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By JD TW: death, shootings, guns, cops, child abuse, etc School shootings have been happening in America since 1853, that’ll be 170 years in 2023. In 2022, there were over 20 school shootings, but the ones that really stick out are ones such as: Columbine, Parkland, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Oxford and now, most recently, Uvalde.
School shootings happen for a number of reasons, but these are the ones that most politicians (and people) seem to forget about:
School shootings are a tragedy that shouldn’t happen to these poor kids. The impact on society on gun violence and school shootings in general has had people a bit furious since no one has actually gotten state and federal laws surrounding it. It is a harsh reality that has happened for many years in America. After countless attempts to change the gun control laws, no one has done anything about it. No one has actually stood up to the politicians and said, “Hey! We need gun control!” Of course, there has been people saying that to them but politicians are dumb, like telemarketers. Interviewing a few survivors of a school shooting. I have talked with two school shooting survivors about their stories. Let’s meet the interviewees. These are just people who have been affected by something so tragic in their community. All of the interviewers are from the surrounding towns close to Oxford. So the first person I talked to was my best friend, Zach, he doesn’t attend Oxford but did tell me about a nightmare he had because of the shooting. Z: Can I vent, please? J: Yeah, of course. Z: I had a nightmare that me and my crush were hiding in the bathroom and we heard loud pounding on the door and she was screaming and crying and hugging me and she said “Zach, make it stop! I’m so scared!” So I stood by the door waiting for the shooter to bust open the door, and the shooter opened the door, I tried to attack him but he shot my arm. My crush was crying in fear and so, I tried fighting him again, but then he shot me again. My crush fainted and never woke up and I died. J: Oh man, I’m so sorry that this has happened to you. Our interview cut short there as I didn’t know what to say, I was shocked, I truly didn’t know what it was like to lose someone to an act of violence such as this and it pained me that people, who live so close to the school, have recurring nightmares and insomnia because of this. Our next interviewer is another one of my friends, Madison, who was born in a city close to Oxford. They attended Oxford when they were younger, but their parents moved to another school district after Sandy Hook, if I remember correctly. They’re here to explain what it was like. J: So, tell me about your life before you moved. What was the experience there? Why did your parents move? M: My parents moved because of the fact they freaked out over the Sandy Hook shooting and around that time, my parents both got new jobs teaching somewhere. I think I was about 7 when the shooting happened and my parents just decided to move to make sure I don’t get hurt or something along the lines. J: So moving saved your life? M: Yeah, I guess it did. J: What about the experience at Oxford? M: Oxford was alright, for a school. Close-knit school, very quiet, small village. You know everyone and everyone knows you, ironically, I didn’t know everyone and they didn’t know me. So I guess it was alright, I didn’t have many friends as I do now, so I’m glad my parents got jobs at the same time, cause my parents needed the money. But it’s such a shame what happened at Oxford, considering that I grew up around that time. J: You didn’t know everyone at that school, didn’t you say it was “Close-knit”? M: I did say it was close-knit. Because it was, but I was a quiet kid back then. I never got into any trouble, I played by myself and I wasn’t that noticeable. J: Did you know the shooter? Or the victims of the shooting? M: Nope, I don't really remember him. I don't really remember learning any of the kids' names when I was younger. I just called them nicknames like "Playdough eater" or "Rich girl", stuff like that. J: So you were a loner? M: I guess you can say that. J: Any final remarks? M: No, not really. Although I believe we should do something about this before another tragedy happens again. I don’t really have anything to say for Madison, or on their behalf, I feel a bit happy that their parents moved but then I’m not too sure, I feel like Madison thinks about their life before moving and says to themself, “Wow. I almost died in a school shooting.” I’m thankful that Madison wasn’t a victim and that her parents moved. But then at the same time, I have no clue what I feel. Now there are solutions to prevent school shootings and gun violence, for example, buying guns should not be easy to buy, it should be like buying a car. It shouldn’t take a week or an hour. And we should be able to have fingerprint scanners on our safes, so nothing happens. School shootings are a very tragic thing that happens a lot in America. It’s a very harsh reality that most people don’t seem to care about. You might’ve not known anyone in a shooting, but maybe the neighbor down the street knows someone from the shooting. Someone knows someone. These people are someone’s kid, someone’s future mom or dad. Someone. They aren’t robots, but actual human beings. They belong to someone, they don’t deserve to die this early. No one does, these people are not disposable. These people are dying and after every tragedy, we still stop and wonder if this will ever end. For good this time. And that is my article on surviving a school shooting. Keep yourself safe, J.D. If you or anyone else has struggled with a school shooting or suicidal thoughts, do not hesitate and call or text the numbers down below: National suicide prevention lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 or 988. Crisis text line: HOME to 741741 Trevor Project: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help/
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By Tabitha During this pandemic, the arts have been suffering the worst from the effects of Covid-19. Specifically in the UK, musicians and others in the art sector are being told to "retrain and find other jobs" by Rishi Sunak as it becomes harder to earn money during this time.
