Batchelor: Making the Most of Time
A friend of a friend, a girl I never really knew, died in a car accident this past weekend, just days after graduating from Yale University.
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A friend of a friend, a girl I never really knew, died in a car accident this past weekend, just days after graduating from Yale University.
On Wednesday afternoon during an interview with ABC's Robin Roberts, President Barack Obama once again made history by becoming the first sitting president to publicly endorse gay marriage. According to The New York Times and numerous online commentators, Obama and his advisors had planned to make the announcement in the lead-up to the September convention since earlier this year but accelerated that timeline in the past week because of Vice President Joe Biden and other cabinet members' recent public support for the issue. The question now left to many supporters of gay rights is how to interpret the president's move asking whether it was a calculated political maneuver that will have little to no effect or a heroic statement sacrificing political gain for, simply put, doing the right thing.
This past winter, hundreds of thousands of people banded together to strike down the Stop Online Piracy Act before it became law. It was beautiful: young people getting involved in politics, if only to protect their God-given right to download the latest episode of "Mad Men" and repost clips of their favorite shows. However, it seems unlikely that the Internet's masses would have been victorious in this case without the assistance of the technology industry giants like Google, Facebook, Wikipedia and Twitter who lobbied, purchased full-page ads in The New York Times and blacked out their websites in protest.
We all laughed at our mothers when they told us, "Be careful what you post online it will be out there for anyone to see... forever!" Oh, Mom. So naive. There are things called privacy settings, duh. Didn't you ever wonder why you can't see any pictures I'm tagged in? Limited profile.
If you haven't had the opportunity to watch AMC's now-defunct TV show "Rubicon," you should. The show, which ran from June to October 2010, tells the story of an analyst at a private intelligence firm who discovers he may be an unwitting participant in a secret society that manipulates world events for personal profit.
Given that much of the Occupy movement has come in from the cold city streets around the world to organize indoors, many protestors have been asking: What now? Depending on your economic and political worldview, the Occupiers' effect has ranged from marginal to substantial, positive to negative. Whatever your view, the Occupy movement, along with President Barack Obama's latest budget request calling for financial regulation and tax reform, reflects an interest among many Americans and political leaders in reducing the ever-widening income gap in the American population.
Peter Blair's recent column ("Marriage Without Meaning," Jan. 20) makes a cowardly and logically unsound argument against gay marriage. Blair seeks to tie a progressively weakening institution of marriage since the 1960s and 1970s to the societal ills of the present, contending that we must intensify efforts to reestablish this sacred bond to strengthen our great nation. Nested within his argument, however, is the more sinister idea that a rise in gay culture and petitions for equal rights are intrinsically connected to the degradation of marriage that, while gay marriage "isn't a proximate cause of our marriage crisis," it is a "consequence of that crisis."
The internet is in danger. Actually though.Under the terms of two recently introduced companion bills, the Protect IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act, the internet as we know it could come to an end. I'm not being hyperbolic as observers from Silicon Valley to Wall Street have noted, the vague, misguided provisions of these proposals may give rise to a radically new authoritarian internet where government blacklists reign and the slightest misstep could permanently undercut or shutdown the websites you love. Considering the practical, legal and ideological concerns presented by these two bills, it is essential that Dartmouth students and people everywhere actively urge our lawmakers to reconsider.
Last week, Kevin Francfort '15 argued that although it is "important to remember" the environmental concerns posed by hydraulic fracturing, a controversial mining practice used to extract natural gas, our nation should support the technique even if that support comes at the cost of pursuing renewable and clean energy technologies ("In Favor of Fracking," Nov. 10). While the idea of fracking is indeed tempting it offers low costs, job creation, energy independence further investigation reveals this latest fossil fuel craze as just another empty promise, a quick profit-maker that distracts from our need of a clean, sustainable energy policy.
The New York Times reported on Monday that at least three dozen state legislatures the majority of which are Republican-controlled have put forth initiatives to make drug testing a prerequisite for all manner of public assistance: welfare, unemployment and food stamps, to name a few. While at first glance this onslaught of new proposals seems sensible (why should taxpayers support drug habits of the poor?), a closer examination reveals that this flawed logic is based on pre-existing class and racial stereotypes and does nothing to solve any of the pressing issues this country faces.
Despite my best efforts over these three-odd years, I can tell I've started to grow up. Not entirely, mind you that would never do but with the slow march of time has come a burgeoning sense of well a sort of maturity. In place of vehement insistence on ill-conceived ideals, I now find myself hesitant to unequivocally support absolutes. Rather than dismiss arguments I disagree with out of hand, I have started trying to see issues from multiple angles. It's weird, for me. And kind of tiring.
To the Class of 2015:
Osama bin Laden is dead. I wish I could have counted the number of times this phrase was uttered during the surprise news coverage Sunday night. While the words are certainly crystal clear, their impact on individuals, America and the world at large is still uncertain. Barring any massive conspiracy theory, his death is now cemented in historical fact. But where do we go from here?
After almost three years here at Dartmouth, I'm beginning to figure out what exactly I should have known starting as a freshman. Out of the amorphous blob that has been my life plan have come vague outlines spectral ideas of what exactly I want to do after graduation. It's been a long process even getting to that courses in government, philosophy, English, computer science, education, physics, psychology, religion, sociology, French and geography have all led me this way and that to where I am today. Which is screwed.
None of us are perfect. Well, maybe you are, but I sure as hell am not. Each day, I make some error of judgment, have some flaw in my reasoning or simply misinterpret words or actions. Furthermore, apart from just making mistakes, I often realize that even my thought process or approach to a problem is wrong. Why? Well, there are probably a lot of reasons. But the most important reason is a simple concept nearly everyone from you and me to presidents and world leaders falls prey to on a regular basis. It's called path dependence.
The Internet is an interesting place to spend time. Whether you are looking for "lulz" or the accumulated knowledge of humankind, its vast depths provide near limitless potential for entertainment, communication and learning. But what of the darker, more sinister corners of our generation's favorite hangout spot? What happens when a medium that defines us is us, in a way takes on a life of its own? The recent campaigns of "Anonymous," the self-proclaimed voice of the Internet generation, provide an interesting impetus for discussion about exactly where we stand in relation to this "voice of the Internet" and exactly how far we are willing to go to support it.
I remember winter of my freshman year here to have been one of the darkest of my life. I was still trying to figure out where I belonged, what I enjoyed doing and who exactly I wanted to be doing things with. On top of all of that, it was cold and quite literally dark a lot of the time. Call it seasonal affective disorder or just being a college freshman in winter and not really having a clue, it sucked. And then came Winter Carnival, promising to turn winter magical once more, restoring my faith in the season and the place where I was spending it.
The United States has long claimed that it will stop at nothing to ensure the flourishing of democracy worldwide. Indeed, it is this noble notion that has taken our diplomats and armed forces to the far reaches of the globe, sometimes valiantly, sometimes ignobly, to give a breath of life or a strong arm to those in pursuit of an ideal we hold so dear.
I largely missed the latest WikiLeaks release the so-called "Cablegate" event while I was abroad. Since getting back, it's been interesting to catch up and hear the multitude of opinions about the organization and its mission. Being a young idealist lucky enough to have a column that people (supposedly) read, I want to write a brief defense of the website that I hope might start some other interesting conversations. To put it frankly, I believe WikiLeaks' release of classified documents is a net positive for citizens and their governments around the world.
We're about to be juniors in college still '12s, yes, but juniors. I don't think we use that terminology enough. Although identifying ourselves by our class years at the College fosters a feeling of unity and togetherness, it does let us forget how fast we are progressing through these crazy four years.