At Least I'm a Warriors Fan

Looks like the Los Angeles Lakers have dug themselves into a deeper hole—and this time, it’s not performance related. In the past week, a video taken by D’Angelo Russel has surfaced publically, and to the team and public’s dismay, this video contained personal information that shames the character of not only the players involved in the video, but the team as a whole.

            The video shows Lakers shooting guard Nick Young confessing to acts of infidelity with a much younger woman. As if this information isn’t cringe-worthy enough, Young had proposed to Australian rapper, Iggy Azalea last June and the two have been engaged since. Not to cut Young any slack for cheating on his fiancé of almost a year, but to highlight Russel’s shady actions, it is important to know that Young was unaware that he was being filmed when he admitted to being unfaithful. In fact, ESPN reports that after Young had shared all of this information, Russel replied, “I’m glad you told my video all that,” in which Young replied, “Huh?” in confusion.

            This crisis is unacceptable on a variety of levels. To begin with the obvious, nothing good can come out of cheating. If we’re thinking in terms of common sense, whether it’s someone your dating, a fiancé, or a spouse, it’s best to leave the relationship before you commit, even if just physically, to another. And to think (presumably) that Azalea found out from a public Snapchat video that she was being cheated on is absolutely heartbreaking.

            Aside from the information that was leaked, the way it was exposed is equally as upsetting. It baffles me to think that Russel would 1) find entertainment in secretly capturing very personal information, 2) think it’s acceptable to betray and friend and teammate, and 3) not think twice about how posting a video with that content could result in backlash from a multitude of people. Russel allegedly thought that he was posting to a private account, however, he should know that as a professional athlete, constantly watched by the public eye, there are very few things he can do that go unnoticed.

            Lastly, Russel’s mistake can’t easily be forgotten because it not only driven him and Young into crisis mode, but his whole team. His actions have violated the trust that a team should feel confident in sharing with their teammates. His violation has reportedly already effected the dynamic of the team off of the court, and that dynamic could certainly be transferred on to the court, as well.

            At least I’m a Warriors fan.

Be the Voice

Unlike humans, animals such as cats and dogs are voiceless. They cannot speak out against the injustices and cruelty imposed on them. Homeless animals cannot tell their story the way humans can. A homeless dog cannot communicate the suffering he is experiencing by living in the harsh conditions of the street. He cannot express the agonizing pain he feels every night due to a tumor on his stomach. Instead he is restrained and can only cry in hopes that maybe someone will listen. The cruel reality is they cannot tell their story. So who is there to be their voice?

Not only are these animals forced to go through life voiceless, they are victims of dehumanization. Although animals such as cats and dogs are not humans, fully dehumanizing them is stripping away their emotion. This consequently leads to the mistreatment of animals in society. By displacing their emotion, empathy is completely lost.

Despite being non-human, animals are entitled to basic rights and equal consideration this means a life free of exploitation and suffering.  Unfortunately our society is not always mindful of the injustices towards animals. The reality is pain and suffering are universal. The feeling of starving is no less excruciating whether you are a dog or a human. A large amount of animals are forced to live in the harsh conditions of the street or euthanized in animal shelters. An estimated 4 million animals are euthanized each year in the United States. That is 300,000 a month and over 11,000 each day.  It would be remarkable to say there was one solution but there is not. The issue of animal welfare is complicated and a result of various different aspects.

           

 Approximately 7.6 million companion animals enter animal shelters nationwide every year. Of those, approximately 3.9 million are dogs and 3.4 million are cats (ASPCA). These numbers are huge. Especially for animal shelters solely funded by the government and private donations.  In 2013, Safe Haven No Kill Sanctuary was one of the many no kill shelters forced to close its door. While privately owned animal shelters are mostly no kill, they struggle to financial sustain themselves with the sole source of donations. The issue is systematic and further complicates this issue with the different contributing factors.  When these animals’ shelters are thrown hundreds of animals without the means to support them, they are forced to make decisions. The decision is far too often death.  About half of animals entering the animal shelter system are euthanized (ASPCA).  

