news 3
the college hill independent
WEEK IN REVIEW Illustration by Annika Finne
Whoop Whoop! by Emma Whitford
Parlez-vous Politics? by Dori Rahbar
I
Complete Lunacy by Betty Heeso Kim
D
o you ever find yourself wondering why the Titanic sank? As the 100th anniversary draws ever nearer, the wreck of the Costa Concordia and the upcoming rerelease of Titanic in 3D have restored the buzz around everyone’s favorite shipwreck. Getting in on the hype are two astronomers at Texas State University, Olson David and Russell Descher, who have recently announced a new theory behind the shipwreck. Before we go any further, let’s clarify: the Titanic hit an iceberg. However, a “supermoon”—a full or new moon during its closest approach to the Earth—coinciding with the Earth’s perihelion (when it is closest to the Sun), may have caused unusually strong tides that launched “a flotilla of icebergs southward—just in time for Titanic’s maiden voyage,” reports National Geographic. The supermoon of January 4, 1912 was the closest lunar approach that the Earth has had since 796 A.D. Researchers believe that the combination of the supermoon and its alignment with the Sun and Earth dislodged icebergs from a glacier in Greenland. Olson claims that in three months these icebergs floated southward towards Newfoundland, precisely in the path of the Titanic. Not everyone is convinced by this new explanation. Geza Gruk, director of the Department of Astronomy at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, points out that a full moon and a close lunar approach occur every few years without a disastrous iceberg migration. He claims that the supermoon that occurred on January 4, 1912 was only about 4,000 miles closer to the Earth than a regular full moon would be, and caused about a five percent difference in tidal force. The probability of a once-in-amillennium supermoon aligning with the sun and Earth and magnifying the pull on ocean tides enough to create a flotilla of icebergs to travel for three months, just in time to collide with the R.M.S. Titanic may seem dubious to some. According to Olson, “In astronomical terms, the odds of all these variables lining up in just the way they did was, well, astronomical.” The rest, as they say, is (cinematic) history.
n late February, the Constitutional Council of France rejected a bill that would have made it illegal for French citizens to deny the Armenian genocide that took place at the hands of Turkey in the early twentieth century. Introduced by President Nicholas Sarkozy and initially passed by the French Senate on January 23, the legislation strained the relationship between France and Turkey, which temporarily stopped political, economic, and military connections with France, and even removed its ambassador. Maintaining its longstanding position, Turkey contends that the 1.5 million killings should not be labeled genocide on the grounds that many Turks also died during the conflict between the two nations. However, after the Council’s latest decision to override the bill, Turkey has declared its intentions to resume normal relations with France. Many view the proposed law as an attack on and limitation of free speech, one of the basic principles guaranteed by the French constitution. The law was met with opposition by various lawmakers around the country after the Senate passed it; lawmakers called on the Constitutional Council to prevent its ratification, claiming that it was not the responsibility of the French government to concern itself with the naming of a historical event that happened outside its own boundaries nearly a century ago. The law called for a fine of €45,000 (about $61,000) and/or a one-year prison sentence, for individuals who denied the genocide. France already has a similar law that makes it illegal to deny the Holocaust. Despite the ruling of the Constitutional Council, France’s highest court, Sarkozy has said that he will alter the language of the law and intends to pursue another draft that will compel the Council to approve it. The Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations in France said in a published statement in Nouvelles d’Arménie that they are “grateful to the President for his willingness to implement it and welcome his commitment to the case.” However, some analysts have questioned his motives, accusing the President of pandering to the 500,000 Armenians living in France. Sarkozy’s performance in opinions polls has reached a historic low, and France will have its presidential elections April 22 and May 6. Others have accused Sarkozy of needlessly spending time and resources on a law that does not address any of France’s most pressing and immediate issues, like its role in Europe’s economic downturn and its own recent credit rating downgrade. Sarkozy will most likely have time to return to this issue only if he is reelected this spring. The president will have to reconcile his popularity among the French-Armenian community with his nation’s relationship with Turkey in addition to the French constitutional right to free speech.
A
s of Sunday, March 11 at 8:30 pm, JuggaloBook had 17,028 members. According to a banner of stats running down the left hand side of the page, 275 of those members had joined within the past 24 hours. The site itself seems surprised by all the attention—every few clicks prompt a 504 Gateway Time-Out. The login page for the social networking spinoff looks just like the original Facebook, only in grayscale. But the welcome screen feels more like a Myspace hybrid. A bar for status updates inquires, “What up Ninja?” and a chat window labeled Chatbox fills the right side of the screen. Juggalos and juggalettes contribute rapid fire to a constantly-scrolling conversation: “hey homies arent there hipie juggalos…yea I am pretty much a hippie juggalo bro…Im getting off to play video game with my dad bbl…can i call?” Lists of Homies replace friends, but notifications are still flagged in red. Usernames on JuggaloBook do not stick to Facebook’s first name-last name John Smith format. John “Danger” Smith wouldn’t fly either. Instead, “ax murderer is now homies with SixxDigit… SuPaHKuShNiNjA updated his profile information… SchwingKong is now homies with BoogieWoogieWhoop.” It feels outdated to encounter incognito social networking on the post-Myspace Internet, especially when the new standards are all about polished, career-ready profiles. The anonymity makes more sense once it’s clear that conversation topics are trending towards the illegal, the violent, and the un-PC. Juggalos are fans of Psychopathic Records, best known as the label of Insane Clown Posse. ICP is a hip-hop duo from Detroit. Formed in 1989 and still active today, the group exemplifies horrorcore—a hip-hop subgenre that specializes in themes like cannibalism, murder, and suicide. During a 1994 performance, ICP member Joseph Brice addressed his audience as Juggalos during “The Juggla”—“Well, you know the juggla jumped in the mixer/Been down the road and I broke a few necks/ And I’ll break a few more, so what’s up/ Road by me on the corner, I’m a hold my nuts up.” The name stuck. Today, Juggalo/ lettes are recognized in pop culture for their affinity for clown face paint, the soda Faygo, and cage fighting. Juggalos who pass into the radar of mainstream culture often incite both fear and disdain. The former seems to inspire pride, the latter, apathy. The JuggaloBook domain was registered on February 11, but Huffington Post: Weird News didn’t pick up on it until March 1. And HuffPo was hardly open-minded in its assessment of the self-proclaimed “Social Network for the Underground Family.” The article defines without nuance, “a Facebook rip-off dedicated to the debaucherous fans of a rap group whose lyrics center around violence and drug use.” While one reader comment summarizes HuffPo’s sentiment in a single sentence—“10,000 [members] that’s a ton of white trash”—another response from a self-proclaimed juggalette is more insightful: “im not trash i just forgot to change my socks… we were fine without your 2 cents….. why did you even come on here so bored an lonely you have to find someone or something to hate?”