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(12/01/14 10:44pm)
While much of the U.S. is embattled in a many hundred year struggle for equality, groups within the larger population can be credited with preventing the most vulnerable U.S. populations from resembling those of a third world country.
Those groups are the activists working day in and day out to ensure the most basic human needs of every citizen are met. Activists have been a safety net, of sorts —champions for the life for every human being, not just those who have been judged by society as “worthy” of existence.
This is not to say conditions for many citizens in the U.S. aren’t horrific, but without the continued efforts of various activist individuals and groups, things could be much worse.
Many view activists as simply unfairly giving money, goods or even basic human needs such as health care, food, shelter and clothing to those who make little effort to help themselves. Contrary to popular belief, activists are simply acting as a temporary band-aid for those who are the underdogs of equality; victims of a broken social system.
Crowds of protesters have taken to the streets in Ferguson, Missouri, to once again engage in practices — both peaceful and violent — which have historically preceded all major social change in the U.S., from the Civil War to Birmingham and now Ferguson.
Activists are in the background quietly planning how to support those individuals and businesses adversely affected by the process of democracy. While riots resulted in businesses burning, activists have been busy cleaning, donating and most importantly, engaging in a political discourse which is required to complete the process which the protests and riots have started.
While many criticize the destruction of business and property in the already struggling community of Ferguson, activists and their supporters have already raised more than $300,000 through small, individual donations to help rebuild that community, and that number is only expected to rise.
As the definition of whiteness in American has been carefully constructed over the past several hundred years, the lives of those deemed less desirable have been unapologetically devalued creating a societal apathy towards the lack of basic human needs that exists in the lower classes of US society.
In response to this mass indifference towards human life that exists in the upper classes of America, activists push for the continuation and expansion of broad social programs which support those negatively affected by the institutionalized discrimination that has plagued citizens of color for hundreds of years.
Social safety nets such as welfare programs are promoted by activists as a band-aid to help meet the basic needs of oppressed populations until Americans can address their larger problems of access, opportunity and equality for all citizens.
A neighbor once summarized liberal activists by stating, “They want everyone to be totally equal and have all the same things, for nobody to have to work for what they want.” While activists absolutely advocate for equal access to basic human needs such as food, shelter, safety and healthcare, their efforts go much deeper.
Activists not only want the basic human needs of every American citizen to be met, but they want equal access to opportunity. What those individuals do with that opportunity once obtained — whether it is a quality education or the ability to apply for a job without fear of profiling or discrimination based on the color of their skin — is their decision, but the opportunity needs to first exist.
Until Americans can collectively correct the wrongs of society, activists will continue to support the needs of the most vulnerable citizens as the process of democracy unfolds.Reach the columnist at dprobst1@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @DonnellProbstEditor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.Want to join the conversation? Send an email to opiniondesk.statepress@gmail.com. Keep letters under 300 words and be sure to include your university affiliation. Anonymity will not be granted.Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
(11/23/14 9:49pm)
There's an old saying that goes, “Any publicity is good publicity.” However, a long list of celebrities with career-ending scandals might disagree. These individuals have learned the hard way that sometimes the court of public opinion imposes a much harsher sentence than any court of law ever could.
A well-known concept termed “natural consequences” occurs in both parenting and society at large. The University of Kansas defines natural consequences as “outcomes that happen as a result of behavior that are not planned or controlled.”
In American society, our judicial system serves in a role similar to that of parents: It provides the rules of society and doles out punishments to those who break those rules. Much like children, sometimes citizens aren’t caught in the act or there isn’t enough action to impose a formal consequence.
What happens instead, especially for those in a position of power or celebrity, is that doubt is cast and the trust of the American people is compromised. The resulting distrust is a proven career-killer.
Bill Cosby is the most recent celebrity sentenced in the court of public opinion.
While it seems there is a long history of rape or assault allegations against Cosby, there also seems to be a lack of evidence to transform those allegations into actual criminal charges. Much like many celebrities who have previously found themselves in similarly questionable situations, the public has taken matters into their own hands.
NBC has reportedly dropped a series that was in development with Cosby, Netflix has cancelled a Cosby stand-up special, TV Land has halted re-runs of the beloved Cosby Show and several public appearances by Mr. Cosby have also been cancelled or postponed.
Public opinion’s gavel has come down and come down hard on Mr. Cosby, hitting him where it hurts — the old moneymaker.
Cosby isn’t the only celebrity to endure the heat from a jury of his peers. For some celebrities, athletes and politicians, the fallout from public opinion is more detrimental to their career than any legal sentencing.
Mel Gibson’s now infamous penchant for hateful tirades and drunk driving has left him noticeably absent from the entertainment industry. O.J. Simpson’s athletic accomplishments are decidedly shadowed by a bloody glove and Anthony Weiner is no longer deciding the fate of our country and is instead opening a nonprofit restaurant in Queens.
