Over the past two months, we’ve noticed a rise in fake news being spread on Instagram. These posts provide no context and are often false.
A popular example of this are police brutality videos. These videos provide no description on why the police are arresting the suspect, but instead assume the police is in the wrong for assaulting someone without reason.
If you’re put under arrest, you have no right to resist, and bystanders have no right to interfere. It’s ludicrous when we see a video of a mob of bystanders swarming a cop arresting one person. The cops will undoubtedly push the students away with force, by all means necessary. Bystanders and viewers constantly find any excuse to push their racist, sexist, and/or any other agenda. This violence is not a result of police selection, but stupidity and ignorance.
A reason why these are so popular are because people are susceptible to what they first read. Instead of relying on the caption of the video for one’s information, one can do a quick Google search to find exactly how the police took appropriate protocol.
Another example of fake news are misleading headlines. A good example is the news report by The Independent stating a new Arkansas law allows rapists to sue their victims. Snopes.com, along with several other websites have fact checked and proved this false, yet hundreds of thousands of Instagram users don’t care to look it up for themselves. Instead, they rely on what they first see to influence them.
There are countless examples of fake news circulated on social media, and it is up to you to differentiate reality and deception.
Ethan Maruyama
Tristan Nguyen
Class of 2021
To the Editor,
I would like to address a concern that I have at Milpitas High School. I believe that our school does not have the proper facilities for students to each lunch at. Everyday during lunch, I can see people sitting in unpleasant places such as on the dirty floor or on a dirty platform near trees. In order to solve this issue, I propose that we should have more lunch tables and keep more rooms open for students to eat in.
People may say that many rooms are already open and that our school does not have enough space for more tables. Although that is true, I still disagree with part of that. Even though many rooms are still open for students, none of them are ever completely full and many times, students are hesitant to walk into an unfamiliar classroom to eat lunch. Therefore, the school should publicize more that students are welcome to eat in any teacher’s room. This will make the students feel more welcome. Addressing the issue of table space, I disagree with that statement because there many times is space on the tables, but the group hanging out by those tables do not make others feel welcome. Due to this, students are hesitant to sit over there. There is also space for a few tables in places such as the green and there are many trees that you can place tables under. Having said this, I hope that the school will take action on this issue.
Sincerely,
Kush Brahmbhatt
Class of 2022
Dear Editor,
Everywhere I turn, I see plastic spoons, plastic forks, plastic cups, and so much more plastic (and styrofoam and paper). Advocating for change within the government and its laws is difficult. As difficult as it is to overturn laws, it is equally as or more difficult to pass progressive laws regarding switching to cleaner energy and putting tighter restrictions on pollution. Living in the Bay Area bubble, and even more, living in the bubble of students labeled “AP nerds” and “tryhards” maybe contributes heavily to the privilege (and to my chagrin, snobbiness) I have to be able to speak out and advocate for action against climate change. Many people may be too busy putting food on the table for their families or making ends meet to care about problems that seem intangible in the present moment. But it’s these families that climate change will disproportionately affect the most! So, even if purchasing reusable items seems expensive in the moment, the long term benefits are so much better.
Sometimes, I wonder how many people, especially students, actually take the time to think about the effects of our consumerism. Especially as I read Brave New World in my English class, I am troubled by how little people think about their actions. It’s difficult sometimes to stop myself from just using a plastic fork or cup because it’s convenient. After all, what’s the point of me doing it if no one else cares? However, remembering that there are people who are like me helps me refrain from doing so. Sure, it’s convenient in the moment, but drilling oil, shipping it to the company, and getting the materials to make the item is not really that convenient or cost-beneficial.
Through all my rambling, I think my point is, no matter how small an action is, you should always strive to do your best to complete it anyway. Although changing laws and pushing our government to actually take action on the climate change issue seems so difficult for small children like us, YOUR actions matter. As many people say, one person’s actions may not be significant, but if we collectively work to solve our problem, at least we took the first step. Reusable straws are a great first step, but from there, you can turn to bringing your own cup when getting milk tea, bringing your own utensils when you go out to eat, and refusing freebies (especially for my fellow seniors who will be getting many random sunglasses and squishy bracelets). Maybe it’s a futile cause, maybe I’m preaching to the choir (because we live in the Bay Area), but there’s always something we can do better. Not just in terms of combating climate change, but also for changing our own lives, changing the laws, and changing what we see is wrong.
Sincerely,
Lisa Yan
Class of 2019
Dear Editor,
Nearly all of the United States have some form of abortion law dictating when a mother can and cannot have an abortion. Recently, Missouri has passed a bill to prevent abortions when a fetal heartbeat is detected. The same law has been passed in Ohio, Georgia, and Kentucky, although some of these laws won’t take effect until later years. Following this wave, Alabama passed a law where no woman could have an abortion regardless of the circumstance of the pregnancy. This means that even if the woman was raped, she still does not have the option of having an abortion. If an Alabama doctor were to perform, or to even attempt to perform an abortion, they could face a life sentence and felony charges. The only exception to this law is if the pregnancy is potentially dangerous to the mother.
These laws are frankly harming more than doing good from my perspective. While the argument that all life is precious and should be saved has merit, I believe that saving one life should not be at the expense of another’s. The woman carrying the child should be able to decide if she wants to carry the child to term, by her own choice. Her options should not be limited by the circumstances of the pregnancy, and should certainly not be limited by the people that have little expertise in this particular field.
But of course, there must be a good reason for why these laws are put into place. The people that are signing these bills into laws must surely have excellent reasoning on why they decide whether a woman carries a child to term. After all, these men and women are the best informed on the procedure and the aftermath, right? Wrong.
Ohio state Rep. John Becker seeks to expand with the “heartbeat bill” by including ectopic pregnancies in the bill. Ectopic pregnancies occur when the fertilized egg is implanted outside of the uterus. At this point, the fertilized egg can grow and damage nearby organs of the mother. This can cause hemorrhaging and potentially death. Rep. John Becker believes that the egg can be transferred to the uterus from its incorrect positioning, although more than a few gynecologists disagree. They say that the procedure cited in the bill is a work of, “science fiction” and that the technology required for said procedure hasn’t been developed yet. This procedure that Becker believed in also crosses between a gray area with Ohio abortion laws. Because the procedure is a work of fiction, it can cause confusion for the doctors who must decide if they are breaking a law by refusing an abortion to a woman with an ectopic pregnancy, or if they break a different law by continuing with the abortion. To further accentuate that this bill is nonsensical, John Becker himself says that although his bill covers drugs, tools, and procedures needed for his fantasy surgery, he says, as taken from The Washington Post, “When you get into contraception and abortifacients, that’s clearly not my area of expertise.”
So why is it that people who might not know the slightest thing about a pregnancy, or contraception, or even conception, get to determine a woman’s right to an abortion. What if, across the board, women were given the right to an abortion at any stage of the pregnancy? What if she had access to that procedure regardless of the circumstance of the pregnancy? A pregnancy does not determine if the mother is emotionally stable enough to raise a child. A pregnancy does not determine if the mother is financially stable enough to support a child. A pregnancy does not determine if the mother is mature enough to nurture a child. If denied access to an abortion, could it not also be said that it could potentially do more damage than if the mother had had the option of an abortion?
So what would happen if we gave women the right to choose?
Amber Chow
Class of 2022