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opinion
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KANSAN.COM | THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016
Text your #FFA submissions to 785-289-UDK1 (8351)
You know it's been a weird late night when there is a pirate on the back of your bus
if I could drill holes in my sinuses or head to relieve the pressure I would do it
If I see another girl from my high school try to start a fashion blog I will scream. Loudly.
just found out most successful millionaires start their day around 4:30 am. Suddenly money is not that important to me.
My love of warm weather is being constantly eclipsed by my fear of wasps.
my days feel like weeks.
Love that feeling when I can wear shorts, t-shirt and sandals outside
My mom just enailed me a newsletter about not texting and driving and I don't know how to respond
Editor's Note: You should probably respond by not texting and driving.
33 days until graduation and KU makes me change my password.
A clown held the door open for me today. It was a nice jester.
My quest to befriend the campus bunnies is going badly.
In Texas 50 degrees means boots & coats. In Kansas 50 degrees means flats & sweaters.
with their high school shirts on. I laugh and then I see seniors wearing their old high school shirts and I shake my head in disapproval.
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Illustration by Jake Kaufmann/KANSAN
Issawi: Fear-mongering by politicians and the media only further divides our country
DANYA ISSAWI @danyasawi
Since September 11, 2001, there has been an underlying tone of hysteria on the tongues of media correspondents and politicians alike. The fear has been simmering and most recently came to a boil in light of the recent terrorist attacks abroad.
The attacks in Paris and Brussels, killing a combined 162 people, instilled a legitimate sense of fear, not only at the epicenter of these attacks, but also on a global scale due to the portrayal of these events on
different forms of mass media, particularly cable news. TV ratings soared during and after the tragedies and viewership of networks such as CNN and Fox News skyrocketed by 153 percent.
The attacks and the groups perpetuating them, while rightfully being broadcast on news networks for informational purposes, have become a disrespectful and distasteful source of media "entertainment," for lack of a better word. Media outlets have capitalized on the public's fear of an attack in the United States and made the looming, potential threat a seemingly eminent one. CNN even released a segment in which one of their correspondents took part in making a homemade bomb with an expert on television and proceeded to blow up a car. The ratings were good, and the emotional toll the segment took was most likely even better. Nicely
done, CNN. This trivial display is not news; it is essentially a "how-to" video gone wrong that promotes frivolous fear-mongering.
Media outlets are not the only ones to blame; our politicians have utilized the plight of fright taking over the U.S. as their main weapon this election season. It's a tried and true tactic that ebbs and flows with the times — instill fear within the public, and they will search for something, or someone, to follow. They will look for a source to either allay or exacerbate their concerns, because in a sense, fear is an addicting feeling. It's as if we are living through another Red Scare, and rather than our politicians curbing our apprehension, they ignite it. They take the stage and sling panic-inducing rhetoric at one another in a competition to see who can frighten the most audience members at a time, and
rather than creating a following on the basis of trust, they manifest suspicion and hostility within our citizenry.
Trump has famously made his disdain for Mexico, China, the Middle East and the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world apparent, crafted his campaign around this resentment and molded these populations into scapegoats onto which he unjustly projects any and all fear. His politics of fear recklessly creates an "us" versus "them" mentality, which can only remain non-physical for so long.
While we must not forget there are genuine threats against our safety that should be taken into consideration and acted upon, these threats can be handled in an effective and administrative manner. The U.S. prides itself on being a pinnacle of unity, yet the current pessimistic atmosphere present within media and politics alike only creates factions within the American people and instills divisiveness. We want news and information, not propaganda.
Our leaders, our politicians and media personas cannot be perpetrators of paranoia. These figureheads are overarching personas whose ideals dictate our everyday lives, and if one so chooses to instill hostility through fear-mongering in order to generate personal gain, the public loses in the end. In the end, all we are left with is mistrust of one another and constant scorn for any and all we deem to be a member of the out-group.
Danya Issawi is a sophomore from Kansas City studying journalism.
Edited by G.J. Melia
Befort: To solve environmental problems, we need equal focus on science and humanities
BRIDGETTE BEFORT @BridgetteBefort
Because I'm taking environmentally-themed courses this semester, my mentor encouraged me to read the recently published, environmentally-themed book "Shrinking the Earth," and then to interview its author, University Professor Emeritus of History Donald Worster.
"Shrinking the Earth" interprets the history of how the world progressed to its current state of environmental, energy and resource affairs. It premises that when Columbus discovered the "New World," he discovered a second
Now, Worster concludes, our resources are limited; there is no third earth to save us. And our sole option is to responsibly manage the resources we have left.
I was angry because I thought "Shrinking the Earth" was another environmental publication describing endless environmental problems compounded by shrinking and limited resources but offering no solution to fix the problem. And, even if the book provided scientific evidence for an outright solution to the resource, energy and environment problem, actually implementing that solution could prove challenging because of politics and public opinion.
earth which humans could exploit for resources.
My initial takeaway from this book was a sense of despair.
Although Americans may believe that science is important for making life better, they still have differing political opinions on how to interpret the science, according to the Pew Research Center. This dilemma made me anxious that society is not up for the challenge of using science to make the world better.
History, Worster said, proves humans survive and that our society is already adapting, even if world leaders never seem to agree and science has not come up with one, big solution.
He expresses his "faith in human beings." People have always adapted and changed to meet whatever the world throws at them; this is understood through evolutionary science but more importantly through history.
It turns out Worster's intended message is the complete opposite: Worster believes his conclusion contains a hopeful view of the future.
During the interview, I learned we could approach the world's problems from a solely scientific viewpoint,
developing amazing technology that won't actually suit the world's needs. Or, we could use history and the other humanities to understand when, where and what type of a scientific solution is necessary to tackle issues, enabling us to fully understand society's current position and what its needs are.
This viewpoint challenged my idea that science alone has the answers. In this technology-abundant world, it sometimes seems as if science does not offer the solution to a problem, we are doomed. Human history, however, illuminates the powerful adaptive nature of humanity.
In this way, we could solve world problems in the best way possible.
As a STEM student, I sometimes find myself wondering what good the humanities do—how will they solve the world's problems? Humanities can't cure cancer or develop spacecraft to journey to Mars, but humanities can provide reasons for why and how we need to apply the sciences.
My interview with Worster showed me studying science alone fulfills half the equation. Coupled with the study of the humanities, we can understand human nature and find the hoped-for resolution to the world's environmental issues and others when science, history and humanities converge. Humanities teach us to understand and value the inherent power of people and their ability to survive with or without complicated technology, which is something science, with all of its answers, will never accomplish.
Bridgette Befort is a sophomore from Topeka studying chemical engineering.
- Edited by Samantha Harms
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