Introvert or Extrovert: Self-expression on campus is important for all

Opinion

TECHNICIAN

PAGE 5 • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018

Introvert or Extravert: Self-expression on campus is important for all

In today’s fast-paced and evolving world, there is a variety of subjects about which people are caring to discuss and put out their thoughts, especially on a college campus. However, it is not all that take part in these hot arguments. Sometimes, it’s anxiety or the fear of being disagreed with that could be the reason not to be speaking out. A very primitive example is to actually raise your hand to say something in class — 48 percent of students restrict themselves because another student might judge them.

Knowing myself, nine out of 10 times, if I need to ask or talk about something with my professor, I still choose to hang around after the lecture is over, rather than say what I need to in the classroom. This doesn’t seem to be the best of practices, as I realize, but starting small can go a long way; there are several places on campus to start allowing yourself to be heard. This can help you create an appropriate atmosphere at college to best serve your needs.

As I read in a recent Technician news article, the African American Cultural Center (AACC) holds a weekly discussion on Friday afternoons called What’s on the Table. It’s an informal environment that gives NC State students a chance to express themselves and get across their points of view regarding different issues.

I think programs like these are a great platform for people to analyze what they feel about something and bring it up in the presence of other individuals who may or may not agree. However, the AACC strives to maintain a safe and judgement-free zone while this event is being held, which makes students feel welcome to share their thoughts.

In the article, a student mentioned that the most important thing they liked about What’s on the Table was the fact that all the participants, including the organizers, were usually quite vulnerable. This allowed other people to be comfortable enough to open up and trust their peers. Being vulnerable enables us to trust, and that’s exactly what What’s on the Table is going for — a place where you can express yourself and trust that you will be heard, and not ridiculed.

A similar event I read about, called Feminist Fridays, is held in Talley Student Union. Hosted by the Women’s Center, this event is a student-facilitated discussion about a wide range of topics related to equity across cultures. Topics such as body positivity, cultural relativism and gender gaps in the workforce are among the many that are spoken about. Fri Momin, the student programmer for the Women’s Center mentioned that the program isn’t just for women, but for anyone and everyone to come forth and give their inputs on feminism.

The idea of feminism is gaining quite a lot of social consideration, and there are many who are passionate about various aspects about it, so this is an engaging way to interact and share your thoughts. Another student stated that the Women’s Center created a friendly and supportive environment, and so it’s also an educational way to meet new people and make friends.

This semester, I needed to enroll in a course called College Student Development (ECD 220) as a part of my requirements to become a Resident Advisor on campus. This course, along with my responsibilities as an RA, has forced me to get out of my shell and reach out to people. Taking on courses and positions that push you to express your thoughts in public can help develop communication skills for your future career. Although being introverted is an inherent personality trait, it’s important to be able to articulate opinions, especially at work.

NC State has been encouraging self-expression since the 1960s, when the University promoted the Free Expression Tunnel on Main Campus as a place for students to

spray-paint graffiti on its walls. This was a concept that intrigued and fascinated me in my freshman year, since there was something new to look at every single day. Students spray-paint opinions, promote events, support organizations or just leave Shivani Shirolkar Staff Columnist their mark. Though this permission was an attempt to cut down on illegal graffiti around campus, it’s being used for many forms of artwork today. I will also mention that writing for the Opinion section in Technician has helped me by giving me an opportunity to voice my thoughts — this platform had been beneficial for me by stimulating personal growth. I didn’t even realize there were ideas I had an opinion about until I started looking up different sides of stories, analyzing them and writing about them. Self-expression can be unfamiliar and scary; I have always found it difficult to put forth what I think due to the constant anxiety of self-doubt and secondguessing. However, my time at college so far has given me experiences that have opened my eyes to the knowledge that learning is not impossible. I still feel weird about raising my hand in class, but then I remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day. With time and the right resources, self-expression and communication can enhance your life with opportunities to give and receive insight.

Opinion

TECHNICIAN

PAGE 6 • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018

Education is the answer to misinformation

DIGITAL AGE POSES NEW CHALLEGES IN DETERMINING WHAT IS TRUE

We live in a society more and more influenced by the interconnectedness of social media and other online platforms. Unfortunately, with this interconnectedness has come an increased amount of misinformation in the form of fake news and conspiracies. They represent a threat to our society’s ability to have reasoned debates, since if separate parties live in separate realities, we will never be able to find a common ground.

To combat claims like these, we need to have a serious talk about the idea of conspiracies and fake news. We as individuals, future leaders and mature members of a younger, more impressionable demographic must combat the spread of misinformation by educating each other and those around us. We need to educate students on how specifically they can fact-check claims, and in doing so we need to create a culture that brings more skepticism to unsubstantiated and false claims.

