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THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

PAGE 4 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2014

Opinion

Thank you to the DP’s fall 2013 columnists!

VOL. CXXIX, NO. 134 129th Year of Publication

Kurt Mitman Morgan Jones Jeff Nadel Ali Kokot & Hayley Brooks Sindhuri Nandhakumar JY Lee

Clarissa O’Conor Ola Osinaike Arielle Pardes

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Xavier Flory Arjun Gupta Robert Hsu

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SIYUAN CAO is a College senior from Bronx, N.Y. Her email address is caos@sas.upenn.edu.

How to use Twitter to fight sexism THE INTERNET EXPLORER | The revolution will be favorited and retweeted — and it’s up to us to start it

couple of weeks ago, Hillary Clinton got a haircut. On the day of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s inauguration, the likely presidential candidate (meaning Hil) was seen sporting side-swept, f luffy bangs. People took notice. They were the bangs heard ’round the world. The Huffington Post reported on her new hairstyle — and fashion and lifestyle authorities followed suit, putting their own characteristic spins on it. NYMag rejoiced. Vanity Fair wondered if they qualify as “bangs” or not (I mean, okay, but come on). E! Online tweeted that “We need to talk about Hillary Clinton’s new haircut.” Not ever yone thinks so. Penn senior Dylan Hewitt responded to E!’s tweet with another. “But, do we really NEED to? #sexism.” He got noticed, racking up 15 retweets and 22 favorites and sparking a conversation

on Twitter that lasted over an hour. The hashtag #sexism was paired with #patronizing, and users who responded unanimously exclaimed that, no, we don’t need to talk about her hair. In a world where a former FLOTUS could soon become P O T US , d iscussi ng H i l lary’s hair before her politics seems backward. Admittedly, for the media, this is part of the news cycle. E! needed to write about Hillary Clinton’s bangs because it needed to remain on top of the Hillary Clinton conversation that day. And the tweet in question fits with their urgent, gossipy tone — but it rings patronizing to some readers. Fast-moving websites like E! need to take responsibility for their actions and tweets. And when they don’t, when outdated frameworks are used to talk about women (and men!), consumers should feel an obligation — as well as the

necessary confidence — to call out media outlets. Twitter is a democracy — all 140-character messages are created equal. Sure, some tastemakers are verified, and some aren’t. But the little guy can call out any Goliath on the Internet, and that’s a powerful muscle we need to exercise. The mundane can often dominate the conversation on Twitter, like any other social media platform. We’ve all received our fair share of dumb Snapchats and unfriended those who spam our Facebook newsfeeds. But like Snapchat and Facebook, Twitter is just a tool — and we decide what it’s used for. We can defame corporate giants and let policymakers know where we stand. Holding influential people accountable is one of the sexiest things you can do with your Twitter profile. E!’s response to Dylan shows that there’s a significant learning curve to having

a productive conversation on the Internet. The media outlet wrote: “If Obama started sporting bangs, we would need to talk about that too. #calmdown.”

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Holding influential people accountable is one of the sexiest things you can do with your Twitter profile.” Maybe — but a hashtag like #calmdown aimed at a respectful if critical consumer is practically asking for an online scandal. If the right people had read that and gotten properly angry in response, #calmdown would have gone viral. The condescending turn of phrase would have been

flipped on its head and used to criticize E!’s intolerant attitude toward its outspoken readers. E! would have deleted the tweet, fired whoever wrote it and released an apol- FRIDA GARZA ogy — just like the internet Sure, the hypothetical armammoth InterActive Corp did last month after their PR gument exists: If Obama or director offended thousands Bill got a pixie cut, the media would be just as quick to overwith a racist tweet. The effects of such a reac- react. But that’s a hypothetical tion would be systemic and long-term: Calling giants out scenario, and this happened. on Twitter forces them to learn Women are scrutinized by the a new behavior. No brand — media every day—either injournalistic, political, trendy or tentionally or not—often just otherwise — wants its gaffes for the sake of clicks. If it’s eyeballs they want, to be retweeted ad nauseum. The problem with sexism in eyeballs they’ll get. The femithe media is that it’s as subtle nist militia of Twitter is ready as it is pervasive. E! is trying to drive even more traffic to to get clicks and eyeballs on its sexist news sites. All it takes site, but its sense of urgency is is a retweet. misplaced. By literally prioritizing (“We need to talk”) the FRIDA GARZA is a College senior discussion of Hillary Clinton’s from El Paso, Texas studying hair, they’re engaging in an English. Her email address is outdated and sexist discourse frida.garza@gmail.com. Follow her @fffffrida. about female politicians.

