Opinion - The Daily Lobo

Opinion

Letter: The "cult of ignorance" is destroying America

October 18

Editor, The New Mexico Public Education Department is refusing to answer who or what is behind the push to lower scientific standards for students of public education, in this failed state of New Mexico. "The agency has declined requests to name anyone it met with, as speculation has swirled around possible political motives and concessions to skeptics of human-caused climate change and scientific evolutionary theory."

Opinion

Letter: Here's how UNM could help Puerto Rico recover

Daily Lobo Readers | October 15

Editor, As a UNM alum from several decades ago, I would like to joyfully share a new idea about how to help Puerto Rico. This administration's abysmal response to the direly urgent catastrophic destruction of the agriculture, the electrical power, and the infrastructure of the island is shocking indeed. Last night I told a new UNM friend that if I were much younger, in my twenties or thirties, I would find a way to go there and help however and wherever I could.

Opinion

Column: Student-parents face unique challenges

Nichole Harwood | October 15

Choosing the path of a student is one that is often filled with chaos as one strives to fill every role they are expected to fill as adults. In many instances, the student finds they bit off more than they can chew, and these different roles will often suffer for it as a student works hard to complete their education. But what if one role cannot suffer? No matter the assignments that pile up or the test that must be studied for, one role that certain students cannot let suffer is that of a parent.

Opinion

Letter: The nation must take control of its gun problem

Daily Lobo Readers | October 15

Editor, This letter is in response to the articles covering the recent shooting in Las Vegas. The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution states: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Obviously the need for a state militia has been replaced by the National Guard and Coast Guard, whereby trained military personnel are entrusted with the defense of this country against domestic enemies. Their weapons are tightly controlled and safeguarded.

Opinion

Letter: Repealing the Clean Power Plan directly harms the Earth

Daily Lobo Readers | October 15

Editor, When I met my stepmom eight years ago, she had just moved to New Mexico from China. When I asked how different China was from New Mexico, she said one of the most striking differences is the clean air we have here. This was one of the first times I wanted to research how people could have such disregard for their environment. Now I’m a student at UNM studying economics and sustainability studies.

Opinion

Letter: Trump's administration has done nothing to curb violence

Daily Lobo Readers | October 10

Editor, On Friday Jan. 20, 2017, President Trump declared, “This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.” On Oct. 5, 2017, the White House whined “that only 5 percent of media coverage has been positive about this President and this administration, while at the same time, you have the stock market and economic confidence at an all-time high; ISIS is on the run." Here, in the reality-based community, the bull stock market began in March 9, 2009, which was one year after Obama took office. Why did Trump call Obama's economy carnage? ISIS has been on the run for years. The reason our dear leader hasn’t received positive news coverage is because the GOP hasn't accomplished ANYTHING in 10 months. Republicans control the White House, the Senate, the House and the Supreme Court, yet they simply can't GOVERN!

Opinion

Letter: Time to stop squeezing The Juice

Daily Lobo Readers | October 10

Editor, A few minutes after midnight on Oct. 1, authorities at Nevada's Lovelock Correctional Center released O.J.

Opinion

Letter: It's too soon to identify Las Vegas attack as terrorism

Daily Lobo Readers | October 8

Editor, A deliberate and thoughtful approach is needed when describing the recent attack in Las Vegas. A multiplicity of people have used “terrorism” to describe the event. Policy makers, such as Rep. Jim Cooper and even the famous YouTube star Casey Neistat used “terror” in their reference to the Las Vegas attack. Such labeling demonstrates a lack of understanding as to what terrorism is. Recent Daily Lobo articles precisely referenced the man as a “gunman,” not a terrorist.

Opinion

BioBlog: How long would it take you to fall through the Earth?

