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(01/27/17 5:01am)
In his Nobel Lecture, Alexander Fleming, the biologist whose discovery of penicillin has saved the lives of thousands, cautioned that “man may easily underdose himself and by exposing his microbes to nonlethal quantities of the drug make them resistant.” Today, the World Health Organization has deemed antibiotic resistance “a problem so serious that it threatens the achievements of modern medicine. A post-antibiotic era — in which common infections and minor injuries can kill — far from being an apocalyptic fantasy, is instead a very real possibility for the 21st century.” While prudent usage of antibiotics on an individual scale certainly helps, the greatest consumer of antibiotics in the United States is the agricultural industry. Preserving the effectiveness of a medicine which has saved millions of lives will therefore require a reduction or outright ban on the usage of antibiotics in agriculture.
(12/13/16 5:38pm)
The American Electoral College was designed to be “a compromise between election of the President by a vote of Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.” It remains a highly controversial system to this day, partially because it has elected a president who lost the popular vote four times in American history. While one could argue it overrides the will of the people, the Electoral College has been lauded by the Federal Election Commission for encouraging “a regional balance of support which is a vital consideration in governing a large and diverse nation.” Regardless of one’s views on the Electoral College, there is a solution to make the system more representative than it currently is: switching from a winner-take-all system to one governed by the proportional popular vote of each state.
(11/18/16 10:45am)
The most publicized battle over encryption began in early 2016, when the U.S. Department of Justice sought to force Apple to create a “backdoor” (i.e. security vulnerability) in its product after it was unable to access the iPhone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook. Apple refused to do so in a rare public letter, claiming, “Building a version of iOS that bypasses security in this way would undeniably create a backdoor. And while the government may argue that its use would be limited to this case… we fear this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.” The court case ended abruptly after the DOJ claimed to have found a third party capable of unlocking the device; however, this incident highlights the need — moreso more than ever — for the support of encryption.
(11/11/16 11:43am)
Affirmative action, in theory, has a noble goal: to “end the effects of discriminatory practices that violate the inherent equality of persons… denied opportunities on the grounds that they are inferior or different.” Unfortunately, affirmative action has hurt the very people it intends to benefit, and — ironically enough — is a discriminatory system in of itself.
(11/04/16 12:16pm)
Robots carry an enormous influence in industries such as transportation, education, manufacturing, healthcare and even the military. Robots are able to execute tasks judged too “dirty, dangerous and dull” for humans, ranging from nuclear waste cleanup at the Windscale facility in Sellafield to operating car production lines in Slovakia. It is, indeed, difficult to argue against the use of robots in such fields. Robots need not be paid wages, can be programmed to perform certain tasks without training and are indefatigable and disposable. Though the benefits of robotic replacement are obviously clear, there remains the significant factor of a mass influx of unemployed workers — a factor which, if not prepared for, will have devastating effects on the American and world economy.
(10/28/16 11:19am)
The United States’ healthcare system is, from a global perspective, laughable; the United States spends more on health care than Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Despite such spending, the United States holds the dubious distinctions of having the worst life expectancy, highest infant mortality rate, the lowest insured rate and the greatest proportion of obese citizens when compared to these other twelve nations. The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as “Obamacare,” was signed into effect on March 23, 2010, in an attempt to solve some of the issues with the U.S. healthcare system. The act is one of the largest overhauls of the United States healthcare system in recent memory, with its passage being one of the most hotly contested issues in Congress and throughout the United States.
(10/21/16 10:13am)
On Oct. 17, the Cavalier Daily published a lead editorial entitled “Balz-Dobie fails the diversity test,” noting that “merits of honors residences aside, the dorm is grossly unrepresentative.” Viewpoint writer Tsering Say argued Balz-Dobie “fosters a sense of elitism” — an argument some may believe has merit. However, the argument Balz-Dobie is “grossly unrepresentative” is, ironically enough, grossly unrepresentative of the University’s general demographics.
(10/14/16 9:55am)
On Oct. 3, 2016, Fox News uploaded a video titled “Watters’ World: Chinatown Edition” to its YouTube page. The video, in its description, mentioned that the show’s host Jesse Watters “asks the folks about election 2016 and Chinese-U.S. relations.” The video gained immediate notoriety for perpetuating stereotypes of Asian Americans and faced withering criticism from a variety of sources, including New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, The Washington Post and the New Yorker. Despite Watters’ “apology,” the show’s host, conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly defended the segment, instead blaming “far-left websites, far-left precincts” and calling it an “attack on Fox News.” Though O’Reilly may not find the segment offensive, there is no doubt the subjects of the video, namely Asian Americans, have been unnecessarily attacked and mocked.
(10/06/16 3:04pm)
The United States holds a mere 4.4 percent of the world’s population, but with around 2.2 million prisoners according to a 2013 report by the U.S. Department of Justice, it holds almost 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. On Aug. 18, 2016, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates announced the Justice Department would end its use of private prisons. According to Yates, “They simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources; they do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report… they do not maintain the same level of safety and security.”