Although he addressed that his statement wasn't specifically for those in the arts sector but rather everyone in "all walks of life", as we will all have to adapt to the new normal, it is very apparent that the arts sector has taken this personally as this has been a sector which has been attacked consistently by the government. But what is so important about the arts? It was the arts that started a lot of what we see and have today. A lot of the art movements that exist help design and influence how we see our present and what would be better for us as a society in the future. The arts are what bring culture to our cities and entice other travellers to come visit. As someone who has pushed my way to be seen in the creative industry, the struggle that creatives have to go through is a constant. Even during pre-covid times. I’ve had first-hand experience with hard work being disregarded in the eyes of other “academic” professions with the arts being seen as a hobby or something we could do on the side. It's very clear that not everyone possesses creative talent, and certainly not everyone works as hard as those in creative industries to perfect their craft. Seeing how the government and other businesses treat the arts demotivates me and my pursuit of becoming a set designer. What would my future look like post-pandemic? Will I have to retrain and find another job? For a lot of us, it looks like this is a hopeless venture and we could never #savethearts. However, there are many ways in which you can do so, which can start with just supporting local creatives, sharing, and/or buying their work. Just this much is helping their product and what they do stay alive. It is saying that their hard work is recognised and still valuable to many people. The more this is publicised, the more others will begin to recognise that the arts are not just all fun and games. It requires determination, persistence, hard work and resilience. This is just the beginning of what you can do. The next process includes signing petitions, speaking up about the arts and their role in society, donating to different art organisations, and calling out those who believe the arts are not worth the effort of training. Organisations that you can donate to include: Almeida Theatre, The Royal Academy of the Arts and East London Dance. We must recognise the arts are what we use to bring us hope, especially in these times. It brings us together and will help begin the movement of new ideas and what we begin to see in our “new normal”. The arts are not just a luxury; it is a combination of passion and determination to survive in the world we live in. Therefore, support your local musicians, photographers, actors, dancers and others in the arts sector. Let them know that you hear their voices and they will always be just as valued as the other sectors. By Mona Why are you religious? This isn’t an easy question to answer. For some, religion provides safety and structure within their lives, for others it allows them to feel loved and a part of a community. However, if you are religious simply because it’s expected of you, you might need to re-evaluate your stance as a religious person. Just like 220 million people worldwide already have.
