Opinion | Editorials - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Be safe and spooky this Halloween

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Oct. 29, 2019

Halloween may be fun, but sexual assault isn’t. With the number of reported incidents of nonconsensual sexual contact increasing this year at UF, we urge everyone to be careful this weekend. Try to have fun with your friends, but make sure to keep an eye out as well. Most sexual assaults reported by college women are caused by someone they know. These monsters are human.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Photojournalism’s future is uncertain in the digital age

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Oct. 27, 2019

Professional photography isn’t dead, it’s just becoming less appreciated. Newsrooms across the nation are letting go of their professional photographers in favor of less expensive freelancers and amateur photographers. Jobs in photography are decreasing, and photojournalists could be replaced by pretty much anyone with a smartphone.

Employees from a local business supporting LGBTQ rights march during the city's annual Gay Pride parade on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Robin Rayne)

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Pride may have flaws, but it’s still a community

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Oct. 20, 2019

It’s almost too hard to believe that a few years ago, many of the freedoms gained by the LGBTQ+ community would be illegal or even considered insane.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Food affects your health, but it also impacts the Earth

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Oct. 15, 2019

All bodies are beautiful. Earth, on the other hand, hasn’t been looking so hot — unless you count global warming, of course. Whether it’s carbon dioxide emissions or the burning of one of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth, we’re making the world uglier every day. At this point, it seems we don’t really have a grasp on what’s important, especially when it comes to food.

In this Sept. 18, 2019, photo, a woman enters an exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. In the wake of a student group incident last spring when the world-class museum was accused of racism, the MFA has scrambled to make amends. It has created a new position, senior director of inclusion, in an effort to become a more deliberately diverse organization. In a nod to the need for greater gender equity, it has given over an entire wing to female artists in "Women Take the Floor," an exhibition timed to coincide with next year's centennial of U.S. women winning the right to vote. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

OPINION | EDITORIALS

The problems that come after #MeToo

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Oct. 13, 2019

No one likes being ignored. It’s one of the most annoying things you can do to a person, other than completely misinterpreting something they’ve said. This is especially annoying when it relates to one of the most important movements in modern history.

A masked protester sets fire to a China 70th anniversary celebration banner in Hong Kong, Friday, Oct. 4, 2019. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced that protesters are banned from wearing masks to conceal their identities in a hardening of the government's stance against the 4-month-old demonstrations. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

OPINION | EDITORIALS

The modern risks of caring in a dangerous world

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Oct. 6, 2019

It’s dangerous to care.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Likes are more important than you think

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Oct. 1, 2019

We all mourned the death of Vine. At its peak, the social network reached 40 million registered users in 2013. When it died in early 2017, the world was in shock. How could such a popular site end so quickly? The answer is actually quite simple and ruins most of the good things in our lives: corporate greed.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

The Alligator endorses the party with more transparency

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Sep. 24, 2019

Editor’s Note: The Alligator Editorial Board, which includes the editor-in-chief, managing editors and opinions editor, met with both parties and candidates running in the UF Student Government Fall Senate elections.

In this Oct. 8, 2018 photo, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh stands before a ceremonial swearing-in in the East Room of the White House in Washington. At least two Democratic presidential candidates, Kamala Harris and Kamala Harris are calling for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the face of a new, uninvestigated, allegation of sexual impropriety when he was in college. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

OPINION | EDITORIALS

How victims of sexual assault are let down every step of the way

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Sep. 15, 2019

This week, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was once again accused of sexual assault during his time at Yale University. The accusation comes from Deborah Ramirez, a former classmate of Kavanaugh’s, who claims the current justice exposed himself to her. While it stands as an accusation as of now, we need to take these cases seriously no matter our politics.

FILE - This Nov. 6, 2017 file photo shows Nicki Minaj at the 14th Annual CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund Gala in New York. The chart-topping rapper announced Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019, on Twitter that she “decided to retire & have my family.” In the tweet, Minaj she took a jab at her critics and asked her fans to “keep reppin me, do it til da death of me.” In July, Minaj announced she was pulling out a show in Saudi Arabia to show support women's rights, gay rights and freedom of expression. She also canceled her appearance at the BET Experience Concert earlier this year. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

OPINION | EDITORIALS

We are her sons. Is the Queen of Rap actually retiring?

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Sep. 8, 2019

We are trying to take our medication and be OK, but we are now in a world without the Harajuku Barbie herself, Nicki Minaj. The self-proclaimed Female Weezy retired from the music industry Thursday when she tweeted that she wants to focus on raising a family.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Time doesn’t heal all wounds, and that’s OK.

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Aug. 25, 2019

Grief does funny things to you. Not the “ha ha” type of funny, but a “food doesn’t taste the same, and colors look different” type of funny. There are as many responses to grief as there are loved ones who have died. Some people throw themselves into their work, some throw themselves into their bed and some become obsessed with collecting Disney memorabilia. When Richard Kraft’s big brother David died, he responded in the latter way. Over two and a half decades, Kraft amassed a collection of more than 750 pieces of Disney history. He used to go to Disneyland with his brother and parents, and collecting the pieces reminded him of those happy moments. We all hold onto things that remind us of the loved ones we’ve lost, though such an extreme collection is rare. A less rare, but still unusual expression of remembrance is to have the ashes of a loved one turned into a synthetic diamond. Couples have even used such stones as their engagement rings or wedding bands.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

The DOJ is nostalgic for shag carpet and transphobia.

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Aug. 20, 2019

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) longs for a return to simpler, more ignorant times: when men were manly, women were womanly and you could tell what was between a person’s legs by whether they were wearing a skirt or trousers. Because in the olden days, that was incredibly important knowledge. You had to know what reproductive organ a person had so you knew how to treat them, how much to pay them, whether you were attracted to them, which bathroom they should use and whether or not to fire them.