Voting was such a hot topic on campus this past fall.
Obviously from the Hillary v. Trump election but I think on a deeper level too.
Voting comes with a certain pride and a feeling of hope of being heard.
I know, I know!
It sounds ridiculous, but think about it.
I go to school at UNC Charlotte.
Currently UNC Charlotte is made up of 17% African-American students, 48% female students, and 41% who are considered low income students.
All are less than the majority on campus and throughout history, these groups have faced some time of oppression when it comes to voting.
It took time and a great amount of push-back to gain suffrage for all of these groups.
So now, for the pressing question: Should Everyone be Automatically Registered to Vote?
In my opinion, everyone should not be automatically registered to vote.
Voting is a guaranteed right for us now, but it was not always guaranteed and therefore should not be taken for granted.
I myself worked for a politician during his re-election and during a presidential election year and was not registered to vote.
Not to mention, I am a political science major.
I kept making excuses for why I was not registered yet.
For a while it worked but eventually I had to come to the reality of the matter.
The whole time I was convinced that I was making the executive decision to not register but really, it was that I clearly was not mature or responsible enough to vote for our leaders.
I am thankful I could not vote at that time, because I would not have made the most informed decision.
Yet, if I were automatically registered then someone as apathetic as I could still be able to cast my vote last-minute and without any thought.
Thankfully, because I was not wholly convinced on the importance of my vote, my laziness prevailed and I did not want to take the time to register.
Finally, I had an epiphany and realized what a difference voting vs not voting would mean personally for me personally.
Getting to register was the validation to myself that I was growing up and it symbolized a commitment to myself and society to become informed and cast a vote that counts.
Voting is our right, but we should have some initiative to receive this.
If those before us worked so tirelessly to gain suffrage then we can take a little time to fill out our personal information to register to exercise this right.
When you work, even just a little bit for it there is this pride in knowing your vote is unique to whatever you believe no matter what authorities or anyone else thinks and you earned it.
How freeing and liberating is that?
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
This is an opinion piece. It is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of RISE NEWS.
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A Liberal Arts Education Has Never Been More Important
“Liberal arts.”
A term that I have heard since I was a child – but not in a positive way.
My mother and a few of her siblings received an Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts from a community college in New York City after I was born and have always said that it was a loss: “No haga eso porque es una pérdida de tiempo.”
They would have specialized in something specific, something that they were passionate about, rather than following a suggestion that was seen as appropriate for those who had just immigrated to the United States.
I remember Mami always helping me with my math homework well into high school and trying to figure out why she did not pursue something having to deal with numbers – turns out a dream of hers was to be an accountant.
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As I began the college application process (fun fact: I sent in my decision to Colgate University exactly 5 years ago today), my high school counselor as well as my program counselor both suggested that I focus on liberal arts colleges.
I wanted to say no immediately as I thought back to my mother’s college experience.
However, there must have been a reason why these experienced counselors made the suggestion.
As I began my research, I saw that these liberal arts colleges tended to be on the smaller side with an emphasis on taking classes across multiple departments and disciplines.
The size of these schools seemed like a dream come true since I was used to being in a class with about 38 other girls from the 7th grade until my last year of high school.
The notion of taking classes in a wide range of departments also stood out to me – I had absolutely no clue what I wanted to do after college.
My career choices had consisted of the following: doctor, Miami Heat dancer, Olivia Benson from ‘SVU.’ sports agent, and the list goes on.
Being able to take classes with different professors regarding different subjects is exactly what I wanted.
I wanted college to be a time where the academia I was surrounded by would help me decide on a career path (along with the students I was surrounded by).
Thankfully, after convincing my mother that I was attending a liberal arts college and not getting a liberal arts degree, I decided on Colgate, and I do not regret the liberal arts experience whatsoever – it was exactly what I needed.
Although I was a sociology and Spanish double major, I also took classes in the religion, economics, theater, English, political science, women’s studies, Caribbean, psychology, mathematics, philosophy, and geography departments.
So many of my classes crossed between departments, and I was able to meet other students and professors I probably would not have met had I gone to a school where you were obligated to have some sense of your future and enter with a specialized field in mind.
As I entered the work of employment, I realized how valuable my liberal arts education truly was: I learned how to be creative in my theater classes, how to communicate in my political science classes, how to think about others in my sociology classes, how to write efficiently in my English classes, and so much more that words simply could not do justice.
There is a need to know more than just technical skills once you reach that point in your life.
Colgate University, this may seem like a love letter to you, but thank you for allowing me to explore subjects that I never thought I would have the chance to.
Thank you for allowing me to get to meet students with a range of different interests.
Thank you for pushing me to love sociology and the Spanish culture.
Thank you for helping me to realize I want to be a lawyer and help those that do not have a voice.
Thank you liberal arts.
You do matter, especially in this new age we find ourselves in.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
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Would The Discovery Of Alien Life Cause A Crisis For Religion?
Many people have asked the question, “Are there aliens out there in the universe?”, but the one question that rarely gets asked is “what would their discovery mean for the very foundation of organized religions here on Earth”?
In the course of writing this article, I took the time to ponder the question myself, as well as ask people of different faiths how they think people would react given substantial evidence that intelligent life exists outside of our planet.
It should be known that this article is entirely theoretical and opinion based, but it’s certainly fun to think about.
