Muslim students pissed off at crosses at Catholic 'Private' University

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XOjSezgeb8

This is a video of a man telling us how he feels about Muslim students getting mad over crosses in a Catholic school. It's ok for Muslims and all other religions to go to a Catholic school. If it has a good reputation or good academics, and it's a good fit for you, then go there and learn. If you're going to go there though, don't complain about some things that a CATHOLIC school does. At every private Catholic school, there is going to be a cross in every room, there is going to be a prayer before classes, and chances are there are going to be nuns walking the halls. If you have a problem with that then maybe a Catholic school isn't where you should be. I think it's wrong for the Muslims to complain about something like this, especially since they're the ones that wanted to go there. If you want to walk into a classroom and not see a cross, then go to a public university.

Felicia G.
(the video wouldn't show up so I just posted the link)

Same sex marriage.

Same sex marriage is one of the nations most popular topics, with very strong feelings on each side. It has been seen as okay in some cultures, however almost every ancient script and all religions consider an union between two men or two women, wrong and against God words. An union between two members of the same sex results in an infertile pairing, which doesn't allow natural flow to continue in the world. It will be almost like a civil war period if gays become able to marry, many people will be for it and many against it causing another battle in society.

Here is the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WGb4eQRg3Y (couldn't upload the video for some reasons.

Houria B.

...do we have a right to protest?

Trigger warning- police brutality (not gory or ulra-violent)



This is a short video from the police crackdown of Occupy Oakland (part of a trend of spontaneous protest camps that have been popping up in cities across our country) that happened almost a week ago. When watched, one can clearly see a police officer throwing a flash grenade (which have been known to cause major burns) into a group of protesters who were rushing to aid a man who had just been hit in the head with a tear gas canister. The man who was hit in the head had to go to an intensive care unit due to brain damage. Scenes like this happen all the time at protests in America that the government deems to be too contagious, or maybe too spot-on. Barely anything ever happens to police officers who are accused of committing brutal acts against the citizens they have sworn to protect and serve. Police violence rarely occurs due to escalation on the protesters part; it's the cops who always throw the first punch without provocation. Over the years people have been murdered, permanently maimed, and unlawfully arrested by our police in situations exactly like the one you just watched.

I wanted to post this video to ask the question- who are the Oakland police really protecting in this video? Are they doing the right thing? What's your opinion on the occupy movement?

Sam P

Was It Right?

Kevin Carter stared at this scene for about twenty minutes waiting for the vulture to flare its wings so he could get a perfect shot and show the world the horror of the Sudanese Civil War. Finally, he tired of waiting, took the picture and scared off the vulture. Later, in 1994, this picture won him the Pulitzer Prize. A couple of months later he killed himself.


Juliana Va.

Male Dominance?

After many minutes of thought, I had to agree with the woman that seems to be a Muslim. Why? Because of the way Western media portrays beauty. Since preteen age, girls are subliminally shown that the only way to properly attract males is by showing skin. This is also taught to older women as well (feminism anyone?)

I could go off and say that this is one of the main causes of problems in teenagers nowadays. I could say that the world identifies low-self esteem girls as the real issue.  But then society goes on to encourage these same low self-esteem girls to wear clothing with the lowest neckline and the highest hemline possible. Even as they decry the treatment of women sexually by men, feminists encourage women to use sex as a tool to manipulate men. Simply said, society wants girls/women/females to believe that they are not just good for sex, but then pushes them to dress and act as if they were only good for sex. Hypocritical much? Others may say we are in an age of "sexual liberation" blah blah blah. Wait that reminds me, didn't the Roman empire experience "sexual liberation" then shortly thereafter crumbled? (The Romans realized this and tried to "fix" this, but it was too late. Not saying it was the only reason for their empire's downfall).
Seems to me, Islam and other conservative religions or conservative Christian denominations got this right. I could say all this, but I won't.~D. Cruz

"Killing Us Softly"

     Killing Us Softly is a documentary in which Jean Kilbourne explains to us how countless magazine ads have affected us and shaped us through-out the years. These ads usually contain images of people that have been photoshopped to look like the "ideal female" (promoting destructive ideals of femininity, being underweight, "perfect" faces, ect.) in our society. The speaker shows how females are de-humanized and shown as "things." These ads are supposed to be selling products right? What kind of message are we really sending these readers? Most of us probably don't even remember what product was being sold in the first place. Even by looking at an ad for one second; you have already ingraved the picture in your head and thought it through without realizing it. I never really noticed how subsequently we take in the information that is given to us through these ads. It's crazy!