These people are known as atheists or nontheists, and if you haven’t already guessed, these are people who do not believe in the existence of any gods. In a society as influenced by religion as ours, this can lead to a lot of subconscious discrimination. Religion provides people with a strict set of rules to abide by, such as the Ten Commandments in Christianity and Judaism, and the Shariah in the Islamic religion. These rules are often provided to set guidelines on how people should behave in society and how to live moral and god-fearing lives. Very often these guidelines provide comfort to religious people, bringing structure to their lives and reassurance that others will abide by these laws too. Additionally, providing them with an added feeling of safety. Therefore, a person who does not abide by these guidelines and has no incentive to do so would be regarded as a threat. A threat not only to belief systems but also to the safety of religious people. How can a person who has no belief system, differentiate between right and wrong? How can they be trustworthy people, without the guiding hand of religion? As previously stated religion is a guide on good and moral behaviour, therefore it can be assumed that atheists who do not have this guide within their lives lack good and moral behaviour, or are due to their lack of religion, more susceptible to immoral behaviour. This belief, even unconsciously, leads to discrimination and even fear of nonreligious people. These beliefs cause a distrust of atheists within positions of power. Atheists are very rarely elected as ministers, governors or mayors. Patients often refuse to be treated by doctors and other healthcare providers who identify as atheists. In Ireland, teachers are required to have religious training from Christian universities, in order to work in public schools. In fact, in the countries Afghanistan, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, atheism is a capital punishment. In Brazil, as of 2009, atheists are regarded as the most hated minority group within the country. As an atheist, I do not see myself as any less of a good person, than anybody. We all have the potential to do bad things and have bad thoughts. Resisting these thoughts alone does not make a good person, however, wanting to do better both for yourself and others, is a good start. Simply because I do not have a religion, does not mean that I am inherently a bad person or that I am more likely to do bad things. Neither does it mean that I am in search of religion or in need of conversion. For those of you who would like to learn how to be a part of the solution, here are some tips-
Attempting to shut down aggressive atheism would be denying atheists their freedom of speech. However, this doesn’t mean that you aren’t allowed to disagree with their statements. It simply means that they should be allowed to disagree with beliefs within religion and broadcast those beliefs, without feeling threatened. Religion is a cornerstone of our society, we allow it to influence our behaviour and thoughts, and in some cases, this is a good thing. However, when religion leads to the discrimination of others, we might have to re-evaluate our stands on certain points within our belief systems. After all, we live in a modern world, shouldn't we try to adapt our beliefs to modern times I hope you learned something today? And for those of you who know somebody who has been discriminated against due to their non-religion, here is some help- If you need someone to talk to By Camille *Disclaimer* My experiences with conservatives in America do NOT represent how all conservatives are. I have respect for everyone’s ideas until they prove they are bigoted. As we grow up, we start to learn things about ourselves. These things can range from our favorite food, our style, politics, all the way to what side of the bed we prefer. When we learn about ourselves, a big influence tends to be our surroundings. This can mean the people that are around us, to simply where we are. This explains why certain groups hold certain preferences in specific areas. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes some individuals hold different opinions and go against the majority.
As for myself, I grew up constantly moving and was surrounded by different people. Out of the seven states that I have lived in, 6 of them were conservative at the time that I was living there. By definition, a conservative is someone who is against change and would rather hold traditional values. While I have provided a definition, this is to be taken with a grain of salt. Not every conservative holds the same values. Both of my parents are conservative and are not afraid to share their opinions on certain situations. It’s almost as if the universe wanted me to be a conservative by surrounding me with conservatives. From my experience, most conservatives I met are known for their devoutness to religion, more specifically, Christianity. There is absolutely no issue with celebrating your religion, but when that celebration becomes condemnation and hatred, maybe it is time for you to reevaluate why you are practicing a religion. Conservatives are also known for wanting to keep traditional values. These traditional values include marriage between a man and a woman, anti-abortion, cisgenderism, religion, etc. While I try to understand that everyone has values of their own, I absolutely refuse to associate myself with a group of people who have values that are deemed as hurtful and offensive to others. When I was younger, these opinions never bothered me. I was too naive to pay any mind to my environment. As I got older, however, I started listening to these views and reflecting on them later. Sadly, a lot of the views I heard were not inclusive to all and can be deemed as bigotry. Being a part of the LGBTQIA+ community myself, I did not appreciate the harmful opinions others formed about us, therefore I sought after aligning myself with more open-minded people. Needless to say, I formulated different opinions despite being surrounded by those of conservative values. While I don’t align with a label, I will say I am a leftist who seeks equality amongst everyone despite race, gender, sex, sexuality, and any other quality that might deem them different from the majority. By definition, a leftist is someone who holds left-wing political views. Left-wing politics support social equality and egalitarianism to some degree. Despite my environment basically shoving conservatism in my face, other aspects of my life have helped me shape my own political opinions. Below, I have compiled a list of ways that helped me formulate my own opinions:
While it may be difficult living in an area with people of different values as you, it is essential for you to find what is right and fight for it. It may feel as though nobody is listening to you, especially if you are in the minority, but you must know that there are people out there who support the same things as you. It is important to form your individuality along with your own beliefs and values to shape who you are as a person. I hope you all find a place where people fully accept you and you all fight for what is right. While I don’t believe helplines would be the most helpful, below I have compiled websites to help you figure out who you are in terms of politics. By Mel The UK government has proposed significant reforms to disability benefits, aiming to reduce welfare expenditure and encourage employment among individuals with disabilities.
