Opinions - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Darts & Laurels: September 2, 2016

Sep. 1, 2016

Not even two weeks into classes, and we get hit with Hermine, the first hurricane to hit Florida in 11 years. Maybe this is a sign we shouldn’t have come back to school to begin with? Or maybe Mother Nature is just sick of all the “Florida Man” stories and finally decided to pull the plug on our state altogether. Well, Florida, it was fun while it lasted. So as you curl up by the fireplace app on your smartphone and avoid the apocalypse going on outside today, please enjoy our roast of the week, our lighthearted musings, our stormy-day edition of…

OPINION | COLUMNS

Colombia could be a case of peace in our time

Sep. 1, 2016

Lately, Latin America has seen a lot of drama — the impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, the Mexican president’s Twitter duel with Donal Trump. But thankfully, there’s some good news, too.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Can men cheering from the sidelines really be considered feminists?

Sep. 1, 2016

A week ago, it hadn’t occurred to me it would be a disadvantage for men to support the feminist agenda, but when I started to thinking about it, I couldn’t get over it.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Hermine, Louisiana, rising sea levels: a ticking time bomb

Aug. 31, 2016

Did any of you Gators go surfing over the summer? Well, bust those boards back out and buy an extra pair of swimming trunks, because we’re about to get some serious rain over the next couple of days. Tropical Storm Hermine is set to hit the Big Bend area (aka armpit) of our not-so-Sunshine State today at about 1 p.m.

OPINION | COLUMNS

The right to sit during the national anthem doesn't mean you should

Aug. 31, 2016

America is experiencing racial tension. It’s no secret.

OPINION | COLUMNS

The letdown of next time: not dwelling on the past

Aug. 31, 2016

When I was very young, my father’s family (and by that I mean my immediate family, my grandparents, my aunt’s family and my father’s uncles’ families — a good chunk of my paternal side) would spend a few weeks in Montenegro, in the house where my grandfather and his brothers grew up. The house was built on a hill, and the lower level no longer belonged to our family. The other two levels and the guest house were divided among my grandfather and his two brothers.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Dear engineers: Don’t fall for the Elon Musk facade, try something new

Aug. 31, 2016

How does one become Tony Stark?

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Oh, say can you see the nonsense

Aug. 30, 2016

It’s time we have the talk: not the momma-bird, poppa-bird talk you were warned about in elementary school (hopefully), but rather, the Colin Kaepernick talk. For those of you who don’t know, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback sparked some serious outrage when he unapologetically refused to stand up during the playing of the national anthem during Friday’s game between the 49ers and the Green Bay Packers.

OPINION | COLUMNS

How to deal with stress: mastering your emotions

Aug. 30, 2016

Your brain. Your ideas. Your emotions.

OPINION | COLUMNS

How we are becoming ‘drunken peasants’ with extreme behaviors

Aug. 30, 2016

As a college student, I have to say, one of the most intriguing behaviors I have noticed among my comrades is their rather libertarian philosophy. By libertarian, I mean specifically the social ethos that preaches, “If it feels good, do it.” I am curious: Where did this philosophy come from? I think past generations bullied people who lived by the creed we hold dear; in fact, they created a name for them: hippies. And what were the hippies but a group of cultural rebels, openly revolting against the conservative Christian traditions and norms of their parents with a jovial hedonism? It seems, then, our most cherished philosophy blossomed from the seeds of rebellion. What can account for this pattern?

OPINION | COLUMNS

Sex with an ex: reflections and lessons from going back to that special person

Aug. 30, 2016

Last Spring, I was crushing on a bespectacled girl with green hair in my European literature class. I asked her out on a Wednesday, and she told me she had a boyfriend. I felt terribly sorry for myself the rest of the day. I got home and furiously moped to The Smiths in my bedroom for several hours. Then I moved to scribbling short stanzas of melodramatic verse, like: “Your hair is greener than the grass I want to lie in with you while we f---.”