It is easy to point figures at the animal shelter system, but an astounding amount of power lies in that of a pet owner.  The issue of animal overpopulation is only exuberated when animals are not spayed and neutered. By not spaying and neutering animals, they are at risk of bringing unwanted animals into our society. This increases the number of animals fending for survival in the streets or an animal shelter. Upon entering this world their chances of survival are unfairly staked against them. People often offer a variety of reasons on why they do not spay their pets. The reality is they are not well informed about the impact not spaying animals has on their wellbeing and the well being of. Some people breed because they want a purebred animal, when in fact 1 in 4 animal in shelters is purebred. Other pet owners say the cost is unfeasible but most regions in US offer low spay rates and subsidized vouchers programs to ensure the cost is reasonable for most. Failing to spay and neuter fuels a vicious cycle that our shelter care system is simply not equip for.  Only 10% of animals that enter animal shelters are neutered. This indicates these “at risk” homeless animals are freely reproducing more animals without ownership. This means animals Animal welfare cannot merely attributed to how the shelter care system deals with problems, it is about the root of the problem.

http://www.muchlove.org

http://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics

http://www.examiner.com/article/safe-haven-sanctuary-locks-doors-aspca-euthanizes-some-resident-dogs

Karen

Why Not Them?

 I admire the power of social media to spread news around the world in a matter of seconds. Especially, during terrorist attacks. However, I do not like or feel that is fair to leave out those attacks that impact “less important” countries.

While the Paris attacks were happening the night of November 13, 2015. Millions of people used Twitter as a news source. My personal feed was filled with information about what was happening and where were the attacks located. In addition, Twitter released information numbers and Facebook created “checkpoints” to make sure everyone harmed by the attacks was located. It was admirable. I saw it as the world coming together through social media to confront the people of IS with the hashtags #JesuisParis and #PrayforParis.

Following the Paris attacks, social media news broke out about terrorist attacks in Kenya.  IS bombed Garissa University back on April 3^rd and none of the information about the terrorist action happening was released. No one created a #PrayforKenya hashtag and Twitter was not flooded with rescue numbers or information about the attacks itself. All the “rush” happened after the Paris attacks. According to the BBC, “the story attracted 10 million page views over two days-or about four times as many as it did when the attack actually happened”. To me, this data shows how we tend to spread the word about events and news if the place is “closer” to us. In other words, if we have visited the country we tend to feel closer or have more sympathy towards the events happening in those areas.

A similar approach was taken during this week terrorist attacks in Belgium and Pakistan. On March 22, the Islamic State bombed the Brussels airport and one of the trains at  “rush hour”time. Hashtags saying #PrayforBelgium, aid numbers, and constant information about the situation of the attacks was provided. The BBC states, “Tuesday’s terrorism attacks in Brussels were met almost immediately with outpourings of emotion and displays of solidarity online”. Once again, people spread the news virally and showed their concern with the “Capital of Europe”.

On Sunday March 28 IS bombed a park in Lahore, Pakistan killing more than 60 people and hurting around 300 civilians. Facebook had to apologize because they did not made a “checkpoint” for the people of Pakistan. So what does this biased view about terrorist attack show us?

 In my opinion I think that is a matter of idolization. Paris and Belgium are attractive cities for the public. On the other hand, there is a less likelihood that people have visit Pakistan or Kenya. If we really want to raise awareness about terrorist attacks and maintain people informed, I believe that we should do so in an equal manner. No matter the city or country a terrorist attack impacts everyone. So why not use social media to raise equal awareness?

Welcome Back By: Sumari Barnes

I’d just gotten off of an eleven hour flight, grabbed some Mc Donald’s and sat down to call my mom to make sure she would be on time to pick me up from SFO. Once she answered, I told her that I’d made it with excitement in my voice. She replied, “Umm okay.” I’d been living in Spain for the past four months and I just knew she’d be excited to hear from me, so in my head I thought, “Oh wow, this is a game! There is literally going to be a party waiting for me once I get home.” After asking a few questions about my mother’s whereabouts and what she was doing I could sense that something was wrong with her; when I asked her she responded, “I’ll just see you when you get here.” 

My mind began to race, thinking about all of the possibilities. I did not want to believe my initial thought, but I knew it was the most likely. I turned to my friend, Tealanie, and said, “Someone died.” The standoffish conversation and short responses from my mom reminded me too much of the day she told me my papaw had passed away.