These measures have sparked considerable debate regarding their potential impact on the disabled community. At first, when you read that, you think this could be a good thing, that it might encourage more young people who don't claim benefits. They might think it's encouraging rather than claiming benefits. But, what about the other side of it? People who have disabilities that stop them from working? Did they ask to have these struggles? I think not! I can understand that the possible purpose of this could be to stop people who are not disabled from claiming benefits. But why should the people who are disabled have to suffer anymore? There are many other ways to go about doing this, such as having a more structured program to determine who needs these benefits to help them live. To understand more about why the government is making this decision, I decided to read some articles about it. The more I read, the more it pushed me to stick to my opinion that it was a bad idea. One of those reasons is a statement I read from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, “The necessity of overhauling the sickness benefit system to prevent a wasted generation of young people”. When I read that, my first thought was, do they think that the current generation is a waste? If that’s true, then why don’t they provide more support for people and then we can resolve two issues in one. Charities and backbenchers express concerns about the potential adverse effects on disabled individuals. Sixteen disability and poverty charities have warned that cutting disability benefits could have "catastrophic" consequences, urging the government to prioritise meaningful reforms over arbitrary spending cuts. - Source from The Times. This is where I wanted to add in how I will be affected, just to give some insight into one of the millions of people’s lives that are going to be affected by this choice if it goes ahead. I suffer from non-epileptic seizures, also known as functional seizures or dissociative seizures. This is NOT epilepsy as many would think or assume it to be. And because of that, they assume that because it’s not epilepsy, it isn’t a disability and won’t stop you from working. In my eyes and many others, it is a disability, and yes, it can stop you from working. For example, I cannot drive as my seizures cannot be helped by medication like they can help people with epilepsy. My brother was diagnosed with epilepsy a few years before my seizures started, and he went forward to get the medication, and now he is out living his life, has a job and can drive and travel. That’s what I long to have, just to be able to go out for a drive and get away from reality for a bit. Going to unique places that you can’t get to with a bus or train, or having to rely on family and friends to give you lifts. One of the many reasons people with functional seizures cannot work is that the seizures occur suddenly and without warning, making it difficult to maintain a stable work routine. Jobs that involve driving, operating machinery, or working at heights become especially dangerous. As the government moves forward with these reforms, it faces the critical challenge of ensuring that efforts to reduce welfare expenditures do not disproportionately harm some of society's most vulnerable members. To help this, we can write to our local MPs to help open up a conversation about the current problems we face as a nation. We can engage with community organizations, advocacy groups, and representatives of vulnerable populations to gather their input and insights. This can help in designing reforms that are more inclusive and less likely to cause harm. What is affirmative action? For some people, it is seen as a potential equalizer that can help minorities. For others, affirmative action is seen as something that hinders certain minorities. According to the Oxford Dictionary, affirmative action is “(in the context of the allocation of resources or employment) the practice or policy of favoring individuals belonging to groups known to have been discriminated against previously.” For many Asian households, affirmative action is a terrible thing for their children. How could something that is seen as an equalizer for minorities, be something viewed negatively? Many Asian parents believe that affirmative action will prevent their children from getting into college. College admissions are already very difficult for many high-schoolers, since they have to focus on extracurriculars, while balancing out difficult classes, challenging sports and teenage drama. For many Asian parents, affirmative action will