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Myths Un-Mythed: old age

Aug. 29, 2016

We live in a world full of myths. Never mind the tales of Japanese-born mutant animals that enticed millions of us to actually leave our homes over the Summer and systematically enslave them within our smartphones or the tales of food items having wild sex orgy parties in supermarkets. (Don’t make the same mistake as our opinions editor and watch “Sausage Party” with your parents, thinking it’s only a comedy flick.).

OPINION | COLUMNS

Column: Saying goodbye to Gawker and mainstream anarchist journalism

Aug. 29, 2016

For the last week, the scandal that plagued Gawker.com has remained silent, its front page littered with parting words from editors and writers alike. Their headlines include, “How Guilty Should I Feel?” “Gawker Was Murdered by Gaslight,” and “What Was Gawker?” These final articles read like obituaries, mourning the impending shutdown of a site that, according to Gawker.com writer Hamilton Nolan, was, “anarchist journalism at it’s finest.”

OPINION | COLUMNS

Column: A conch shell of its former self, SpongeBob

Aug. 29, 2016

You’ve seen “SpongeBob SquarePants,” right? There’s, like, no way you haven’t. I’m pretty confident in saying it defined a generation — that’s not too far-fetched. “SpongeBob SquarePants” was a show filled with wit, character and charm. The comedy was smart despite its status as a children’s show, so we look back on it with warm regard rather than just with nostalgia goggles. But, its quality has declined in past years; the show is really a conch shell of its former self, and it’s something I’d like to analyze.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Column: In tennis, ‘Love’ means… absolutely nothing

Aug. 29, 2016

For those of you who are not acquainted with how we philosophy majors behave, let me familiarize you: Have you ever met someone who argues simply because they can? This weekend I was sitting with some fellow philosophy undergraduates in our natural habitat, a sanitarily adequate dive bar, talking about "college relationships." Are they superficial? Do they contribute to the development of maturity? As Hillary Clinton’s social-media intern would ask, “WTF is up wit dat lol #ImWitHurrrr.”

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Oil, tribes and corruption: a North Dakota bedtime story

Aug. 28, 2016

What do you get when you mix a massive oil pipeline, an unregulated oil market and a Native American protest movement making international headlines? The next Quentin Tarantino Western movie… or what’s happening in North Dakota.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Column: Are presidential polls legitimate?

Aug. 28, 2016

Let’s face it: People are impatient. And as the future’s chances of significantly changing people’s lives increases, the more impatient people become. Election results in November could push, or violently shove, America in the wrong direction for the next four years, which is why Americans look to presidential polls for a glimpse into what the future holds. The problem is that presidential polls are becoming as legitimate as the candidates themselves.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Column: A proverb reminds us how important work-life balance is

Aug. 28, 2016

There was once a fisherman who lived on an island with his family. Every day, he would catch enough fish to feed him and his family. Then, he would enjoy the rest of the day with his wife and children, playing guitar, singing and dancing throughout the night.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Guest: Help our earth: Reduce your use of plastics

Aug. 28, 2016

A widely known article, “The Tragedy of Commons,” written by Garrett Hardin, is used in many fields to analyze human behavior. The tragedy is an economic problem that occurs when individuals exploit a common or shared resource. As a result, the demand overwhelms supply, and the resource becomes unavailable to other groups. Individuals neglect the well-being of the group in pursuit of personal gain without regard for others; individuals benefit in the short-term but the group loses in the long run. This situation has implications for the use of resources, sustainability and the depletion of nonrenewable resources. And all of these factors coalesce in the grand catastrophe our generation faces: global warming — the increase of Earth’s average surface temperature due to a ton of emissions or pollutants, like carbon dioxide emissions from the production and incineration of plastic bags.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Darts & Laurels: August 26, 2016

Aug. 25, 2016

Here we are, dear readers: the end of the first week of school. It feels like only a few short hours ago we were packing our bags and kissing our families goodbye as we ventured into the abyss of collegiate life. Time flies when you’re adding and dropping classes like there’s no tomorrow. For all of our new readers out there, welcome to the Friday version of our paper, where we survey the what’s going on in the world and either praise a story with a “laurel” or banish one forever with a “dart.” So get ready for our epic roast, our salty attitude gone wild, our Fall debut of…