One sentence

FRIEDOM OF SPEECH | Through images, the people of Israel revealed a humanity rarely afforded to them

n Oct . 9, 2 013 , I set out w it h a simple task. Actually, make that two tasks. One: Ask interestinglooking, friendly strangers to write down one sentence about themselves, in any language, and then let me take their picture with it. Two: Don’t come off like a crazy person. Luckily, I have never been someone who feared interactions with strangers. In fact, I have always embraced those interactions as opportunities to grow and learn new things. I was inspired by the work of Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York and wanted to find a similarly intimate way to interact with the people of Jerusalem, making sure, however, that my approach was unique. Thus, with my equally unabashed roommate, we set out on our mis-

sion. Initially, I was surprised by the willingness of the strangers we encountered to open up to us. They all seemed a bit startled by our request, asking us to repeat ourselves to ensure they had heard us correctly. “You want me to write something, about myself? Okay, give me a minute.” As we captured more and more portraits, however, I was more surprised by those who said no than those who said yes. The color of marker our subjects selected said something about their personalities. Their handwriting made each portrait uniquely personal. Their messages were beautiful; their stories, nothing short of inspiring. A French man told us about his wife who had died a month earlier whose wish was that he visit Jerusalem with his

daughter, son-in-law and four grandsons. And there they were, fulfilling her wish. A Christian man from Nigeria was making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. An Israeli Jew conveyed his steadfast faith in God and resultant thankfulness for all he had been afforded in life. A woman conveyed her sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians. Most sentences, however, had absolutely nothing to do with Israel. A young girl was passionate about dance, a young man about world literacy. An officer in the Israel Defense Forces reminded people to love themselves as they love others. An Arab merchant wrote that he loved me and insisted on taking the picture together. A recent high-school graduate told us that she was searching for who she is. A tourist quoted Gandhi, reminding us all to

“be the change [we] wish to see in the world.” My stance on Israel is no secret. I am a Zionistic Jew who spent a semester studying abroad in Jerusalem. In this instance, however, all of that was irrelevant. My aim was neither political nor controversial, but simply humanistic.

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My aim was neither political nor controversial, but simply humanistic.” Through strangers, I attempted to normalize a culture that is often presented as far from normal. The imagery in the media surrounding Israel is that of war, conflict and

a militaristic people. At Penn, we often feel forced to ally ourselves with one faction. In this case, however, I didn’t have to. I photographed Jews, Christians and Muslims; tourists, citizens and people in between; Zionists and Pro-Palestinians; young students and grandparents. People wrote in Hebrew, English, Arabic, French, Farsi, Spanish, Romanian and Russian. All helped me convey a narrative, one that we called “An Israeli Collective.” We created a Facebook page and were soon sharing our portraits with hundreds of people across the world. Suddenly, the Jewish state, a country rarely portrayed in a positive light, was diverse. It was vibrant and alive. You may not agree with Israeli settlement polic y. Neither do I. But maybe, just maybe, you’ll look at a pho-

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ALEXANDRA FRIEDMAN tograph of a young girl who told us that she “believes that words have incredible strength.” And perhaps, as a writer, you’ll identify with t h at sent i ment . Perh aps you’ll see the photograph of the art student who “sees the world in colors,” and as an artist yourself, you’ll understand her perspective. Maybe, then, a culture that once seemed so foreign and distant will seem relatable and close. And if that is the case, then my work is done. ALEXANDRA FRIEDMAN is a College junior from Marietta, Ga. studying diplomatic history. Her email address is alfrie@sas. upenn.edu.

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