Opinion | Viewpoint

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Your ballot is biased, and it’s your fault

By Sorsha Khitikian | November 5

When I was eight years old, I accompanied my grandpa (Papa) to the polls for the 2012 general election. This was the first time I ever “voted.” I remember watching him get his ballot, and going with him into the voting booth. He had a list with him of the candidates he wanted to vote for. However, once he got to the local elections, he started asking me which name looked better. Whichever name I said, he voted for.

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The Democratic coalition is fracturing. Is there still hope to save it?

By Evan Wang | November 5

Regardless of who wins today’s presidential election, the Democratic Party needs to do some serious soul-searching on their handling of this election cycle. Kamala Harris is the current vice president, a former senator from California and a former prosecutor. Her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, is a race-baiting, idiotic and egotistical man who continuously spews conspiracy theories out of his mouth. Yet, the race is somehow tied, with Republicans predicted to sweep both chambers of Congress. How could this possibly be happening? 

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It’s not complicated

By Rory Myers | November 5

America has a problem with passivity. It’s not the kind of passivity that prevents us from responding to threats — many attacks on our country are met with a disproportionate, violent response. American passivity has to do with an unwillingness to address (or even acknowledge) injustice, especially the type of injustice that benefits those in charge.

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A time when conspiracy theories are … perhaps good?

By Gretta Goorno | November 4

On Sept. 16, after 10 months of public accusations, larger-than-life hip-hop rapper and executive Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested at a New York City hotel. The next day, his indictment was unsealed. The 14-page document charges Combs with racketeering, sex trafficking and transporting individuals for use in prostitution. Although his trial is not set to occur until May 5, 2025, the sheer number of men and women who have come forward against Combs makes his conviction seem very likely.

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What’s the value of a Tufts education?

By Gian Luca Di Lenardo | November 4

Over the past few years, whenever someone outside the Tufts bubble asks me what I am majoring in, I usually glibly respond “economics.” This is only a half, or maybe a quarter, of the truth. I am not an economics major, but I have taken enough courses in the discipline to know that my interests lie elsewhere. Responding in this way allows me to avoid the raised eyebrows and back-and-forth discussion that occurs when I say that I am a philosophy and international relations double major. These experiences have made me reflect upon the value of a college education.

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What we can learn from the defeat of David Duke

By Keshav Srikant and Sadie Roraback-Meagher | October 28

In 1991, Louisiana voters were faced with two unfavorable options for governor: Democrat Edwin Edwards and David Duke, a white supremacist and former KKK grand wizard. Edwards had a history of gambling, corruption and scandalous affairs. In 1985, Edwards even admitted to taking $1.9 million to sell state hospital and nursing home permits. Nevertheless, faced with the choice between Edwards and a white supremacist, Lousianians chose Edwards as the lesser evil. 

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Fire alarms need to be less stupid

By Rory Myers | October 25

It was February of my sophomore year when I woke up to a blaring noise. The Harleston Hall fire alarms were going off at 2 a.m. My roommate and I sluggishly put on our coats and begrudgingly left our abode. As we walked outside into the freezing winter air, we noticed a significant lack of urgency. No one who was walking outside with us believed that there was an actual fire. Some people even remained behind in their dorms, putting pillows over their heads to suppress the noise while they waited for the inevitable false alarm announcement. Suffice to say, if there was an actual fire, we’d be in serious trouble.

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Our conversations about mental health: helpful or harmful?

By Rowan Chetner | October 25

Over the summer, I listened to an intriguing podcast titled “Are We Talking About Therapy Too Much?” In it, host Jerusalem Desmas talks with Dr. Lucy Foulkes, a researcher at the University of Oxford, who is concerned that movements around mental health awareness are not unilaterally beneficial. After listening to Foulkes’ argument, I began thinking more critically about the ways mental health is discussed in our generation and specifically at Tufts.

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We are cooked: ‘Brain rot’ has gone too far

By Linda Huang | October 24

As an avid TikTok scroller and Instagram Reels watcher, I get sucked into hours of mindless entertainment everyday, with short yet meaningless videos fueling my daily dose of “brain rot.”

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Is it feminist to own a gun?

By Monica Reilly | October 24

On July 21, 1919, a young Black woman named Carrie Johnson shot and killed a white detective. She was tried for murder in the first degree, but the charges were eventually dropped because the incident happened in the midst of one of the mobs of “Red Summer,” a series of extremely violent white supremacist mobs that struck 26 U.S. cities. As her attorney argued, Johnson’s use of a gun was not a random act of violence — it was an act of self-defense, and, some may argue, of feminist resistance. 

