alexander,” as well as examining the scribbles and equations in the margins of its pages. Professor Bishop says the drawings aren’t his, and I think he’s right. The handwriting isn’t his, but the designs, drawings and system specifications outlined in the writing all seem to be pointing toward me — or another automaton just like me.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Cultures and acceptance make America great

Feb. 13, 2017

I have lived in France and Ivory Coast, two countries targeted by IS and al-Qaida in 2016. I grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, the most dangerous city in the world. Yet I have never felt as unsafe as I did last week when I listened to a class debate in which students gave incredibly offensive speeches.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Don’t let celebrity opinions distract from real issues

Feb. 12, 2017

Nowadays it’s increasingly common for celebrities and entertainers to take a public stance on politics. With the ability to air their thoughts and opinions on social media with a few clicks, everyone is mostly aware of what celebrities have to say. It’s an interesting phenomenon.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Don’t be afraid to ask for help; it’s only natural

Feb. 12, 2017

Our whole lives, we work to be independent. College is our first shot at independence, and quite frankly, most of us blow it at least a little bit at the beginning. Try as we might to stop relying on other people, we can never hope to be truly free from some sort of dependence on others, and that’s OK.

OPINION | COLUMNS

There needs to be a bigger push for more Asian representation in media

Feb. 12, 2017

Asian Americans in film are hard to come by — and portrayals that don’t rely on stereotypes are even more sparse. I had always been aware of this to some extent, but this past week, as I was working on a project for my web apps class, it became even more clear. The assignment was to create a database, and so I sought to create a database of movies with diverse casting — movies that didn’t have a completely white main cast. I saw this as a relatively low standard to meet, but I was surprised how hard it was to come by films that met my standard. It was a struggle to find films with an inclusive cast across different genres, but when I started specifically looking for more Asian American casts, I had to dig further into years past. One of the only films in the past year I could easily find with an Asian American lead was “Lion,” which stars Dev Patel.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Darts & Laurels - February 10, 2017

Feb. 9, 2017

We’re interrupting your weekly Darts & Laurels today in light of the news of President Donald Trump’s infamous travel ban being blocked by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. From the looks of it, it’s well on its way to the Supreme Court, so we’re going to have to reschedule our regularly planned musings on pop culture and shift aside for this week’s (specialized)…

OPINION | COLUMNS

February relationship series: love and friendship, two sides of the same coin

Feb. 9, 2017

When we think about relationships, the word that often comes to mind is love. It can give us a sense of purpose, bring out the noblest parts of us and reveal things we never knew about ourselves. Too often, however, we think of love applying only to our romantic partners. In honor of everyone else, I’d like to talk this week about friendship.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Get informed on block tuition

Feb. 9, 2017

As a recent UF graduate, I was disappointed in the Alligator’s coverage last week of the proposed Florida Senate Bill 02 (SB02), a legislative proposal to implement “block tuition,” which would charge a flat rate for tuition for full-time students regardless of the number of credit hours they take. When block tuition was proposed in the 2010-2011 school year, UF students fought hard against it and won. It seems the saying is true: Bad ideas never really go away, they just get recycled. Did the Alligator look for any specifics on how this would financially affect students? Because there are a lot of unanswered questions about how this would be implemented.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Judicial review is government at work

Feb. 8, 2017

In today’s lesson plan, we are going to be covering the U.S. Government. It’s become clear in the past few weeks that a lot of Americans are not entirely aware of how the government functions. It has, after all, been a long time since seventh-grade civics or senior-year Advanced Placement U.S. Government. And unless you have some aspirations in politics or listen to the “Hamilton” soundtrack regularly, there might be some holes in your memory.

OPINION | COLUMNS

You can be angry, but be fair and listen to others

Feb. 8, 2017

Americans have spent a lot of time fuming these past few weeks. I know I did. A flurry of executive actions by President Donald Trump saw the reinstatement of the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines, a press blackout and grant-freezing at the Environmental Protection Agency, a head-scratching reorganization of the National Security Council, a backward withdraw of funding for essential aid organizations in the developing world and a broad-stroked travel ban that at its best bars legal U.S. residents from returning home and at its worst sees America turning its back on its founding principles.

OPINION | COLUMNS

The notion of freedom is not what we think it is

Feb. 7, 2017

Who has watched a cellphone commercial that advertised limited texting and data? Who has been upset at Chick-fil-A for not being open on Sundays or Chipotle for not being open all night? If Netflix or Hulu had a time limit — you could only watch a certain number of shows per week — would people subscribe? Would there be protests if Amazon imposed a delivery ban past a certain time or if you ordered multiple packages within a month’s period? Or if buffets and “have it your way” food services became extinct? What if the internet shut off globally at 10 p.m. every night, what then? How would we respond?

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Navigating the realm of political memes

Feb. 7, 2017

On this day and age of fast and constant information, news and important facts tend to get diluted. After all, most people turn to Facebook for news, scrolling through their feed and clicking on whatever bit of news interests them. Of course, there are positives to this new way of getting information. News travels a lot faster and is more accessible. People can do research on almost any topic by just sliding open their phone and pull up the internet. This information can be accessed at one’s own pace, convenience and frequency.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Venting through journal writing and coming to terms with the 'new normal’

Feb. 6, 2017

It’s obvious the past few months have initiated our transition into a sort of new normal. Several of my fellow columnists have addressed it, and I have spent plenty of time trying to come to terms with it. More often than not, this “coming to terms” has taken the form of scrolling through Facebook and growing increasingly anxious with every news article, political post and comment war I encounter. Unsurprisingly, this unhealthy routine has left me not only emotionally drained but also stressed as hell. So as a result, I’ve found myself at a crossroad where I’m forced to choose either my sanity or the responsibility of being an informed citizen — but not both.

OPINION | COLUMNS

After receiving an act of kindness, pass it on

Feb. 6, 2017

About two weeks ago, I was just driving around and taking care of a few errands with a friend of mine. We were coming from Publix, and I forgot to get something, so we stopped by the little CVS on 13th street. As we got out of the car, we both heard a hissing noise and soon discerned it was my tire. I ran over a nail. My tire was flat, and it was the largest blemish in the face of a great day. I finally had time last week to take care of my flat tire Wednesday. I mean, I had the spare on, but I had to take care of getting a new, used tire. I was getting a used tire because I was in the process of selling that heap of junk. Anyway, I called a few used tire places to find the cheapest price on a tire and the replacement fee. I eventually ended up at some place near downtown, walked in, and then what was once a nuisance turned into a great experience.