harm their children’s chances of getting into college. Not only are parents concerned; Asian students are also frustrated by affirmative action. In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, a group of Asian-American students argued that Harvard had discriminated against Asian-American students. The plaintiffs, (the Asian-American students,) argued that Harvard had imposed a racial quota, preventing a large Asian-American population at Harvard. The plaintiffs argued that the percentage of Asian-American applicants had grown, but the percentage of Asian-Americans admitted still remained the same. Additionally, Asian-Americans received lower ‘personality’ ratings, with applicants being rated as poorer leaders, unkind, meek (not brave), and unlikeable, compared to other applicants. However, Asian-American applicants received much higher scores when it came to test scores, grades, and extracurriculars. Because of their lower personality ratings, many Asian-American applicants were rejected from Harvard, despite scoring the highest in most categories. An economist from Duke argued that an Asian-American applicant who had the same score as a non-Asian applicant, would be least likely to be accepted, having an acceptance rate of 25%. However, if a black applicant had the same score, the chance of acceptance would be 95%. A Latinx applicant would have an acceptance rate of 77%, while a white applicant would have an acceptance rate of 36%. However, Harvard argued that the percentage of admitted Asian-Americans has grown 4%, from 17% to 21%, despite the fact that Asian-Americans make up 6% of the American population. Although Harvard ended up winning the lawsuit, this group of brave Asian-American students has filed an appeal. Meanwhile, in California, to the relief of many Asian parents, Proposition 16 (which proposed to allow affirmative action in higher education) didn’t pass. For those who are in favor of affirmative action, many people were upset that Proposition 16 didn’t pass, believing that Latinx and African-American communities would continue to face hardships when being accepted into colleges. However, I firmly believe that affirmative action is unfair to Asian-Americans. As an Asian-American, it’s common knowledge that the Asian-American population has always had a hard time getting into college. As a member of an “overrepresented” minority when it comes to college, I’ve accepted the fact that I would have to work harder to achieve my dreams. I’m thankful that Proposition 16 hadn’t passed; if Proposition 16 had passed, it would’ve made it much more difficult for all Asian-Americans to get into college. For those who argue that affirmative action would help underrepresented minorities, affirmative action is not the correct solution. Affirmative action allows reverse discrimination to occur. Instead of allowing affirmative action, we must focus on improving the education of underrepresented minorities in college. Many Latinx and black communities face inequality in education; as teenagers, we can work together to help solve these problems. Many organizations, such as CovEd and Engage STEM are working to decrease the inequality in education, to help these underrepresented minorities. The issue of affirmative action is that it requires logical thinking. Affirmative action has allowed the Asian-American community to bond. For the first time, many Asian-Americans voted, in hopes of keeping equality and fairness for their children. They bonded together and protested against affirmative action, fighting back against the stereotype that Asian-Americans don’t fight for what is right. I hope this article helped you understand affirmative action better. I’ve attached a few articles to help you navigate affirmative action. -Jade http://care.gseis.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/care-brief-raceblind.pdf https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-sad-irony-of-affirmative-action https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/the-painful-truth-about-affirmative-action/263122/ https://stopprop16.org https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/09/17/proposition-16-why-some-asian-americans-are-on-the-front-lines-of-the-campaign-against-affirmative-action/ https://studentsforfairadmissions.org JadeActivism is something that affects our day to day lives, as well as our entire existence. Whether you partake in it or watch it go by, it will always affect you in some way. It’s important to understand what it is, what each movement represents, what the end goal is for those movements, and what you can do to help.
