Category: Editorial

OPINION: Anti-Intellectualism in the Trumpian Era

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OPINION:

Anti-Intellectualism in Trump Era

By Amaya Oswald

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti- intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’” — Isaac Asimov

A Cult Of Ignorance

In this country, we have free speech and the common belief that we are all entitled to our own opinions — a phrase I am sure you have heard many times. We use free speech as a defensive rebuttal when someone poses the question, “Why do you think America is the best country in the world?” and we voice our uneducated opinions because we have the right to. Free speech and embracing opinions is undoubtedly what makes America great, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t something about how we are conditioned to believe all opinions are valid that has also made room for “a cult of ignorance.”

Fake News

Anti-intellectualism is most prominently bred into present day American politics through Fake News. Donald Trump coined the term to reference factual news reporting that he doesn’t agree with, and as the term became more popular, the concept has been normalized. It is more commonplace than ever to disengage with opinion pieces or news stories that you don’t like, claim all kinds of facts, statistics, and journalism as incorrect, and disregard factual information when forming opinions. In this way, Donald Trump has popularized anti-intellectualism.

Arrogant Beliefs vs. Democratic Behavior

The idea that my opinion is always valid, even when I have few facts to back it up is what spurs America’s embrace of anti-intellectualism, and it’s embarrassing. According to Issac Asimov, we’ve falsely notarized democracy to mean my ignorant vote is just as good as your fact-based vote, and he’s right: that is simply arrogant, not democratic. In America, we protect anti-intellectuals and people who spread real falsehoods through opinions by saying, it’s just what he believes. Some Trump Lovers have even committed hate crimes (such as, The Pittsburg Synagogue Massacre) bred from anti-intellectualism. Trump supporters hold the arrogant position of what I think is the absolute answer and no one else’s opinion is worth considering. The President displays the same behavior — even though you made a smart point, you are wrong because I am right, and what I believe is always right.

Selective Anti-Intellectualism

Of course, wanting to win an argument is not the same as anti-intellectualism, ignorance, or arrogance. It is important to be confident and persuasive; but to never actively consider someone else’s viewpoint is a problem. For example, Trump constantly rejects statistical evidence that doesn’t fit into his ideas. One statistic he quotes often is the economy’s improvement since he took office, which is true — at least it was before the shut down. However, if someone mentions his approval rating, he will attempt to degrade its legitimacy, despite the rating being factually true in the closest way that statistics provides. This is a key example of how our president has selective anti-intellectualism, which could be even worse than typical anti-intellectualism. By being selective, Trump pushes his own agenda more forcefully, rejecting the truths of the opposing party and comforting those who follow him.

Normalizing Extreme Beliefs

For two decades, we as a country were moving to cautious speech when in public. We had become increasingly politically correct in our language. Over the last two years that trend has taken a reverse course. People with more extreme beliefs have been increasingly vocal about their beliefs as anti-intellectualism strengthens its roots in this country. Alt-right extremists have felt protected by the President’s beliefs. In Jamali Maddix’s docuseries Hate Thy Neighbor, a “national socialist” in the film remarked that he felt Trump had made him feel as though he could be more open about his anti-Semitic views.

Democracy is Considering Other Viewpoints

Stuck in their own beliefs and belief systems, these white neo-nazis sport swastikas, burn Jewish books, and report that “there should be another genocide.” (“America’s Far White,” Hate Thy Neighbor. Viceland. January 23, 2017. Television.) If the national socialists showed in Jamali Maddix’s docuseries had considered a different viewpoint or wanted to openly learn about other perspectives, their beliefs would certainly have changed at least a little. When Maddix asks a father of two white children if he would have loved his children if he had had them with his previous half-Indian wife, a woman he had loved before he became invested in “white nationalism,” this is clear. “I’m not speechless over that… I’m just trying to digest it,” he said. “I’d like to think no matter what color, what origin of a child, I’d have their back.” (“America’s Far White,” Hate Thy Neighbor. Viceland. January 23, 2017. Television.)

