We did it! One down and four to go. This term started with a few technical difficulties to say the least. Quick shout out to Martin from Engineering IT and Stephen from RT for making our computers functional again.
This issue is great. Gabrielle’s Leafy Thoughts is a new column about environmental concerns on campus. Of course, Ratan’s Ra(tan) lines column. How else would I find my new podcast? Samridhi also returned with her bold The F-word column which I look forward to reading every issue.
We had so many new writers come to our meeting! Ewan and Sruthi wrote some excellent news articles.
Yvonne, Inaara, and Kenneth helped me with layout which was a huge help.
I broke two personal records writing the crossword puzzle. Firstly, it is the quickest I have ever written one. Woohoo only ninety minutes! Secondly, it has the fewest acronyms of a crossword puzzle ever. Another note is that this is the first time that I have ever used rotational symmetry successfully.
The paper is great, but again, I’m desperately calling for all comic strip artists. We need to bring the comic strips back.
Enough with the development of the paper. It’s the end of September and that means interesting things on campus.
The frosh are now settled. The weather is starting to feel fall-like. The work is slowly starting to pile on. Life is very busy. Waterloo Works applications have started. Midterms are rapidly approaching. The term is a quarter of the way done basically.
In other news, the long awaited Area 51 raid finally happened. Only one hundred people actually went and none of them actually stormed the US military base, instead partying in the desert. However, 2 000 alien enthusiasts partied in nearby towns. I strongly believe no one actually expected anyone to storm an actual military base, but what bothers me is the amount of online coverage.
The Area 51 raid has been plastered over sites like Reddit and Facebook. But how many people can possibly say that they feel educated about voting or even are aware of intentional conflicts such as the one going on between Saudi Arabia and Iran? A nuclear deal is in jeopardy and the conflict could seriously impact the world economy. This is an important issue that no one seems to know about.
At least we know about the Area 51 raid though.
This is frustrating to me because we live in a world where we all have access to information from around the world but we only selectively look at information that we care about. That’s not necessarily the most important information.
The funny events are shared and talked about, but what about the international crises? I am guilty of this too. I have been following the Area 51 raid, checking the internet for the latest information. I googled the Iran- Saudi Arabia conflict like fifteen minutes ago.
If that doesn’t make my point, consider this. Do you remember the white/gold or blue/black dress debate? What about the Lebanese garbage crisis? Do you remember the potato salad party? What about Yemen’s humanitarian crisis?
I bet most university students can name more Kardashians than Cabinet Ministers. This makes me really sad about the upcoming federal election. Uninformed voters make poor decisions or, even worse, none at all. Why am I upset about this? I know so many people who don’t vote. Why? They don’t know anything about the candidates. They don’t care as much as others. It is so important that young people vote. If politicians know that young people voting isn’t going to make or break their seat, we get education and OSAP cuts.
Where am I going with this?
People, in particular young people, only seem to be aware of the fun click-baiting articles and not the important informing news about the world. I get it. Students are busy. People don’t have time to research the world. Particularly, if it doesn’t affect them. Why should someone care about who the next Prime Minister is if they have a calculus quiz tomorrow?
It is interesting that in a world where news is so readily available and people can easily be informed about the world that people would selectively choose not to be informed. People read news for entertainment. That’s why everyone knows about Area 51. It’s funny.
Another excuse I hear to defend not reading the news is that world news is sad. The funny joke news puts a smile on your face or at least gives you something to rant about. It is better to be happy and ignorant or sad and informed. I do believe that’s the plot to Brave New World.
This is not a newspaper plug. This is a cry for everyone to take the time and learn about the world around you so when someone makes a change that you don’t like, you can do something about it.
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