Felisa Smith | October 8

Editor's Note: This piece was originally published online in the UNM BioBlog on Nov. 30, 2016, written by Felisa Smith. This is part of our project to help connect the Daily Lobo audience to more members of our community. If there were a tunnel from one side of the Earth, through the core and out the other end, how long would it take to fall through it? Biology Professor Dr. Felisa Smith discusses this classic physics question in the UNM BioBlog.

Opinion

Column: A closer look at Marvel's representation of women on screen

Nichole Harwood | October 8

Representation of women in the media in both film and television has always been rather skewed. These representations almost always consist of women bending to the stereotypes that society deems acceptable to be considered beautiful. However, beyond just the superficial representation of women in film and television, these portrayals also do damage in the character department. According to an overview of a series of studies conducted by Dr. Stacy Smith of the University of Southern California and her research team titled Gender Stereotypes: An Analysis of Popular Films and TV, “females take up half the space in society, yet, especially in films aimed at children, they appear much less frequently than do males. Nevertheless, when they do make it onto the silver or small screen, their portrayals can undermine their presence by being ‘hyper-attractive’ or ‘hypersexual’ and/or passive.”

Opinion

Letter: NFL and Lobo protests should have been "nipped in the bud"

Daily Lobo Readers | October 8

Editor, I am tired of seeing everybody “tip-toeing through the tulips” concerning the NFL and UNM Lobo football players’ protest, for fear of hurting someone’s feelings. There is a right and wrong about this issue that should have been addressed from the very beginning. It is absolutely wrong for these football players to choose to protest during the playing/singing of the national anthem. This is extremely disrespectful. The football field is NOT the venue they should be using to air their grievance. These players, like everybody else, have the right to protest whatever issue they choose. However, there is a right time and place to do so.

Opinion

Letter: Adults need to set a good example for young people

Daily Lobo Readers | October 4

Editor, If we adults want kids to be honest, are we always honest with them? If we adults want kids to be open and creative, do we welcome their questions, treasure their curiosity? Do they feel they can ask us about anything? If we want kids to be dependable, de we keep our promises? If we want kids to apologize and ask for forgiveness when they wrong us, do we apologize and ask forgiveness when we wrong them?

Opinion

Column: In face of shooting, prayers are not enough

Kyle Land | October 4

Three years after his son, Daniel, was murdered in a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Mark Barden said to “Entertainment Weekly,” “Thoughts and prayers and moments of silence are not enough.” This is the mindset America should have when tackling the epidemic of gun violence. Thoughts and prayers do not prevent gun violence. Legislation does. On the night of Oct. 1, a lone gunman ascended to the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas and proceeded to open fire into a crowd of thousands of concertgoers below. In total, 59 people were killed with hundreds more injured. It was the worst mass shooting in modern United States history.

Opinion

Letter: Football players must be allowed the same right to protest as the rest of us

Daily Lobo Readers | October 4

To Dr. Glenn Mollette, In your letter on Oct. 2, you said that if we allow players to protest during the National Anthem (which is an inalienable right granted to all Americans by the First Amendment), that there is nothing stopping them from throwing games in protest, as well as other more dramatic forms of protest. This is a traditional slippery slope fallacy, in which it is argued that if A is allowed to happen, B-Y will also happen until finally Z, the absolute worst situation imaginable, is reached (I stress “imaginable” here). However, this kind of fallacious and illogical argument shifts the attention away from the issue at hand: protesting the police brutality and institutionalized racism that is flowing freely in the undercurrent of our society. What you propose is ignoring politics, ignoring the inequality and targeted racism that is a reality for many of our fellow Americans here and now, in favor of a good time. If you truly “totally support free speech,” your argument might be a little different.

Opinion

Letter: Dear Turning Point, nobody wants your racist muffins

Daily Lobo Readers | October 1

Editor, When is a muffin not a muffin? When Turning Point USA — appropriately acronymized as TP-USA — showed up on campus with their "Affirmative Action Bake Sale," I was happy to see crowds come and stare them down. Many of those students were black and Hispanic, but it was white folks who took the lead against TP-USA, shouting down their racist message. To me, that’s an appropriate way to be an ally and keep dangerous white supremacy in check.

