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Showing posts from March, 2024

Cancel Culture

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Cancel culture, a modern internet phenomenon where a person is ejected from influence or fame by questionable actions caused by a critical mass of people who are quick to judge and slow to question, has changed how, when, and where people challenge each other's views. It has become so widespread that when someone says something that doesn't collide with most people's ideas, they get canceled, and what happens to them later is completely ignored. Though it can be a little harsh, cancel culture in most cases quite literally means, "If you disagree with me, I will do whatever it takes to ruin your life". One of the biggest victims of cancel culture is teens. When canceled by peers, a teen experiences commenting,  unfollowing, bullying, ignoring, and isolating.  L went through one such experience. She didn't even realize she had been canceled until all the friends she had through middle school completely cut her off. When she asked them what happened, they insulte

Lack of Representation in Media

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According to a website, 73% of people have had their name mispronounced. And most of those people said it made them feel disrespected, upsetting, and like they didn't belong. This other website said there a five stages to what people feel when their name is mispronounced. 1. Denial - no clue that you have a difficult name. 2. Anger - Why was I named like this? 3. Bargaining - Mom, can I change my name? 4. Depression - (So this didn't really happen to me) 5. Acceptance - Call me anything you want, but please don't shorten my name since it gives a whole new meaning to it. I found myself relating to some of these stages, just like Firoozeh Dumas did in "The 'F Word'". The line that stuck out to me was: "My name, Firoozeh, chosen by my mother, means 'Turquoise' in Farzi. In America, it means 'Unpronounceable'". This made me think about how due to either changing their name or shortening it, the beautiful meanings the names have are lo

The Onion

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Litter-Robot Recalls Thousands Of Self-Cleaning Litter Boxes That Accidentally Transported Cats To Year 1300   When you first saw the Litter-Robot, did you think it was an amazing invention? Or were you one of those people who thought it was useless and not worth the money? Apparently, the Onion also didn't like many aspects of the Litter-Robot. The main thing the article didn't like is the way a cat goes inside the box and doesn't return for a while. The article said "Attributing the defect to a manufacturing error pet care company Whisker issued a recall Wednesday on thousands of self-cleaning Litter-Robots that had accidentally transported customers' cats to the year."  The sardonic tone here is mocking the design of the Litter-Robot because the cat basically goes into the box and is locked up, causing the owners to worry about their pets. Even though the bright white light and the whirring in the picture are an exaggeration, the robot overall seems pretty