Paul Reubens has perhaps suffered the longest sentencing by the court of public opinion for his indecent exposure arrest in 1991, failing to ever recover personally or professionally.
While a legal ruling certainly provides a level of vindication as it eliminates any doubt left behind by public opinion, watching those who have enjoyed a position of power come crashing down is a small consolation prize for their alleged victims.
Public opinion is not an exact science and can often be subject to the scrutiny of “innocent until proven guilty,” but it seems more often than not celebrities are exempt from that grace.
Someone like Cosby might not find himself donning stripes at the county jail, but the remainder of his retirement might not be quite as posh and comfy as he might have hoped … a small price to pay, but decidedly the cost of fame.Reach the columnist at dprobst1@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @DonnellProbstEditor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.Want to join the conversation? Send an email to opiniondesk.statepress@gmail.com. Keep letters under 300 words and be sure to include your university affiliation. Anonymity will not be granted.Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
(11/17/14 11:05pm)
As President Barack Obama reignites the debate over the minimum wage in the U.S., a largely speculative and totally predictable media analysis of the potential fallout from such an action followed. Analysis from across the spectrum of public opinion has ranged from dire warnings of its small business-killing potential to the more optimistic historical analysis of actual outcomes of past wage hikes.
(11/05/14 11:24pm)
Hysteria is the perfect word to describe the public response to media coverage regarding drug use in American history, a trend that has largely contributed to America’s embarrassingly high incarceration rate.
(10/27/14 11:08pm)
Political polling has ramped up over the past few weeks, which can only mean one thing — the American election season is upon us.
(10/20/14 11:26pm)
Following in the footsteps of progressive employer Facebook, Apple has joined the ranks of companies offering up to $20,000 in coverage for non-medically necessary egg freezing for female employees as well as spouses of male employees.
(10/15/14 12:19am)
The gluten-free fad is creating a host of problems for those who suffer from diagnosed gluten-related problems such as celiac disease, gluten allergies, and non-celiac gluten sensitivity. The most notable of these obstacles are the growing social disdain of gluten intolerance as well as skyrocketing prices for gluten-free products.
(10/05/14 10:05pm)
By now, most Americans are well aware of the unfortunate satirical cartoon published in the Boston Herald depicting the now infamous White House intruder sitting in President Barack Obama’s bathtub, asking if he has tried the new "watermelon-flavored" toothpaste and the predictably reactionary apology by the illustration's creator, Boston Herald's political cartoonist Jerry Holbert.The Boston branch of the NAACP has spoken up and is taking the Boston Herald and its veteran cartoonist to task, rightfully demanding further action on the issue, calling the Herald's initial explanation and subsequent apology "inadequate."The NAACP's assessment couldn't be more accurate. Holbert's explanation just doesn't add up.In an interview with Dan Rea on NightSide, Holbert attempts to explain the grossly clichéd faux pas by asserting that he failed to even recall the stereotype, saying, “It’s been a very long time (since I've heard it). …. Maybe when I was a kid? … It’s been so long, it has to be 40 years since I’ve heard that.”Looking back through Holbert’s past illustrations, a wide range of political issues have been the focus of his satirical scrutiny. Whether addressing term limits, elections, or the secret service, by all accounts, he appears to be fairly well-acquainted with the latest in political media.This leads his readers to ask: Does Holbert really expect his audience to believe that, as someone who works in political media, he was truly ignorant of a stereotype that dates back to the 19th century?It seems as though Holbert expects his readership to accept that he, a political cartoonist who has spent the better part of three decades working for one of the oldest daily newspapers in the country and presumably stays abreast of current events as a requirement of his position, failed to see any media coverage of watermelon references made about Obama, as well as other African-American officials over the past decade.What about the story of a California mayor who sent out an email showing Obama’s White House lawn covered in watermelons? This story was covered by Fox News, NBC News, CBS News, Huffington Post and the Los Angeles Times, as well as numerous local news outlets.Yet somehow a Boston Herald editorial cartoonist scouring daily news developments to feed his political commentary missed this story altogether?Holbert also apparently failed to hear anything about the Montana GOP official who tweeted the “watermelon trap” that could be used to kidnap the president.He also evidently missed the time Dan Rather said, “Obama couldn’t sell watermelons.”The number of references to Obama and watermelon in the media is endless, yet Holbert claims to be unaware of any of the many, many, many, many stories that have swirled since the first hint that Obama might run for president.Even if Holbert was given the benefit of the doubt, there is another detail that appears to put the final nail in his bigoted coffin.During the NightSide interview, Rea disclosed that Holbert’s syndicator emailed him the evening before the cartoon was to be published and suggested he change the flavor of the toothpaste, explaining to the allegedly ignorant Holbert the historically significant basis of the watermelon stereotype.At that time, Holbert politely declined to make the suggested alteration to his offensive illustration and the cartoon ran, passing unobstructed through many levels of editors and managing editors who also never batted an eye.After the predictable public backlash that followed, the illustration was eventually modified to say “raspberry toothpaste,” but it just doesn’t seem to have the same “zing” as the watermelon reference, a fact that most certainly is not lost on Holbert.While he may have thought his audiences were so naïve as to readily swallow his witless rationalization, it turns out the racist illustration speaks not only for itself, but for Holbert as well.Reach the columnist at dprobst1@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @DonnellProbstEditor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.Want to join the conversation? Send an email to opiniondesk.statepress@gmail.com. Keep letters under 300 words and be sure to include your university affiliation. Anonymity will not be granted.Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
(09/24/14 11:12pm)
Curriculum requirements for high school students in the U.S. encompass the full range of knowledge required to enter adulthood as an informed, functioning citizen. Obvious general education requirements established around core subjects such as math, science, history and English are to be expected, but additional subject matter in the areas of personal finance, health and practical arts have also been deemed crucial for successful participation in adult life.