Activism is the action or policy of using vigorous campaigning to implement either political or societal change. The changes can be issues that have been around for centuries, and although change can be scary, it’s time we do something and fix these issues. Sometimes we become so used to our lives now that we don’t notice the inequalities we may have in either a societal or political climate, which can be one of the saddest things about it. We can be so used to inequality that we don’t notice it. It’s time for that to change. Some major movements can represent racial inequality, LGBTQ+ issues, sexism, misogyny and environmental issues. Some movements include black lives matter, LGBTQ+ rights movement, feminism, me too and the environmental movement. A lot of misinformation goes out about these movements, as well as people who try to stop them from implementing change. It’s important that you do your own research about these movements and derive your own opinion. There’s a lot of misinformation spread, especially amongst the political climate, so please be careful. These movements can bring to light a lot of upsetting realities, so please be kind to yourself when you look into them. Activism is exhausting. It’s physically and mentally draining. It’s important that you look after yourself, that you take a break when you need to, and that you know when to stop. I’m petty, I like having the last word, but through this I’ve learnt when I need to stop and do things for my own safety and sanity, such as private my social media accounts and block everyone I’ve seen either mention me or interact with me in a hostile way. If people threaten to leak private information about you, find your location, threaten you, or send people to your accounts to leave hostile or harmful comments, block them and private your accounts. Your safety is the most important part of this. Look after yourself. There are many ways you can get involved in movements, both on social media and in real life. With social media, know how to block someone and how to private your accounts. In real life, make sure that you’re safe. In any kind of activism, things can get heated fast, so make sure you’re safe. Make sure you look after yourself. Your safety is important. On social media, share useful posts, share links to charities, challenge harmful opinions and posts, and report harmful content. Call out misinformation when you see it. While doing this, make sure you’re safe. If your well-being is affected, take a break. There’s nothing wrong with taking a break. If you get into a debate, don’t get emotionally attached to it. Don’t get hostile. Don’t call people names, don’t get personal. Challenge the opinion, not the person. Treat people with kindness, even if they don’t seem to deserve it. Being nice during a debate will make you the better person. In real life, write to local political officers, volunteer with organisations that help make changes, engage in conversations and go to protests. If you go to protests, please make sure that you’re safe. With certain ones that are taking place now, law enforcements and people against movements are making it hostile and quite often violent. Your safety is the priority. Look after yourself. You can search online who your local political elect is and write to them, but make sure to be polite. Again, be nice. Don’t get emotionally engaged because that’s when the hostility can peak. Don’t get personal. Don’t get violent. Challenge the opinion, not the person. Above all, your safety is the priority. Stay safe. Activism isn’t easy. I don’t think it ever will be, but it’s worth it if we can help change the world for the better. Chances are, the change we’re striving for won’t come around for a long time, and that can be a hard thing to accept, and sometimes it feels pointless even trying, but it’s worth it. If our actions can make the world a safer place for others in the future, I’m happy to do whatever I can to make that happen. The key thing with this is your safety, and I know I’ve repeated that a lot, but it’s important. As I said, it isn’t easy, it’s exhausting, it’s both mentally and physically taxing, so please look after yourself. Know when to take a break. Know when you need to take a step back and recoup. Listen to your mind and body and be safe. ~ En Link to global helplines- https://checkpointorg.com/global/ Over the summer I read the wonderful ‘This Is Not Propaganda’. As you might have guessed by the title, the book was all about controlling the media and political messages. In part one, ‘Cities of Trolls’, the author talks about freedom of speech, and how powerful people can use masses of information to hide messages posted by people disagreeing with them. In this part, a particular section called ‘#ArrestMariaRessa!’ really stuck with me. Maria was the head of a news website in the Philippines during President Duterte’s rise to power. Maria and her online news website would report about Duterte’s vulgar language and eventually his unauthorised killings. Despite producing factually correct articles, Maria was facing online threats. However, after some time she started to notice some patterns and found fake online accounts that would repeat the same messages - eventually, she could even predict when fake stories were about to be posted and created an alarm system for readers of the Rappler. