Opinion

Editorial Cartoon

Ban on public assembly hurts legitimacy of Paris climate talks

The French police announced on Friday that it has put under house arrest at least 24 environmental activists who had openly flouted the ban on protesting put in place for the duration of this week's COP21 climate summit in Paris, according to a Nov. 27 article in The Guardian. The warrants for ...

Burnin' up

This week, world leaders will meet in Paris for the COP21 conference on climate change. The goal is some sort of binding agreement to limit emissions, particularly in emerging economies like China and India.For President Obama, addressing climate change was a campaign promise. Through policies such ...

Editorial Cartoon

Fighting a global killer with a people-powered movement

Each year, millions of people die of curable diseases due to limited access to proper medical care and complications related to global poverty. Currently, one of these diseases is becoming an increasing threat to the livelihoods of vulnerable populations around the world, and it will continue to devastate ...

'If you’re gonna wage a war, it’s way more fun to do it on drugs'

In America today, almost one percent of people are imprisoned. Look around you in your next lecture. Don’t see anyone behind bars? Then it’s you. You’re in jail. What did you do? I bet you pirated TV shows, you sick bastard.With five percent of the world’s population, the U.S. has almost 25 ...

Learning from our mistakes

I was six years old on Sept. 11, 2001. My mom and I had just moved to Connecticut from Manhattan barely a month beforehand. While I was in elementary school that day, she had returned to New York City to finish unloading our things from the old apartment. I remember when the attacks were announced ...

Did he just say that?

Particularly when faced with poor poll numbers, politicians will say and do anything to get elected. The aftermath of the recent attacks in France is an excellent case study in this. Instead of discourse on attacks across the globe, from Beirut (this writer’s hometown) to Paris and what they mean, ...

The importance of mindful media in times of tragedy

When faced with news of horrific tragedy, like that of this weekend’s events in Paris, the outpouring of numbers and names of victims can leave you numb. The extensive media attention regarding the Parisian tragedy has sparked a widespread expression of public anguish. Behind the raw numbers there ...

Free speech debates lack nuance, empathy

As members of the free press, these declarations and demands that address power ought to be what we pay closest attention to. But when we get it wrong, we do more harm than good. So while many media outlets are confused and outraged by the protesters and faculty who prevented journalists from documenting the campsite at University of Missouri following Wolfe's resignation, we are not. We understand that the "twisted insincere narratives" members of Concerned Student 1950 sought to avoid have very real histories in the mainstream media's coverage of challenges to oppression.

The great debate

In both Democratic and Republican debates thus far, some candidates have already given impressive and eloquent monologues on key issues. I call these West Wing (1999-2006)moments. These distinctive scenes are inspired by the words of President Josiah Bartlet himself, who, in the series’ fourth season, ...

A call for (awareness of) politicized solidarity

Those who read my column regularly will know I usually make an attempt toward humor. This week, I chose to take a more somber tone. This in part is how I deal with empathizing with loss, but it is also comes from a sense of respect. The atrocities that occurred in Paris, in Beirut and in Kenya have ...

Death in black and white

Trigger warning: This column contains graphic descriptions of violence.This summer, I saw a woman get shot. Everyone said it was a man. I maintain it was a woman. I saw her and a man struggling, and I saw her collapse to the floor, followed by three motorcycles that piled on top of her minuscule body ...

Addressing my anxiety

Yesterday was my 22nd birthday. It also marked the 2-year anniversary of when I took control of my anxiety. Anxiety disorders are by no means the same for every person, but I would like to discuss my specific experience in order to contribute to the destigmatization of mental health issues. I also ...

Editorial Cartoon: Nov. 16, 2015

France’s far-right poses threat to French democracy following Paris attacks

Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris left the world in shock. In the heart of one of Europe's foremost cities, a living symbol of the aspirations of democracy and multicultural liberalism, concert-goers were taken hostage, Friday evening diners were gunned down and soccer fans were terrorized. ...

Paul-itics as usual

After the first few Republican debates, I learned my lesson. Getting ready for some fireworks at last Tuesday’s debate, I grabbed a cold drink, muted my stream of the Celtics game and sprawled on a couch in Carmichael Hall. After all, with a slimmed down field of eight, it could surely only mean ...

College Campuses Offer Free Speech!*

*With Purchase of Three Full-Price Speeches. Terms and restrictions apply.Breaking News: A group of students has been offended. Allegedly, they were stereotyped by an individual, prompting them to alert campus authorities. Speaking on the situation, TUPD officer Guy Hoosreal said, “I wasn’t surprised ...

Masks of Halloween

I write in response to the Tufts University Culture, Ethnicity, and Community Affairs Committee (CECA), which has published Halloween costume guidelines. Their piece begins by trying to be relatable, but then, to me, it feels as though they begin to proscribe and mock privilege, coming off as superior ...

Susceptible moods

It’s funny how we let others affect us. Our moods are surprisingly contagious. And if they are not contagious per se, then they are at least strong conductors of rather incendiary or equally intense changes in those of others. Moods travel through us and between us, kind of like electric tentacles ...