Stop For A Moment

A racist, xenophobic white nationalist who salutes Hitler every day had actually considered for a moment what Maddix was asking, subsequently changing his thought process slightly. By talking to another person with a different viewpoint, he let himself think openly enough to perceive something in a different way than he had before — through a lens of love, rather than hatred.

Political Intellectualism

So, what is intellectualism? Being open to learn and think in a different way; being more empathetic to other people’s situations and lives; considering ideas outside your realms.

Regression Is A Part of Progression

Over the past few years, it may have seemed as though America is regressing more than we are progressing. However, I don’t think I believe this. Instead, I believe in what President Obama said in a speech a few years ago: sometimes things progress a lot and then go back a little just before progressing a lot more. The regression we see today is necessary for growth, and while it is clear that we have had a spike in anti-intellectualism these past few years, there has always been a strain of anti-intellectualism throughout America’s history. Fake news and the rejection of both facts and opinions against our own viewpoints have always been here. It is only 2016 that brought it to the surface.

OPINION: Protecting Freedom Of The Press

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OPINION:

Protecting Freedom of the Press

“Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exercised freely”. Wikipedia

By D.S. Mitchell, Jones William & David Shadrick

Bill Of Rights

The “right of the public to know” is among the fundamental principles of the American ideology. Freedom of the press is that guarantee.  Citizens in colonial times were allowed to print or say anything they wanted without censorship. Sounds like freedom of the press. The government, however,  could then prosecute you for what you said using the Seditious Libel law as their basis. The British government appointed Colonial officials to govern the English colonies. Those “colonial officials” made it common practice to punish the press for what they found inflammatory or negative to the crown. As friction grew and colonists increased resistance to British rule more than 1200 cases were brought against colonists for speaking their mind publicly, or in the press. Freedom of the press did not exist.

Madison Steps Up

After winning the Revolutionary war, the framer’s of the proposed Constitution met to define what free speech and other basic freedoms would actually be under United States law.  James Madison was assigned the task. His ideals would form the first ten amendments of the Constitution. British restrictions and unfair laws were still fresh in Madison’s mind. He had a core principle belief in freedom of the press and access to information. A government that allowed for an unrestrained and healthy flow of information must be guaranteed.

The First Amendment

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” That protection guaranteed by the First Amendment of the constitution meant that every American, poor or rich, regardless of religious or political belief could say or publish anything he or she wished without control by the federal government. Madison had protected free speech and freedom of the press.

Publish At Your Own Risk

In the early days, the media consisted of printing presses, pamphlets, newspapers and books. Today, it also includes magazines, radio, films, television, video and the internet. Therefore, the press means any news functioning in any media. Essentially, the free media is a watchdog to inquire and report on government misconduct. It also is a spirited marketplace of ideas, a channel for common citizens to express themselves and gain knowledge on a range of opinions and information. There is an undisputed right to put what sentiments that pleases an individual before the public. That is freedom of the press. If a person publishes  what is later deemed mischievous, illegal, improper, or “secret” he will be subjected to the consequences of his foolish audacity,  and a free speech defense is worthless.

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EDITORIAL: Final Shutdown

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FINAL SHUTDOWN

By Trevor K. McNeil

Promises, Promises

Always keep your promises. This is what we teach our children from when they are very young. One pitfall to this maxim most adults don’t take into account when socializing with the little ones is that kids for the most part have an extremely literal world view.

No Matter How Cock-eyed

Yes, it is generally good to try and keep the promises one makes, particularly if one wants to cultivate a reputation for honesty and trust worthiness. It is not, however, needed that one stick entirely to the literal content of a promise no matter how blinkered, mad or cock-eyed it might be; or what unforeseen havoc it might wreak. This is why there is so often a distinction made between a threat and a promise, though in some ways, a promise can be far more frightening.

Political Promises

A relaxed attitude towards political promises is something that politicians know instinctively. In fact it is  as much a part of our system of government as gerrymandering or the Bill of Rights; something most politicians understand implicitly and are able to do as easily and unconsciously as they walk or breath. You will notice that I said “most.”