I firmly believe that there is intelligent life out in the universe; it is not a matter of if we will get in contact with these beings, but a question of when.
In the year 2000 it was known that astronomers had located about 50 “exoplanets,” and in the year 2013, that number had grown to 850.
In just 13 years, out of the 850 that have been discovered, 20 of the planets have been found to be “Earth-size exoplanets that occupy a habitable zone around their star, including the most recently discovered Proxima b, which orbits Proxima Centauri,” according to the BBC.
The idea that something could be going on outside of Earth would surely be something that God would have told us about, right?
It is estimated that by the year 2045 the number of exoplanets discovered will be well over one million.
At a certain point, it just becomes silly to think that we are actually alone in the universe.
Now that the framework for this conversation has been laid out, and the argument made that it is only a matter of time before we find a form of advanced life that resides outside of our world; we can begin to examine the question of what the discovery of alien life would mean for religion on earth.
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The very first thing that would probably happen is that there would be a period of denial for many people that have a religious life and background.
The idea that something could be going on outside of Earth would surely be something that God would have told us about, right?
The denial would just be dismissive at first, but then we would move into our second stage: anger.
Anger would envelop the masses of religious people, and for the first time in the history of religion, there might even be a shared understanding among all faiths to combat the false lies that are being spread about alien life that exists in the universe.
There would be a strong effort to dispel any rumor or fact that there is extraterrestrial life, and people would gather en masse to protest and show their anger for the contempt of their religion.
This brings us to step three and three and a half: denial and depression.
After being shown substantial evidence that alien life exists outside of our earth, and with all their theories and rhetoric thoroughly exhausted, the religious people that have no accepted the reality of this fact will have a severe attack of cognitive dissonance.
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It’s a very unfortunate thing to say, but some people will no doubt be so overcome with doubt and depression that they will likely take their own lives as they see everything that they have ever known fundamentally shaken.
Luckily, I see this as a short period of time, and slowly the fog will begin to clear.
This will lead us to step four: acceptance and rationalization.
When I asked people of different faiths the question about how they would personally feel about being show substantial evidence of the existence of alien life, and how it would affect their belief in their religion I was generally given the same answer: “There are things that we just don’t know about, and in due time God will reveal them.”
It is no secret that the Bible, Torah, Qur’an and other religious text were all written by man.
I believe that these religious texts have been drafted through divine inspiration from a higher being and that higher being only gives us as much information that we are able to handle at any given time.
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If you were to tell the people of the world back in 300 A.D. that we would have these magical machines that could fly us across vast oceans in a matter of hours they probably would have looked at you like you had four heads.
We are only given as much information that we can cognitively process, and that will continue to happen if people have a truth faith and allegiance to their religion.
Religion is rarely based on things that can definitively be proven.
Religion is based on belief and faith.
When there is tangible evidence of alien life existing outside of our Earth, the true believers of faith will continue to believe that there is a supreme being in the heavens that is looking out for all that it created, and in this circumstance, the creation extends to extraterrestrial beings.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
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Hyperbole Abounds in Coverage of Oregon “Militia” Takeover
Armed.
That’s the word that every media outlet under the sun is emphasizing in their coverage of a small group of ranchers and extremists who have decided that knowingly entering and remaining upon a Federal facility (the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge) while it’s closed is a good idea. By the way, that amounts to a “petty misdemeanor” under Federal law.
Sure there is a lot of banter, and they have guns. Okay. But even if these ‘militiamen’ broke in to the building, or entered through an unlocked door, under Federal Statutes, it’s still just a burglary. Yes, it’s also unlawful to carry weapons on Federal property. Still not a violent act in and of itself.
So while it may not be a wise career move for me to dispute our Opinion Editor’s position, I’m going to, simply on the basis that what’s unfolding in the high plains desert of Oregon is in to no way terrorism.
Could it reach the threshold of terrorism? Yes. But at this point in time, this is a group of folks who perceive a long history of grievances against the Federal government, some based on the historical events within their own family – and some who simply align with the Mormon / LDS religious beliefs of the ideological leaders of this undertaking, the Bundy family.
As I’ve spoken to before, terrorism involves violent acts, or acts dangerous to human life. That again is based in Federal statutes. So where has it been reported that a single shot has been fired in this ‘armed takeover’ of this Fish and Wildlife Service facility? It hasn’t. Because it hasn’t happened.
These are dangerous people, with dangerous ideology, a grudge against the Federal Government of the United States,
The facility is in an area with a lesser population density than Wyoming, or Alaska. Even if there was a shot fired, there’s no one around for miles. How does this present an act dangerous to human life, if there’s nobody to get shot?
Yes, when Law Enforcement enters the area, the likelihood for an armed conflict rises exponentially. This is a group with which Federal law enforcement has some experience, and though these folks profess to be ‘ready to die for the cause’, the much more attended events at the Bundy Ranch were resolved peacefully.
Then again, they also weren’t occupying and refusing to leave a Federal facility in that case.
Brass tax – I am not delusional.
These are dangerous people, with dangerous ideology, a grudge against the Federal Government of the United States, and who have displayed a willingness to use violence, or the threat of violence to achieve the outcome that they desire.
The Bundy Ranch standoff is fresh in many people’s minds. But let’s not blow things out of proportion either. Yes, the headlines are flashy, and it gets people all worked up, which generates click-throughs and ratings – but at the end of the day – we have not reached the point of terrorism.
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