I decided to check if anyone in my family posted a Facebook update and the first thing I saw on my newsfeed made my stomach begin to knot up and I slammed my laptop shut. I saw a picture of my cousin with the caption, “Still at a loss of words...RIP Brother I love you.” My cousin, Maurice Moore was murdered on December 20, 2015.

While abroad I prayed endlessly, asking for the health and safety of everyone I loved. One of my biggest fears was that something tragic would happen and I would be on the other side of the world. I feared not being able to say I love you. I feared not being able to say goodbye.

Since we are in the era of the Black Lives Matter Movement, the awareness of police killing and mistreatment African Americans has been very prominent. A lot of peoples first reaction to this movement is, “But Black people kill Black people all the time.” While that is no excuse for police officers to unjustly take the lives of many Blacks it is a true statement. 

Over 1,400 more Black Americans killed other Black Americans in just two years than were lynched from 1882-1968. It would take cops 40 years to kill as many Black men as have died at the hands of other Black men in 2012 alone.

When presented with facts like this it can be easy to assume the Black people do not value the lives of other Blacks. The issue of Black on Black crime needs to come back to the forefront of current major issues in America. 

I am from Oakland, California where the murder toll is easily 100 or more bodies every year, so I’ve always been aware of the issue of violence, but this past December things got even clearer to me. Nothing has ever been so personal. To know that my cousin, Maurice More: the jokester, the son, the father of 5, the car salesman, the Harley Davidson riding man, had his life ended by someone that has no more power than me put a whole new perspective on the issues of Black on Black crime and there needs to be a change.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/28/5-devastating-facts-black-black-crime/

The Trump Dichotomy

As a liberal democrat from Los Angeles, I’m hard wired to find most of the things that come out of Donald Trump’s big mouth more than a little bit offensive, reckless and dangerous. But the great dichotomy of the 2016 election, to me at least, is the way Trump unilaterally ridiculed, discredited, and called out the hypocrisies of the Republican Party from the inside out.

Trump has called out the war mongering worst remnants of the Bush Administration, so easy considering that his brother was right there to take the heat for him. Jeb! took five days – five days – before figuring out that knowing what we know now, invading Iraq was not the right thing to do.

He was the only person on the debate stage to say that the government cannot allow our own citizens to “die on the streets” because of a lack of healthcare, and in response, Ted Cruz attacked him saying he was for socialized medicine.

And don’t even get me started on the remnants of the Bush talking heads: Karl Rove, Charles Krauthammer, George Will, Bill Kristol, Lindsey Graham, and the remainder of neo-cons that the self-proclaimed “Ernest Hemmingway of 140 characters,” eviscerates on a near daily basis on Twitter.

It’s important to understand that despite how out of touch Trump seems with America, his leading alternative, endorsed now by many from the Republican establishment is Cruz, a man who indulges similar, as troubling views as Trump, like his recent proposal to turn our Muslim communities into police states in the wake of the Belgian bombings, not out of any basis in fact or sound policing (he was directly rebuked by the Commissioner of the New York Police Department), but again, to stir up America’s worst fear induced instincts. Time and again, fringe Republicans, supported by the establishment have supported destructive, discriminatory and unjust policies, who lied to the American public for decades, convincing many low income and poorly educated people to vote against their interests. Remember, Trump "loves the poorly educated." 

These are only a few of the positions that Trump has taken that are at odds with the Republican Party’s true core: whoever is giving them the most money. For years, the Republican establishment, especially in Congress, have catered to America’s worst xenophobic instincts to find votes. What do they do when this isn’t popular enough to garner enough votes? They enact archaic voting policies like in Arizona, where 200 polling stations were reduced to 60 in Maricopa County, resulting in 5 hour lines to cast ballots.

The thing is, they got away with all of this for years. They weren't counting on someone taking it down from the inside.

I’m not saying any of Trump’s behavior is presidential, far from it. But it’s becoming increasingly likely with each passing primary that Donald Trump is going to be the Republican nominee. He will lose as the Republican nominee. According to the Huffington Post’s favorability average, two thirds of the country sees him as unfavorable, yet he commands the support of nearly half of Republicans because they feel as if he's not lying to them, maybe because he’s not really a candidate that completely resembles the recent Republican Party ideology, but has rallied a disaffected, angry group of people who feel like they've been scammed.

But let’s be clear about one thing, the Republicans did this to themselves.

-Sean Eckhardt