One of A Kind Is Not Always A Good Thing

There are many ways in which Donald John Trump is not like other politicians (or indeed other humans). Many of these have been commented on before and are obvious to those with the most cursory understanding of the American political system. It is not, for example, usual for a President to openly Tweet about government business, or use an unsecured cell phone, or invite Russian officials into the Oval Office. My head is still spinning.

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Editorial: Government Closure

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Government Closure:

Who to Blame and the Effects

By Jones William

He Wants More Money

President Donald Trump’s government technically made a partial government closure at 0000 hours on 22 December 2018 for the third time. This was after the Senate failed to  break a deadlock over the president’s call for a ridiculous amount of money to build a wall on our southern border.  Trump promised a wall and Mexico would pay for it. Well that’s not happening, so Trump is now demanding $5 billion from the American taxpayer to fund his border wall or he will bluster and roar and continue the government closure.

Working Without Pay

The government closure is only a partial shutdown. Because Congress and Trump had earlier approved funding bills of $1.3 trillion for three-quarters for the operation of federal agencies. That meant that only some agencies would be shut after December 21, when funding ran out. Even so, the essential employees in those agencies will be required to continue reporting to work, knowing they will be working without pay until the government re-opens. This new partial government closure effects nearly a million government employees, their families, their creditors.

I’ll Take The Heat

President Trump told all of America he would be the one to  blame for the government closure. He publicly declared before reporters in the Oval Office that he would be ‘proud’ to have a government shutdown.  His sentiments were even echoed by Stephen Miller, the chief strategist of the Trump anti-immigrant policy. After the closure for 16 days in 2013, a poll by Washington Post-ABC News indicated that many Americans placed the responsibility for the stalemate in 2013 on Republicans not on Barack Obama.

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EDITORIAL: The Curious Case of Gavin McInnes

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EDITORIAL

The Curious Case of Gavin McInnes

By Trevor K. McNeil

Autocrats Abound

Many people are attracted to powerful leaders. A fact of life validated by the history books. From the leaders of Ancient Rome or China and codified, without a trace of irony, by Niccolo Machiavelli (the origin of the term “Machiavellian”) in the 16th century. There are, of course, more recent and terrible examples but it is best not to evoke the wrath of Godwin.

Distasteful and Corrupt

Distasteful as it might be to contemplate, Donald J. Trump is among the ranks of such leaders. It is really the only way to explain his continued support even in the face of a plethora of scandals that make the Targaryens look like the Rockefellers. Despite this, or maybe because of it, there has been a noticeable raise in the number of what might be called “traditionalist” groups since The Great Orange One’s gobsmacking ascension to the very heights of power.

Ugly Americans

One of the more confusing of the groups to come out of the pro-Trump frenzy was the so-called “Proud Boys”. A self-described “fraternal organization”.  The group was not actually as bad as some. At least when it came to terms of prejudice. While all such groups claim to have members who are LGBTQ or POCs, particularly in terms of deflecting claims of racial or hetero-normative prejudice, the Proud Boys actually do. The primary requirements for membership being that one be a male and “proudly” proclaim that “West is best”.

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Editorial: Teen Suicide Streaming

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EDITORIAL:

Teen Suicide Streaming

By Trevor K. McNeil

Thirteen Reasons

There is often a debate about whether art is imitating life or life is imitating art. Then there are cases when the situation is clear. The thoroughly depressing Netflix series, “13 Reasons Why” is based on the Young Adult novel of the same name. The book, and now the series is a direct response to instances of teenagers, and even younger kids, posting social media videos that either directly detail their plans to commit suicide, or are released just before these  young people tragically take their own lives.

A Playlist on YouTube

So-called “suicide videos” have become so common they almost constitute a genre unto themselves. There are even playlists of them on YouTube. Let’s all just take a minute and reflect on that. Everybody thoroughly disgusted and disturbed? Good, then we’ll continue. While they came as something of a shock at first, suicide videos are really more of a natural side-effect of social media itself. Give people the ability to record and release anything and they will. For better or worse.

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