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A horrifying double femicide in Turkey, the hundreds before and why you should care

By Derin Icinsel | October 24

On Oct. 4, I woke up to the news of yet another gut-wrenching story from back home in Turkey: A 19-year-old, Semih Çelik, savagely killed Ayşenur Halil and İkbal Uzuner, by decapitating one of them before committing suicide by jumping off of the Theodosian Walls in Fatih. He had been admitted numerous times to psychiatric facilities in the last year and was known to be disturbing towards Uzuner, but as usual, little precaution had been taken. My social media was swarmed with photos of the event from passers-by and long paragraphs of outrage from my friends and family.

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Safeguarding the humanities as an obligation to ourselves

By Max Lerner | October 17

Steve Jobs said that among the most impactful classes he ever took in college was a class on calligraphy. It may be easy to turn one’s nose at this statement, writing it off as foolish or performative, or conclude that Big Calligraphy lobbied Jobs to share it. It is especially easy to do so if one subscribes to the idea that all education must provide a specific set of skills that one can lift straight from the classroom to a job site — or at least a graduate school application.

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Indigenous Peoples’ Day serves as a reminder that Tufts should be comfortable being uncomfortable

By Sorsha Khitikian | October 15

In a meeting about Indigenous Peoples’ Day a couple of weeks ago, I introduced myself, saying, “Hi, my name is Sorsha Khitikian, and I am Yurok, which is located in modern-day California.” After the meeting, I was approached by one of my Indigenous peers, who told me that my use of the word “modern” was problematic. As they explained, the word implies that my Indigenous culture is stuck in the past, contributing to the problem of cultural erasure. My culture is modern, and I can make sure it isn’t forgotten through my word choices as an Indigenous voice. You know what? They’re exactly right.

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The rise — and fall — of a Midwest princess

By Talia Wilcox | October 10

2024 Video Music Awards Best New Artist recipient Chappell Roan has transformed the music industry. Roan, born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, rose rapidly to fame with her album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” (2023). Roan embraced a unique drag aesthetic, and her lyrics and image have catapulted her to icon status in the LGBTQ+ community. But with this unprecedented rapid rise to fame, Roan has taken to social media to let us know how she feels. 

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Seeking policy change in Indonesia under Prabowo

By Theodorus Ng | October 10

Indonesia will be swearing in its eighth president Prabowo Subianto on Oct. 20, following his landslide election victory in February of this year. Prabowo will inherit the world’s fourth most populous country, with the third largest surviving area of tropical forest, and an economy poised to become the world’s sixth largest by 2027. Yet, he will also be inheriting a legacy of fossil fuel dependence, with 81% of the country’s energy derived mostly from burning coal, and persistent deforestation, with Indonesia’s annual forest losses remaining the fourth largest in the world. This means that Prabowo is faced with a thorny policymaking dilemma between encouraging economic growth and maintaining long-term environmental health for Indonesia.

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Inflation is pretty much fake

By Rory Myers | October 9

Corporate America wants people to believe that they are the victims of the terrifying monster known as inflation. This monster was born in the basement of the U.S. Department of Treasury and brought to life by the terrifying machine known as the currency printing press. It’s this monster that forces them to raise prices on everyday items. Companies such as Crest and Colgate had no choice but to raise the price of toothpaste by 45% last year. In 2022, innocent retail chains such as Target and Walmart didn’t want to increase the prices of their food products by over 10%, but their hands were forced.

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Eric Adams: The failed promise of an underdog

By Gian Luca Di Lenardo | October 7

Eric Adams’ rise to political prominence, from transit cop to New York City mayor, has all the hallmarks of a rags to riches story. As a teenager in Brooklyn, Adams found himself squarely in the crosshairs of the justice system when he was arrested for criminal trespass at the age of 15. In a 1999 New York Times profile, he recalls being beaten so badly by the arresting officers that he urinated blood for a week afterward. He cites this experience as one of the formative factors that motivated him to join the force and reform it from within. 

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Stop denying women’s bodily autonomy, Part 2

By Linda Huang | October 2

With the presidential election approaching, the topic of abortion has drawn increased concern from voters, particularly from young female Americans. A New York Times/Siena College poll from August shows that abortion is the most crucial issue for women under 45 to consider when casting their vote. At the same time, a Guardian poll indicates that 67% of women under 30 plan to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris likely due to her commitment to expanding reproductive rights. As a woman living in the U.S., I share these concerns about the future of abortion access and its potential impact on women's autonomy.

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The Amazon is ablaze: It's been anything but short n’ sweet

By Kaashvi Ahuja | October 2

As the Amazon, the lungs of our Earth, currently burns with an intensity far surpassing the infamously devastating fires that took place in 2019, the world watches in unsettling silence — a dangerous reflection of our diminishing sense of climate urgency at a time when critical elections could shape the future of our planet.

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Unevenly flooded: How redlining and the Boston storm season intertwine

By Monica Reilly | October 1

Boston held its first-ever Deployables Day on Friday. The day focused on education and training for flood control. The day was sunny with a slight breeze, making discussion about fluid control and floodbreaks seem out of place. But for Boston, a year out from last year’s flooding-turned-state of emergency, nothing could be more relevant.

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