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and what do I see on the news? Maria Ressa won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. After looking into it even further I found that she’s also won the Golden Pen of Freedom in 2018, and the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize in 2021 - all for her work on democracy and freedom of speech. This got me thinking about freedom of speech, and just how important it is. So, if you’re still with me after this ridiculously long introduction, I’m going to tell you all about freedom of speech, what it is, and why you should care about it! Freedom of speech is any one person's right to put across their ideas and opinions without having to worry about retaliation, punishment or censorship. Let's unpack this a little bit more. Retaliation can come from anywhere, whether that be other ‘normal’ people or the government. Punishment could also come from other people or the government, in the form of abuse or fines and imprisonment. Finally, censorship happens when what you’ve said has been suppressed. So in essence, if you can say what you want when you want and not be worried about receiving serious consequences from this, you have the luxury of freedom of speech! But you might be thinking, ‘surely there are some cases where suppressing opinions is a good thing, right?’ - for example, anti-LGBTQ or racist viewpoints that are being spread to intentionally spread hate. Whilst I agree that nobody should be expressing such thoughts, if you were to take away that person’s right to do so you would be taking away the opportunity for them to learn and educate themselves, not to mention challenging democracy itself. From my own experiences, these people should be able to express their views so that I can challenge them and help them see things from a different perspective. If they’re forced to keep such ideas to themselves, how will they learn that it’s not okay? There’s also the idea that if someone can’t say harmful things, they’re more likely to do harmful things. You might also be thinking, ‘what’s a teenager like me going to be able to do about freedom of speech?’. If that is what you’re thinking, you might be surprised to find out that Gen Z (people born after 1996) is the most progressive age group within society and see things like racial and ethnic diversity as a good thing. And it’s true. Since moving to university I’ve been involved in Climate Protests (Greta Thunberg visited my university city!), something I never would’ve considered at home. Concerning freedom of speech, the majority of students do not support free speech restrictions . So there you have it, young people have the power, if we stand up for the things that we believe in, we really can create a better future for everyone! So that’s just about everything I wanted to say! If you’ve stuck with me this whole time, thank you! This is such an important topic, especially when you look at cheating claims against Putin after he was reelected this year, or in less economically developed countries where the government has much more control of the media than in richer democratic countries. I hope you understand what freedom of speech is and why it’s so important. I also hope you understand that, whilst hate speech is wrong, so is taking away someone’s right to be educated. Think about it - if we couldn’t learn from our mistakes we’d spend our whole lives doing something the wrong way, whereas if we’re told we’re wrong we can change for the better! Now that you know your rights - I hope you’re inspired! Be who you want to be, challenge people, even challenge yourself! Protest, make change, be a leader! You have a voice, use it! If there’s something you’re passionate about, let everyone know about it, you only get one life. Be the change you want to see. Keeley. 1: Pomerantsev, P. (2019). This Is Not Propaganda. Faber & Faber Limited, London. https://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Not-Propaganda-Adventures-Against/dp/0571338631 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Ressa#Awards_and_recognition KeeleyTrigger Warning: This article lightly discusses rape, which may be triggering for some readers. If you or someone you know is dealing with sexual assault, there are resources that can help. To reach the Sexual Abuse Hotline, U.S. readers can call 1-800-656-4673 and U.K readers can dial 0800 0288 022. This past week, Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, signed a bill that would ban abortions after only 6 weeks, with no exceptions for rape. This newly-formed law, titled the Heartbeat Bill, makes it nearly impossible to have an abortion under any circumstance. 6 weeks is roughly how long it takes to realize your period is overdue, let alone get tested, and schedule an appointment to have the abortion procedure. This isn’t the first heartbeat bill to be signed. At least 8 similar bills have been passed nationwide in states like Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Alabama, and Kentucky. With that being said, not a single one has been put into effect due to the fact they directly contradict the Roe v. Wade law. Signed in 1973, this law makes getting an abortion a constitutional right. So what sets this heartbeat bill apart? Greg Abbot’s bill allows anyone in the US to sue medical professionals who perform abortions, including those who don’t live in Texas or have any relation to the doctors there. This separates the State from the law, making it much harder for abortion advocates to sue and get the bill repealed. The Health Importance of Legalized Abortion One of the most important things to note about this law is that regardless of whether or not