You probably already know that on Feb. 14, 17 students died in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. What you might not know is that in the aftermath of the shooting, not everyone exactly admires the students’ courage to speak out on the issues they feel strongly about.

Some are even spreading the lie that David Hogg, one of the more vocal students from Florida, is a “crisis actor” who goes to tragic events and pretends to be a witness. It’s even to the point where on Feb. 21, the number one video on YouTube’s trending section implied David Hogg was a crisis actor. The video showed Hogg at a L.A. beach being interviewed to show that he traveled the U.S. to seek out news coverage and act as a victim.

A quick google search can pretty much debunk any notion of David Hogg being a crisis actor. Websites like factcheck.org provide clear evidence that Hogg was in L.A. for summer vacation. But the idea that a video like this can gain so much traction is particularly concerning considering that YouTube has an audience of roughly 1.5 billion users a month. YouTube even touts that it reaches more viewers between the ages of 18-34 than any cable network in the US.

This video attempts to discredit students whose friends died less than two weeks ago. It is a disgusting and disturbing display of the extent of human cruelty, and unfortunately, it is not as uncommon as would be hoped. Social media sites like Facebook and YouTube are having trouble removing posts that promote the crisis actor theory from their platform. On Saturday, even President Trump retweeted an account that had pushed the theory.

All it takes is a brief search to expose logical flaws in these theories, a behavior simple enough to be taught to the public. But sometimes it’s not that easy, sometimes conspiracies can’t exactly be “proven” wrong since they can claim that anyone, even fact checkers, are in on it.

In order to prevent arguments like this, students need to be taught in their high school civics classes the importance of using fact checkers and looking up more

sources on the subject, a practice everyone should follow. We all need to start looking at the things we read with a little more scrutiny. Just because a post has 100,000 likes doesn’t mean it’s true, it Joseph Rivenbark means others believe it. It takes effort but it provides security in your beliefs. Education and practicing it like this Correspondent can help create a culture of sturdy beliefs in a world with so many flimsy options. An education that promotes seeking out more details before blindly following an idea could decrease the appeal of theories like this. Misinformation can be disrespectful to begin with, but it can become dangerous if spread. Take an example like the 2016 “Pizzagate” conspiracy where a North Carolina man walked into a pizza place in Washington, D.C. with a rifle and began to shoot the floor because he thought it was part of child sex ring. We as active members of society must educate ourselves. Likewise, children who will one day walk into a world of our creation must be educated through school on how to tell fact from fiction online. If we don’t, the situation can only get worse, and we could lose the value of a fact forever.

“Just because a post has 100,000 likes doesn’t mean it’s true.”

National Eating Disorder Awareness Week reminds us to practice self-care

Universities should allow free speech, not domestic terror

Charlotte Rogus

Guest Columnist

To many, this week is just another ordinary week of classes, homework, and social activities. For me, it is a celebration of how far I have come in my personal journey with anorexia nervosa. Feb. 26 through March 4 is National Eating Disorders Awareness (NEDA) Week, which aims to educate the community about eating disorders and other mental illnesses. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses, and since about 20 percent of college students report having or previously having an eating disorder, this is a critical topic to address.

I believe that teaching people how to love themselves and embrace their bodies are important components, not only in batting mental illnesses, but for people in general to live happier lives. Though 30 million people in the U.S. suffer from eating disorders, just about everyone has had negative thoughts about their appearance or wish they could change certain aspects of themselves.

Everyone has their own idea of what the “perfect” person should be, and that if you somehow attain “perfection”, all of your problems will be solved. “If you could just lose a little more weight you’ll be happy,” is what I used to tell myself. The problem was, the more weight I lost, the more unsatisfied and unhappy I be-

Kevin Moye

Staff Columnist

Imagine walking your normal route from class to the Atrium. As you enter the Brickyard, you are greeted by the sight of racially charged signs, torches and angry men yelling offensive chants. Some colleges know this sight or similar scenes all too well. One of our Triangle counterparts just barely avoided this fate.

On Feb. 21, a “Rally for Nationalism” was expected to occur on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. A counter-protest run by students and faculty was quickly established in response to the impending nationalist rally; however, the nationalist rally did not materialize.

While this episode of political mishap on college campuses was avoided at UNC, it still revives the conversation of where the line is between free speech and hate speech, and what kinds of speech should be permissible on campus.

Hate speech is defined by the American Bar Association as “speech that offends, threatens, or insults groups, based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, disability or other traits.” This perfectly encapsulates the essence of what racially-motivated rallies are trying to achieve.

Free speech is and should always be an inalienable right to citizens of the U.S., but we must also realize that getting an

Opinion

TECHNICIAN

PAGE 7 • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018

NEDA

continued from page 6

came.