(09/17/14 1:24am)
With the growing credibility of online degree programs, post-secondary student populations are diversifying rapidly as more and more older adults return to school than ever before. Students age 25 and older saw a 42 percent increase from 2000 to 2010, and another 20 percent increase is expected by the year 2020. For ASU, nearly 20 percent of their student body falls into this demographic.
(09/10/14 11:02pm)
In 1961, the Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton Minow gave a historically noteworthy speech at the National Association of Broadcasters convention arguing whether or not the phrase “public interest” is synonymous with the “interests of the public.”
Last week, attorneys for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch petitioned the St. Louis Family Court for a copy of the juvenile records of Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager from Ferguson, Mo., who was shot and killed by officer Darren Wilson, citing “heavy public interest in the details of Brown’s life.”Thankfully, the request was denied by a judge of the St. Louis County Circuit Court Division 11 on Tuesday.
Perhaps the Post-Dispatch would have been better served to rearrange its wording to more accurately read, “the public has an interest in the details of Brown’s life.”
While the wording chosen by the attorneys for the Post-Dispatch to justify its request might sound judicious, the public’s preoccupation with certain events, specifically highly publicized trials, does not, in fact, warrant the dismissal of the public’s lurid curiosity in the event itself.
An attorney for the Post-Dispatch did concede a “general lack of transparency surrounding the police response to, and investigation of, the shooting.” Given this acknowledgement, does the Post-Dispatch not feel there is an equally “heavy public interest” in the actual details of the event?
The decision of the Post-Dispatch to expend resources to pursue the juvenile records of the victim in a case where so few details have been released about the actual event seems more like a witch hunt than an attempt to “impugn Mike Brown.”
If this was, in fact, the motivation behind the request, why not petition the court for any of the other numerous details of the shooting that have been held hostage by Ferguson Police Department for the past month? Why not pursue a comprehensive police report of the event to replace the half-redacted report originally provided by Ferguson police? Perhaps a report from the police department showing the number of times Wilson’s gun was discharged would be edifying for the public at large.
These types of requests would not be unusual and probably would not have required the need to petition the court. After all, the St. Louis Police Department released the number of times Kajieme Powell was shot within a few days of his shooting death involving two St. Louis police officers shortly after the shooting death of Brown.
Finally, is it possible that in its pursuit of a ratings-grabbing headline, the Post-Dispatch failed to recognize the number of questions its petition might raise about its own misplaced curiosity and St. Louis’ strategically created obsession with Brown’s past?
For outside observers, the pursuit of an unarmed, black victim’s juvenile records by a community which has failed time and again to acknowledge its checkered history of police brutality and racism, can only be perceived as the pursuit of a “gotcha” moment — an attempt to uncover past aggressive behavior of a young black man which might serve to provide the much desired justification for a white officer’s deadly actions.
More precisely, it is nothing more than a divided community’s continued refusal to accept the prospect that a white officer stereotyped a black teenager. Because the scary reality is that an indictment of Wilson would require Ferguson and communities all over St. Louis to acknowledge the issues of systematic racism and oppression plaguing the biggest small town you’ve ever seen.Reach the columnist at dprobst1@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @DonnellProbstEditor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.Want to join the conversation? Send an email to opiniondesk.statepress@gmail.com. Keep letters under 300 words and be sure to include your university affiliation. Anonymity will not be granted.Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
(09/04/14 10:10pm)
At a time when studies show that only 40 percent of Americans who read the news actually make it past the headline, the mainstream media has an even greater civic responsibility to tell the whole story from headline to conclusion.
(09/01/14 10:03pm)
As much of the country awaits the decision of the grand jury in the Michael Brown case, there are plenty of questions to be asked regarding police brutality and racial tension in America. As important as the these questions are, there is one that has flown under the radar in the middle of all the chaos: How have the failing schools in lower-income communities contributed to these societal ills?
(08/24/14 10:21pm)
The pathology of racism in America has long been a product of the unending, systematic segregation of minority communities to the most undesirable corners of society.