Opinion

Guest Columnist: One refugee finds home in Highland High

October 1

Editor’s Note: This story was written by Humans of New Mexico contributors. This is part of our new project to help connect the Daily Lobo audience to more members of our community. Leaving one's homeland My name is Ramazani Mwanza, and I am from the Republic of Congo. I have been in New Mexico for two years. We were refugees, and we had been in Burundi for eight years. We are proud that we got a chance to come here. We went to immigration services, and they told us we had a chance to go to the United States. It’s hard to get approved, because hardly any Africans get to come to the U.S.

Opinion

Letter: Football players should keep their activism off the field

Daily Lobo Readers | October 1

Editor, Professional football fans were treated to some relief last Thursday evening, as the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears stood arm in arm for the singing of the national anthem. People in the stands either did likewise or put their hands over their hearts. Americans felt proud but mostly relieved. Owners of the National Football League teams employ the players. Some of the owners obviously are okay with whatever the players do during the national anthem. I wonder how the owners would feel if a player decides they are simply going to let the other team score in order to make a statement? What if they decide they are going to stand back and watch while the other team kicks the field goal? Or what if they want to wear their own style of uniform? There are rules and expectations by the league and every team owner. The owners need to step up and be owners.

Opinion

Guest Columnist — BioBlog: Middle Pleistocene or Middle Earth?

Amelia Villaseñor | October 1

Editor's Note: This piece was originally published online in the UNM BioBlog on Sept. 27, written by Amelia Villaseñor. This is part of our new project to help connect the Daily Lobo audience to more members of our community. During the late Pleistocene, around 70,000 years ago, fossil and genetic evidence tell us that there were at least four species of hominins (human ancestors) inhabiting the planet. However, rather than elves and orcs, there were Denisovans, Neanderthals and, in both Middle Earth and the real one, humans and hobbits. UNM Biology postdoctoral researcher Amelia Villaseñor discusses these near-human creatures that our direct ancestors encountered in the UNM BioBlog.

Opinion

Letter: A brief summary of Christianity for those who aren't familiar

Daily Lobo Readers | September 27

Editor, I am writing this letter about Christianity, the reason being that there may have been a generation who knows little about it except negative things they’ve heard. Christianity 101: we believe in God and that God had a son who came as a savior and deliverer. His name in Greek is Jesus. In Hebrew, it’s Yeshua or basically Joshua which means “deliverer,” as many names have meanings, especially in the Bible. We don’t believe God is just some “energy” as do new-agey people — and I live in Santa Fe where there is every kind of new-age woo woo you can think of. We believe that God is one but that God has a son and an omniscient Holy Spirit. To understand this, an earthly person can be a son and a father and still be the same person. Jesus said, “I am the Father are One.” God is a God of love, but sometimes disciplines us as an earthly father does. The word “disciple” contains the element of discipline.

A visitor at the UNM duck pond wears a hoodie depicting an upside down American flag on Sept. 27, 2017. The flag should only be displayed or flown with the union down ?as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property,? according to the United States Flag Code.

Opinion

Column: President's attack on NFL players is blatant hypocrisy

Jonathan Baca | September 27

Despite Hell-on-Earth conditions in Puerto Rico (a territory of the United States) after the ravages of Hurricanes Maria and Irma, despite the very possible nuclear holocaust between the U.S. and North Korea, despite the possible destruction of healthcare benefits for tens of millions of Americans — our President is tweeting about...the National Football League. And what is his beef with the much beloved NFL? That some players, and now many owners and coaches, are standing — and kneeling — with one Colin Kaepernick, a 49ers quarterback, who decided over a year ago to take a knee during the National Anthem. Kaepernick did this in protest of widespread police brutality against unarmed, innocent black men who were (and are) being gunned down in the streets by the men and women sworn to protect their communities.