After taking time away from school to heal, I have come to appreciate my body and all that it does for me. I think everyone can benefit from self-love, so this NEDA Week I want to share some simple steps that I believe can spark a positive change within ourselves and within one another.

Offer compliments that go beyond the surface. Complimenting a person solely on their appearance is nice but can reinforce the idea of needing to look a certain way. I was complimented on my appearance more when I was struggling with my eating disorder than at any other point in my life. I was incredibly sick, but since there is a positive association with weight loss, I received more praise than concern. Instead of complimenting your friend on something superficial, try saying something like “You are such a good listener,” or “I’m so glad we’re friends.” This way you are complimenting the core of the person, which I think is more meaningful.

Change your way of thinking. Despite what the media and health industries want us to believe, there are no such things as “good” or “bad” foods. The carbohydrates in a banana are the exact same carbohydrates that are in a piece of cake, and if I choose to eat cake over a banana that does not mean I have failed as a person. Instead of assigning foods a moral value and feeling guilt or shame after eating, fuel your body with a variety of foods that you enjoy. I know that I need protein, starches and lipids, and my body doesn’t care if I get those from a salad with chicken and nuts or from frozen yogurt with chocolate sauce.

Self-care is an important aspect that many people tend to neglect. Be mindful and set aside time to focus on you. Paint your nails, take a hot bath or shower, read a book, or watch a favorite TV show. Taking a break from your busy schedule and doing something relaxing can help reduce anxiety and stress.

Most importantly, love and nurture your body. It is your home, allowing you to do the things you love. I hated my body and tried to change it as much as I could through intense restriction and exercise. Only when my body started to fail me did I realize how much I took it for granted.

If you notice a change in yourself or in a friend such as depression, unusual eating habits, excessive exercise, and brittle skin, nails and hair, the NC State Counseling Center has a wide variety of resources and can give you more information on the subject.

Gaining an appreciation for my body was one of the best things I could have ever done, and I’m slowly working to get back the strength that I lost. Our bodies are amazing, so next time you look in the mirror, instead of critiquing your body, celebrate it. Notice all the things you love and embrace them. We need to start building ourselves up, not tearing ourselves down.

This NEDA Week, I challenge you to try and do one or more of the suggestions above as well as check out the events happening on campus. It’s on us to change how we view our bodies, and I think it’s high time we start to love and cherish them.

FREE SPEECH

continued from page 6

education without fear of being emotionally traumatized should also be an inalienable right. This is exactly what happened to University of Virginia students last year when white supremacists tried to disguise their domestic terrorism under the veil of free speech.

These types of protests can weigh on a person’s mental health in the long- and short-term. The short-term problems are ones that we all accept and realize such as feeling unsafe on your own campus and having strong feelings of discomfort. Less known are the lasting effects that these violent protests can have on a person.

A recent study of Ferguson, Missouri protests has shown that people who are subjected to violent protests have the potential of “developing features of an acute stress disorder.” While college is a stressful environment, students should not have to be worried about developing stress disorders from encounters with literal fascists and supremacists.

Events that are able to cause this level of emotional damage to students just trying to receive an education should in no way be tolerable by universities. In the case of UVA, many students felt like their university failed them because of the administration’s refusal to remove the protesters from the campus. Some students believed that the protests warranted immediate changes in the university policies that would ban these types of rallies from occurring again on campus. While I do believe that the ideas these rallies are trying to spread are abhorrent, I still respect the right for these ideas to be spoken about in a civilized manner. It is not the actual content of these rallies that makes them frowned upon, but rather the violent atmosphere that surrounds these protests which causes the harm. Speakers who hold odious beliefs should be entitled to the same rights as speakers with so-

“Events that are able cietally accepted beliefs. Far-right to cause this level of speaker and former Trump aide Sebasemotional damage to tian Gorka spoke at students just trying to UNC in November 2017. Gorka’s apreceive an education pearance was much different than the should in no way be protests we have grown accustomed tolerable by universities.” to. At his speech, no lives were put into jeopardy and no emotional trauma was inflicted on students. Peaceful discourse should be the gold standard for people who wish to spread massively controversial opinions on college campuses, and the bare minimum for what universities are willing to tolerate in speech like this that blurs the lines between free and hateful. Otherwise, our universities are betraying their highest priority, creating a productive educational environment for us: their students.

As Seen Around Campus

TECHNICIAN

PAGE 8 • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018

NICK FAULKNER/TECHNICIAN Sophomore Drew Grantham performs a leaping split on the beam. Grantham had a 9.825 on Feb. 17 in Reynolds Coliseum.

NICK FAULKNER/TECHNICIAN Sophomore Drew Grantham hits the vault. Grantham had a team-high 9.875 during the meet Feb. 17 in Reynolds Coliseum.