     Major issues like eating disorders, gender violence, sexism, ect. have always been on a critical level. I just don't understand, as much as we're told that people care and that they are trying to stop these issues. We keep publishing these revealing type of ads. The bodies that they show are unreal, literally. In one part of the film they show someone distorting 4 different females to be made into one female (Different parts of the body of different females being made into one "perfect" female). Yeah, I get that they're only trying to sell a certain product but when you really think about it. They're selling more than they think: gym memberships, plastic surgery, and even promoting bulimia/anorexia. It really disgusts me how far the media will go to sell something that really isn't a necessity in our daily lives. In the end, as much as we try to not fall in these traps. We do.

Eliana Rejas 

Beauty.

This is one of the best short videos I've ever seen. It's just a compilation of beautiful imagery and a speech by Richard Feynman (a famous physicist) about the importance of science and critical thought. In an age where NASA is desperately underfunded while this country spends over 1/3 of its money on meaningless wars, thinking about the future isn't particularly pleasant. Listening to Feynman talk about the sheer randomness of our existence, the fact that we are even here at all, makes me feel lucky to have any problems to begin with. But it also makes me wish for a more logical society, a culture of knowledge and respect instead of hatred. I really don't know if it's possible for the planet as a whole to put its differences aside and work towards creating a better world for everyone on it, but I'm quite convinced that we as a species are soon coming to a fork in the road of our destiny; one direction will lead to other worlds, and one will lead to extinction. I think that accepting the universe for what it really is is a step towards the right path.

"I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn't frighten me."

Sam P.

RIP BOOKS

So for the last couple of years I've worked at the infamous book store chain Borders.Although chain was doomed financially way before the invention of the ereader or nook; technology was certainly was one of the guiding reasons why the chain went down in flames so tragically. Personally I think that the whole nook/ereader craze is really killing this industry. As a bookseller I am completely against the use of electronic books. Sooner or later ink on paper will be a completely foreign idea. Everything is electronic theses days; I wont be surprised the day I find out you can get pizza off the internet.So with that said PLEASE BURN YOUR EREADERS/KEEP IT TRADITIONAL !

~Ruthie

Slut?

I agreed on all the points she made about how Women are easy to judge other, because they feel "threaten" about the confidence the other female has. As a women I think it's completely true. I was raised with guys so I can't stand being around people who judge others, strictly based on how they look. Whatever happen to "Don't judge a book by it's cover?" I know for a fact that our momma's taught us "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all." So for anyone that's quick to judge others, check yourself, No body is perfect.
~V.A

The Lost Generation

I love this video and think it has a very strong message. I'm sure that everyone has heard at least once before that our generation is said to be the worse generation and is continuing to get out of control. It is said that we will no longer care about anyone but ourselves and won't function properly as a society. We will be a lost generation. It scares me to think that I might not have a job and If i have a job then I might not have family. But this video shows that all the assumptions and studies can be reversed and can be completely avoided. That is the important message that the viewer should receive from this video.

-Naila R.

There were many words you could not stand to hear

"I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice, and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them, on proclamations that were slapped up by billposters over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stockyards at Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it. There were many words that you could not stand to hear and finally only the names of places had dignity. Certain numbers were the same way and certain dates and these with the names of the places were all you could say and have them mean anything. Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages, the numbers of roads, the names of rivers, the numbers of regiments and the dates."

A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway, 1929

Do you respond differently to this statement (made by a fictional character) than you do to the declaration (found HERE) about the importance of honor, courage, duty, and sacrifice made by William Faulkner when he accepted the Nobel Prize for literature in 1950?


-- Posted by Liz Holmes