"In the past the man has been first; in the future the system must be first." — Frederick Winslow Taylor, "Principles of Scientific Management"
Equality of opportunity is often cited to undermine criticisms pertaining to the lack of women or people of color in positions of power and in certain professions. Pretending we live in a post-racial and post-sexist society does not make it so. Gender, race, sexuality and socio-economic status can affect the kind of opportunities a person has. The idea of equality of opportunity in the U.S. is a myth. Although things have certainly improved with time, there is still much that prevents equal opportunity from being a reality.
In 1998, DMX asked the nation, "Where my dogs at?" In 2015, we can’t help but make a similar inquiry: "Where our Gators at?" Before you answer that question, it’s time for this week’s edition of…
I’ve got a bone to pick.
Last Saturday, I was called a "cunt."
While it is still relatively early in the primary season, I think I am ready to place my bet on who will eventually be the Republican candidate for 2016: John Kasich. You may know him from his comments about going to a same-sex wedding in the first Republican debate, but otherwise he has not made a lot of waves in the Republican race so far.
This past Monday, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed landmark legislation that marked California as the fifth state to permit physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. Under the new law — which has been coined the "End of Life Option Act" — patients who have been diagnosed as having six months or less to live by two doctors can purchase lethal medication to end their lives if and when they please.
It’s a question as harrowing as the MCAT itself: How are you going to distinguish yourself?
Mass shooting after mass shooting, the news media boils the trend down to an issue of mental illness. How do they continually get it so wrong?
Late last night, outgoing Student Government Senate President Davis Bean gave his goodbye speech. Bean had the opportunity to speak at length about UF: what the university has taught him, what he’s gained from his time working for it and the wonderful Student Body he’s ostensibly worked to provide for would have all been suitable, substantive and daresay inspirational subjects. Instead, Bean delivered a speech that would have made Donald Trump blush. Flushed with self-congratulatory musings and utter contempt for anyone who dared disagree with him, Bean took his farewell speech, something normally seen as an opportunity for grace and class, and instead chose to run through his personal hit list, with the Alligator among his targets.
Last week, in response to the latest in a long series of mass shootings, various media outlets posted infographics that juxtaposed the number of Americans killed by guns with the number killed by terrorist acts.
About two weeks ago, John Boehner held a press conference after Pope Francis addressed Congress. A practically cheerful Boehner replaced the weeping one from the previous day as he announced his plan to leave Congress at the end of October. While many expected the speaker to be ousted by the Tea Party bloc of his party, no one could have foreseen Boehner leaving on such an abrupt note.
On Monday, I participated in a research study. This was not your average, answer-these-three-questions-please-to-save-my-grade type of survey you see plastered all over Facebook.
When our generation signed up for Facebook many moons ago, it was hard to conceive of a social life past our K-12 upbringings. Surely every kid who came to our bar and bat mitzvahs would still be our dawgs, right? Those dudes you took selfies with in the Apple Store for your MySpace profile picture? Best friends for life. That girl you met at the food court that one time after you and your boys stocked up on Panda Express? If only you had gone to the same school and seen more of each other, there really could have been something special there!
"Stressed" is a key word in the college student vocabulary. You hear it in class, from your friends, walking through campus and essentially anywhere you’re within earshot of 18- to 25-year-olds. It’s typically around this point in the semester that every area of our lives is moving at maximum speed, and with the first round of midterms rapidly approaching, it seems as though stress is all anyone talks about — myself included.
Ever since the June 26 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage in all 50 states, the radical Christian community has exploded in outrage. Christian public figures like Franklin Graham and Joel Osteen contend the foundations of Christianity itself are under attack.
It is a dance we Americans have familiarized ourselves with and have become pretty good at since the Columbine High School massacre: One or more distraught gunmen and several or more victims. A school or theater in sanguinary peril. A storm of grief that floods the community and ends up briefly affecting the whole nation. Trivial debates on whether to mention the killer’s name or pretend he is (because, yes, it is always a he) Lord Voldemort. The urge to have the memory of the victims take precedence over the memory of the perpetrators. The manning of the battle stations as pro-gun proletarians exchange fire with those burghers who demand more regulation. A speech from the governor, and if the stars are aligned properly, a head-nodding indie-pop hit about the massacre. In the end, no change in policy occurs, and the timer is reset to mark the seconds from the last blasting till the next one.
In light of the U.S.-led airstrike that bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, on Saturday, it is time to reconsider the role the U.S. plays abroad. The airstrike, which killed 22 people — 10 patients and 12 staff members — and left 37 wounded, resulted in the departure of Doctors Without Borders in the area. "No medical activities are possible now in the M.S.F. (Médecins Sans Frontières, Doctors Without Borders’ international name) hospital in Kunduz, at a time when the medical needs are immense," said Tim Shenk, a spokesman for the organization, to The New York Times.
On Sept. 27, Catalonia held elections to its devolved parliament. A coalition of nationalist parties won 72 out of 135 seats, though only 48 percent of the vote. The coalition, which ranges from the center-right Convergència to radical CUP, bills this vote as a de facto affirmative referendum on independence from Spain, and right-wing president of Catalonia, Artur Mas, agrees.
Solutions by The State News
