Opinion | Editorials - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | EDITORIALS

It’s time we stop accepting sexual assault as the norm

Oct. 15, 2017

We live in a society where sexual assault and abuse are not only too common but pretty much expected. We live in a society where those with power feel entitled to take what they assume they deserve. We live in a society where women are exploited. Worst of all, we live in a society that is allowing all of this to happen. Again. And again. And again.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

We’re all scared about the future

Oct. 10, 2017

If you’re anything like us, your heart probably skipped a beat when you received an email last week informing you that it’s already time to start thinking about registering for Spring classes. And when we say that your heart skipped a beat, we don’t mean it did so in the cute and jovial “school girl in love” sort of way. We mean you probably felt like your heart was going to leap out of your chest from beating so hard because you have yet another thing to stress about.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

When tragedies hit close to home

Oct. 3, 2017

We at the Alligator, along with everyone else in the U.S., woke up to some terrifying statistics Monday morning. The deadliest mass shooting in recent U.S. history. This tragic event occurred in Las Vegas, where one man managed to bring 17 guns into a hotel room, knock out the windows and begin indiscriminately firing into a crowd hundreds of feet away. This one man took away a record from Florida that never should have been established in the first place.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Trump does not want a united nation

Oct. 1, 2017

President Donald Trump’s job of aiding Puerto Rico in recent weeks can be described as pathetic, at best, and his public displays on the issue are nothing less than a disgrace.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Alligator endorsement: Inspire Party

Sep. 25, 2017

Student Government elections are here again, and the drama has come with it. So far, this election cycle has been defined by the emergence of a new minority party to go up against Impact Party — and memes. Don’t forget the memes.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Respect is earned, not given

Sep. 24, 2017

One of the first things you are taught in kindergarten is to treat others how you would like to be treated. Apparently, no one ever let our president in on the secret.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

In times of distress, comedy is key

Sep. 19, 2017

To put it lightly, America is going through a bit of a rough patch right now. So much so that a lot of Americans can hardly bare to watch the evening news or peruse their local paper as they sip their morning coffee.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Let’s talk about what happened at Georgia Tech

Sep. 17, 2017

On Saturday night, the president of Georgia Institute of Technology’s LGBTQ+ student organization, the Pride Alliance, stood in a parking lot holding a knife. Scout Schultz stood there — in full view of a student dormitory — and told Georgia Tech Police to shoot.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Not everyone came out of Irma as lucky as Gainesville

Sep. 12, 2017

We were lucky. Other areas? Not so much.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Trump is a human, just not a very good one

Sep. 5, 2017

At this point, we have seen our fair share of anti-Trump posts during his presidency. We realize, of course, that a lot of President Donald Trump backlash is driven by emotion. However, a lot of the resistance Trump is met with has been valid and important for Americans to take note of and discuss.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Darts & Laurels

Aug. 31, 2017

You step into the ballroom, four hooded figures following you on either side. The figures on each end carry torches, and the others carry various gemstones. You recognize that one is an emerald, another jade and another topaz. The rest of the stones you can’t discern, despite having a masters degree in geology. The two figures nearest to you grab you by the arm and strap you down to a chair at the end of the ballroom. Someone pries your eyes open and forces you to stare into the light. The hooded figures assemble in front of you, each holding their gem in a different orientation and position. The light shining from the ceiling focuses into a beam, which begins to refract from one gemstone to the next. Once the light passes through the sixth gemstone, the beam hits your eyes, and everything goes white. Out of the whiteness comes a message, and upon reading it, your fears and doubts vanish. The message, of course, reads:

OPINION | EDITORIALS

As you change throughout college, stay true to yourself

Aug. 29, 2017

College is a time for exploration and self-discovery. Hardly any of us will leave UF as the same person we were when we got here. Letting the experiences you have in college lead to change and growth is a normal and healthy thing to do during this time. What isn’t healthy or normal, however, is letting the people around you dictate how you change and how you grow.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Ignorance is not always bliss when it comes to news

Aug. 27, 2017

Over the summer, a lot of UF students had the luxury of living in a bubble. Some students spent the past three months in the woods as camp counselors. A few used their time off from classes to travel abroad to where they had little-to-no access to the internet. Others went on mission trips, worked at time-consuming internships or just spent their days sleeping for long periods of time. Basically, a lot of Gators were fortunate enough to be gleefully unaware of a lot of the chaos happening around them over the past few months.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Open your mind to a unified America

Aug. 24, 2017

President Donald Trump’s address Monday evening was alarming and infuriating to many Americans for a number of reasons. Somewhere in between the incoherent babbling and deplorable attempts at defending himself and his actions, the president announced that not only does he plan on keeping troops in Afghanistan, but he wants to send more.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Healthy habits start now

Aug. 22, 2017

College students are notoriously unhealthy and lazy individuals.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Use your privilege to ignite change and promote good

Aug. 20, 2017

It’s 2017, and we have Nazis running around without care and without shame. Please, dear reader, take a moment to absorb the utter absurdity of the sentence you just read.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Our promise to our readers

Aug. 20, 2017

Well, here we are. It’s the start of another Fall semester. Freshmen are moving in, our graduate friends are gone, and the world is changing. The Alligator isn’t immune to that.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

College is a time to have fun, but also a lot more

Aug. 2, 2017

Well, dear reader, the time has come for us to trade in our novelty pool floats for desk chairs in lecture halls and our beachside loaded Coronas for triple-shot lattes from the Marston Science Library Starbucks. In other words, it’s time for us all to return to reality.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

We applaud GPD for its respectful stance

July 31, 2017

On July 28, Gainesville Police spoke out against police brutality and their take on the flippant remarks made by President Donald Trump regarding the issue. During a speech made in Long Island, New York, the president spoke to local police officers about MS-13, a local gang. One piece of advice he had for the officers was “Please don’t be too nice” to crime suspects.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Trump’s proposed ban is unconstitutional

July 26, 2017

The one good thing we have to say about a Trump presidency is that it keeps Americans on their toes. We’ve learned to be ready for anything, and at this point, there isn’t much left that can surprise us. However, just because we are used to the constant bewilderment we’ve been facing, it doesn’t mean we are OK with it.