the
shield
issue 3 volume 71
feb. 9, 2024
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor are encouraged and must be signed. Positive identification may be required when a letter is submitted. Letters may be edited. Letters that are critical of the newspaper staff ’s coverage of events or present information that may stimulate heated debate will be published. Letters that contain malicious attacks on individual reporters, the adviser or the principal will be rejected.
Story lacks context, balanced reporting I’m writing in response to Beatrix Lozach’s article in the December issue of The Shield “A History of Conflict.” Beatrix did an admirable job seeking out multiple perspectives for this article and attempting to provide a background history to the reader. She succeeded in some areas and should be commended, as it is a difficult subject that many adults do not fully understand. I’m happy to see this topic receiving page one attention, as it is a deeply troubling event in our history and our current students need the education. However, I would be remiss if I did not point out some failures in her reporting, most notably in the opening paragraph. Though Lozach mentions Hamas’ initial rocket strike against Israel in the first sentence, she describes “Palestinians subjugation… and recent assaults by Israelis” as Hamas’ reasons for the attack, without ever mentioning that Hamas terrorists murdered over 1,200 Israeli citizens – including women and children - including beheading babies, raping women, burning civilians alive, among other horrific acts. There is also no mention of the 240 kidnapped of which over 150 are still being held hostage. (She mentions the 1,200 number at the end of the paragraph, though only as a general count of total deaths amassed by each side of the conflict). The second paragraph then dives deeper into the horrific pain the citizens of Gaza
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are currently experiencing, a sorrowful reality that I do not contest. But to use the word “history” in the title and offer so little historical facts around the events of Oct. 7 and its aftermath, is unbalanced reporting. Later in explaining how this conflict affects Americans she uses two unrelated incidents of a Palestinian-American child stabbed in Illinois and the death of Al Jazeera journalist Abu Akleh, who was covering an Israeli military operation. Left out of course is any mention of American suffering because of what Hamas and other terrorist organizations inflict on the citizens of Israel. Lozach also uses the term “genocide” to describe the context in Gaza, which is factually incorrect and misleading. It also serves to demonize Israel, and it diminishes actual recognized acts of genocide such as those that occurred in the Holocaust and Rwanda. A more interesting point that many don’t realize is that there are over 2 million Arabs living in Israel as Israeli citizens— Israeli Arabs serve on the supreme court, in the Israeli parliament, they vote, they are full-fledged members of society, enjoying the Democratic freedoms that Israel offers— including the freedom to be openly gay—a freedom that Gazans certainly do not enjoy. Further, Israel has offered the Palestinian people a two-state solution—their own ownership over their own land, over five times over the last 60 years. The Palestians’ own leadership has turned down those offers. While the number of Palestinian deaths resulting from this war is horrific and tragic, it is NOT a genocide. —Jayson Rapaport
access to internet separate from that of AISD’s. Changing things just to change them doesn’t mean anything. It feels so heartless. Noah Braun worded this so well. —Avi Zeifman I have also been curious about why the fence is up. It doesn’t make a lot of sense why the fence is up in that place. It might be to make it look like there is more security than there actually is. But overall it does nothing and is unnecessary. It just causes confusion. —Rowan Ornes
Students weigh in on new security measures The image censorship is high school is what gets me. Teachers are able to speak about less and less as new restrictions are placed. Now more than ever, students should be able to explore to world on their own. I feel grateful to have my own devices and
It’s not just images that are getting censored—it seems that JavaScript and CSS gets disabled on some websites, completely breaking them, and some sites are just blocked entirely. This happens to sites that have nothing wrong with them and have never been flagged before and hinders school assignments that require research and sources. This AI filter was completely unnecessary, especially for high schoolers. I’ve never experienced this level of censorship until this. —Pablo Arteaga
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Garage not solution Parking garages can cost up to $50,000 per space. Better to spend millions on the school and teachers. MAC should encourage more walking and biking. Better for students and the environment. —Anna Griffin Martin