abortion is legal, people need to, and will get, abortions. What legalized abortion does is offer a safe and sterile way to do so. According to the National Library of Medicine, in 1955, prior to the legalization of abortion, it was estimated between 200,000 and 1,200,000 people had illegally induced abortions. However, the higher number was said to have been more probable. The fact remains that people will go to great lengths to have an abortion in times of desperation, oftentimes resorting to medication, chemicals, or other injurous methods to prevent having the baby. Moreover, the National Library of Medicine also stated that illegal abortion can be up to 30% more fatal than legal abortion. These statistics show us just how important legalized abortion is for the health and safety of all Americans. There is nothing pro-life about allowing citizens to risk death just to prevent having to give birth. Stopping Abortion At Its Source Nearly 50% of abortion procedures are given to those under the federal poverty line and 12% of abortion patients were under 19. Oftentimes, those in the lower class don’t have access to adequate safe-sex education, contraceptive, sexual health clinics, and other vital resources to preventing pregnancy. While the U.S. can’t eliminate cases of rape or incest, it can fund programming for youth about how to practice safe-sex, which in turn would lower the need of abortions in the first place. How You Can Help This is a legal issue that relies heavily on what happens in court, as opposed to the actions civilians could take; however, there are several ways to get involved. If you’re from outside the United States, you could donate to organizations like Planned Parenthood, which directly helps those needing abortions, birth control, and safe-sex education. If you reside in the U.S. contact your local Planned Parenthood or sexual health clinic to find out how you can get involved! Volunteering, protesting, signing petitions, signing petitions and making phone calls are all great first steps. As always, advocacy is crucial for resolution. Spreading awareness about what is going on in Texas is a fantastic way to get more people involved. In a situation like this: the more, the merrier. Abortion is vital to American safety and the legalization of it is a major asset for keeping the U.S. healthy. Whether you agree or disagree with the concept of abortion, having it as a legal option gives people much-needed security and without it, entire communities are put at risk. We need to keep abortion legal, for our country, for everyone. ElianaFor the third time in some people’s university careers, lecturers and support staff at a number of UK universities are going on strike. They are striking due to issues around casualisation (a large percentage of staff are on zero-hour contracts, and are working second jobs to keep afloat), pension changes, low pay and high workload. Many students are against the strikes, as we miss out on contact hours, meetings, lectures, seminars and assignments that we technically pay for. First of all, what is a strike? A strike occurs when a workforce is unhappy with the way they are treated by an employer (in this case, the University itself), so they withdraw their labour, and stop working altogether in protest of conditions. The most famous strike is likely the miners strike of 1984, in which the miners union protested mass closures of mines. The miners withdrew their labour and threw the country into turmoil, as there was now no one mining for coal (which the country relied on at the time). A picket line is something commonly associated with a strike. A picket line is a physical line that staff will stand on (usually outside of their place of work), which they will not cross to go into work, and will encourage others to also not cross. It is important to remember that those who choose to strike don’t get paid for their time doing so, and many run the risk of damaging their careers, as employers obviously don’t care for people who strike. You might be thinking, why do strikes affect me? I’m not a miner, or a factory worker, or a lecturer! The thing is, strikes affect everyone. University staff striking affects the students who are missing out on contact hours, the families of the striking staff who are going without pay, the parents of students who are paying for university, the university itself and many other companies who work with the university to provide a service or run events. However, the most important thing about striking, in my opinion, is whether you support them or not. Here are some things you can do if you support the strikes:
And if you don’t support the strikes (which is completely within your rights, please don’t let another person shame you or put you down for not supporting something!):
Kaitlyn |
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Teenagers With Experience is an online organisation created to provide teenagers worldwide with an online platform to share their own experiences to be able to help, inform and educate others on a variety of different topics. We aim to provide a safe space to all young people. You can contact us via email, social media or our contact form.
Please note that the content on this website is created by teenagers. While we strive to provide accurate and helpful information, it is important to remember that we are not professional experts. If you are experiencing a crisis or need professional advice, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional or a helpline. |