NYUNEWS.COM | MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2017 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS
OPINION
EDITED BY ANDREW HEYING OPINION@NYUNEWS.COM
CULTURE
STAFF EDITORIAL
Another Perspective on the Holidays By SHRADDHA JAJAL Contributing Writer
It’s officially December, and that means that the holiday season is truly upon us. Walking around New York City, you can see the holiday spirit, whether it be the smiles on people’s faces or the smell of hot cocoa in the air. I love the holidays and everything they bring — including presents, vacations and family time. However, there is a stark difference in the way I celebrate the holidays versus the way the majority of the people around me celebrate the holidays. I have been raised Hindu in America. In the United States, while there are many holidays celebrated around this time, such as Hanukkah, the predominant holiday is Christmas. For my family, the break we get in the winter for Christmas is just an average break, not a religious holiday and that changes my perspective of what everyone likes to call the holidays. My parents are immigrants who came to the U.S. when I was just a baby. Growing up, I was taught
Hindu shlokas and chants, and I never even heard of the concept of Christmas or Christmas carols until I started elementary school. I distinctly remember coming home from school one day and asking my mom what Christmas was. I think she told me it was like Diwali for people in the U.S. So, when my classmates came back to school in January when I was little, all they talked about were the cool toys and games that Santa brought them, and I couldn’t help but feel a little left out. And this feeling still lives with me today. People’s spirits lift in the holidays, and as the semester is winding down, everyone around me is chattering about how they’re going to go home and do all these spe-
cial holiday rituals. Yet, last year I was the rogue one on Christmas Day. And I, as a non-Christian, am completely OK with that. However, some people couldn’t believe that’s how I chose to spend my Christmas, and that is preposterous. In a country such as the United States, even with the current political and social climate, there are people of many different backgrounds who do not always share the same holidays and ideals as you. During Hindu holidays, there is no vacation for me: I have to go to class and go on with my day as if it were just an ordinary day. What may be a holiday for one person can be a normal day for another. I will always love the idea of Christmas, but it will never be a part of my identity and my culture. So, next time you ask someone how they celebrated Christmas, take a moment and realize that maybe they don’t view the holidays the same way as you do.
Email Shraddha Jajal at opinion@nyunews.com.
TECHNOLOGY
Elsagate Shows our System Is Broken By HENRY COHEN Staff Writer
Elsagate — the recent propagation of YouTube videos with violent and sexual content aimed at children — has generated a lot of concern about corporate accountability, financial incentives and how parents expose their children to media and technology. At the core of these concerns is the internet and a network that invites systemic, lucrative abuse on a massive scale. The inherent flaws of the internet, issues that have been brought to light by Elsagate and other similar trends, need to be addressed soon before this technology gains even more control over our society, or else the consequences will be even worse. Elsagate happened largely because of increased reliance on automation. YouTube does not, and cannot, review every video that is uploaded, so it uses algorithms to decide which videos get ads, which are suitable for children and so on. These algorithms can be manipulated by people with the incentive and ability to do so at the expense of children caught in the
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loop. A system has been created that is too massive for oversight and too driven by human behavior to be trusted. The system is home to around one billion websites and at least 4.66 billion individual web pages. The internet encompasses almost every aspect of our lives, and it is reasonable to assume that its influence will only continue to grow. Controversies like Elsagate and the influence of fake news in the 2016 presidential election have helped to illuminate how reliant our society is on the internet, from the tendency of some parents to let YouTube raise their kids to the faith many people have in legitimate-sounding Internet media. The system has also been entrusted with becoming the primary means by which our society shops, communicates, keeps track of its
money, educates itself, consumes art and documents its thoughts. Any system that has been given such monumental responsibilities will by its nature be too large and anarchic to regulate, and will consequently invite harmful, and often criminal, abuse. This image is often used to illustrate the true size and scope of Internet content, and how beneath the thin layer of sites most people use every day lies a vast network of credit card theft, drug trafficking, arms trafficking and child pornography. Net neutrality has been in the news a great deal lately, and while the threat posed by greedy ISPs is real and demands public attention, it is important to realize that the Internet is besieged both from the outside and from within. It has been allowed to grow with fundamental flaws, and if we are really going to continue granting it control over society then major, comprehensive changes have to be made on the government, corporate level and individual levels. Email Henry Cohen at opinion@nyunews.com.
$70K Is Enough for Rat-Free Dining Halls
Last week, WSN reported that a presence of rat droppings, filthy flies and hot food held at less than 140 degrees Fahrenheit was discovered at Lipton Dining Hall during a recent health inspection. Although this is undoubtedly not the most serious issue facing campus, it is nevertheless important. With the exception of tuition rates, arguably nothing affects students more — especially underclassmen — than the quality of food served at NYU. Because of this, NYU must take action to fix such a troubling and disgusting situation. Lipton has earned a more favorable reputation among NYU dining halls in the past. It is close to Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, looks objectively cleaner than nearby dining halls and brands itself as the healthy dining hall. The fact that Lipton received 39 points — a perfect score is zero — during the inspection is eyebrow-raising for many students. If rat droppings and flies are present in the cleanest dining hall here on campus, what might be in the other dining halls with less favorable reputations, such as Third North Courtyard Cafe and Downstein? In fact, many dining halls have struggled to receive favorable ratings in the past, despite how costly NYU dining plans are. Furthermore, all NYU’s meal plans exceed $1,400 per semester. While the university is located in Manhattan, one of the most expensive locations in the country, NYU’s meal plan is even more costly than those of other New York-based universities. At Columbia University, an upperclassmen meal plan with 175 meals and 200 dining dollars totals $2,163 per term, while NYU’s 175 Flex plan with 300 dining dollars is $2,325 per semester. Barnard’s upperclassmen Platinum Plan with 19 meals per week and 120 meal plan points — a similar system to dining dollars — is only $2,290 per semester, while NYU’s 300 Flex plan with 150 dining dollars is $2,715. With tuition averaging $47,000 per student and meal plans that are equally pricey, it is unacceptable that sanitary guidelines are not being followed thoroughly. With finals season coming up, students deserve a reliable and clean dining hall that can satisfy and fuel them. Lipton, along with Downstein and Kimmel, is the closest traditional dining hall to Bobst. Students can grab food and head to their study spots without much hassle. Lipton’s poor rating will discourage students from eating there, further limiting the options available for students on campus. While Lipton’s reputation will suffer from these findings, NYU should focus on thoroughly investigating this issue and promptly resolving it. NYU is too expensive to be this dirty.
Email the WSN Editorial Board at opinion@nyunews.com. EDITORIAL BOARD: Andrew Heying (Chair), Adryan Barlia (Co-chair), Paola Nagovitch (Co-chair), Carine Zambrano (Co-chair) STAFF PHOTO BY ANNA LETSON
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