Opinion - The Daily Cardinal

OPINION

Stop complaining about Valentine's Day and embrace love

By Mario Puig and Owen Desai | Feb. 16, 2015

While Valentine’s Day has passed, I’d like to express my opinion on the day all about love. While I have been very single for the past 18 years of my life, I’ve never felt alone or sad on this day. I was always distracted by the candy and presents my parents would give me, everyone around me was also single and, as a guy, I don’t get a lot of the pressure from the media to feel alone on Valentine’s Day.

OPINION

Legalizing drugs will solve more problems than it causes

By Hae Rin Lee | Feb. 15, 2015

The illegal drug market causes damage in many developing nations, but there are two countries with major drug booms: Afghanistan and Myanmar. Both countries have a long history of being ravaged by endless conflicts. Amid great confusion, the opium market has bloomed. In Afghanistan, many farmers carry massive debts from the drug traffickers after receiving their help during the start-up period. Unfortunately, most end up never being able to pay the money back as government raids often destroy the crops that were promised to the drug dealers as payment. If such unplanned obstacles appear, many farmers are trapped between two extreme solutions. They either give up their family to the drug dealers for collateral, or they have to flee their land. Both options are very dangerous, and many find themselves taken as hostages or killed. The government intervention of directly destroying the opium fields has turned out to be highly ineffective—farmers encounter desperate troubles that can only be solved through extreme means. The illegal drugs also help give power to militant groups such as the Taliban. They control the opium market and continue to strengthen from its profit. While the fields are getting destroyed, there are new fields created to make up the loss and the efforts of the government only victimize the poor. Therefore, the Afghan government is being ineffective in solving the problem.

OPINION

Morning classes increase efficiency

By Marisa Bernstein | Feb. 15, 2015

The first day of a new semester always holds so much promise. If I’m going to be honest with myself, I was excited to have a fresh start. First semester was certainly a learning experience, and now, as a second semester freshman, I was sure that I knew everything there was to know about college.

OPINION

Feb. 14: a chorus of bad reminders

By Lilly Hanson | Feb. 11, 2015

If there is one thing I have learned from being single my entire existence, it is that holidays are the worst. Well, I’ve also learned that being single gives you more hours of free time to sit around looking your absolute worst without being judged. But holidays are most definitely the worst times to be single, because everywhere you look it seems that everyone else is… not single.

OPINION

Letter to the Editor: Walker’s budget cuts sacrifice UW-Madison’s prestige

By Former Rep. Marlin Schneider | Feb. 10, 2015

The German philosopher Schiller once said “Mit der dummheit kampfen die Gotter selbst vergebens,” which means “Against stupidity the gods themselves war in vain.” Such could be said about the current attacks by our governor on education in general and the University of Wisconsin in particular. The Governor opined recently that the faculty should just “work harder” while he moves to cut $300 million from the University’s budget.

OPINION

Judicial elections obstruct neutrality

By Max Lenz | Feb. 10, 2015

On April 7th of this year, the state of Wisconsin will have a general election to select candidates for a host of different offices at the state and local levels. These elections, given the time they occur, are often forgotten, but feature offices that should not be (i.e. mayor of the city of Madison). One of those offices is that of justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In this specific election, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley (incumbent) is running against James P. Daley, a Rock County Circuit Court judge. Normally, I would malign at the fact that this was yet another election that no one was paying attention to, but this is different. If only for the fact that judicial elections are inherently idiotic.

OPINION

The Internet is what we make of it

By Jacinta Tian | Feb. 9, 2015

What a fabulous way to begin the month of February with the 2015 Super Bowl. Whether you were shouting for the Seahawks or the Patriots, you probably all noticed the huge advertising campaign that has been a tradition to the game for the past few decades. This year the ads were especially popular, and the commercial slots were sold out two months before the game even began. With a $4 million price tag for 30 seconds of air time but only catching a glimpse of a company’s product, we might ask: Is it worthwhile? Or is it even beneficial for the public? Or simply entertaining?

CAMPUS NEWS

Rep. Taylor details dangers of Walker’s budget

By Chris Taylor | Feb. 9, 2015

Can you imagine UW-Madison after it has been decimated by Governor Walker’s budget cuts?

OPINION

Teenage pregnancy disadvantages the disadvantaged

By Hae Rin Lee | Feb. 8, 2015

I have always had high hopes of becoming a mother someday, and I still cling on to that desire. However, I do not believe women should be married or bear children at an early age. Mothers need to be both emotionally and physically ready for those experiences. The issue of child brides and mothers is damaging to not only women themselves but also to poverty on a national scale. There are many severe cases of young mothers around the globe, but one of them specifically is in Guatemala, a developing nation in Latin America.

OPINION

Katy Perry roars for self-empowerment

By Marisa Bernstein | Feb. 8, 2015

Every year, the members of this great nation gather on futons and La-Z-Boys from sea to shining sea in celebration of one event: the Super Bowl. Personally, I observed the holiday by eating beautifully seasoned tortilla chips and talking about how the Seahawks should win because “Macklemore is from Seattle.”

OPINION

Not my Wisconsin Idea, governor

By Cullen Voss | Feb. 5, 2015

Dear Gov. Walker,

OPINION

Note taking should be brought into the 21st Century

By Molly Reppen and Maddie Murphy | Feb. 5, 2015

Is it really second semester already? Even with a couple weeks under our belts, I’m not alone in still having a slight winter break fever. The start of classes came quickly, however I’ll admit, it was exciting to get back in the swing of things. With that said, I arrived to my first lecture a few minutes early in order to find a decent seat, scan the room for familiar faces and get all note-taking materials situated. To my surprise, minutes after I pulled out my laptop and opened a new notepad template, the professor announced, “There will not be screens allowed in my class.” Confused and embarrassed, I closed my computer and shoved it back in my backpack. Had I missed something? Never before had I been disallowed from taking notes on my computer, and I immediately questioned why.

OPINION

Survival of mainstream media depends on diversification

By Bri Mass and Yukako Hirakawa | Feb. 4, 2015

When did we start giving up on traditional news media? Is it because of the rise of social media? I have been spending a lot of time trying to answer these two questions since they were asked in a journalism class a few years ago. Whatever the answer, a suggestion I would make is traditional media should provide more diverse aspects for readers if they want to survive in the future.

CAMPUS NEWS

Letter to the Editor: UW professor supports privatization

By Peter Lipton | Feb. 3, 2015

Just a phrase on my history- a long-time professor of Neuroscience, and an ardent opponent of all things Tea Party and long time proponent of liberal and left of liberal points of views and sometimes activist. I was on the University Committee, which heads the Faculty Senate, during the crash of Chancellor Biddy Martin against the rocks of the Public Authority proposal- a proposal that Scott Walker surprisingly initiated about 4-5 years ago. The proposal was heartily squelched, as was Biddy Martin’s Chancellorship!

OPINION

Free speech threatened worldwide

By Elijah Gray | Feb. 2, 2015

The recent attack of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo at the hands of religious fanatics has sent many into a frenzy extolling the merits of a free press. That so many of us regard the right to an open press as a fundamental tenet of society has been laid bare in our incredulity at those who would extinguish the torch of free expression and dictate the parameters of permissible thought. In their march through Paris in the wake of the attack, a myriad of the world’s leaders affirmed that those who value liberty over tyranny would not submit to the demands of terrorists.

OPINION

Super Bowl ads stray from the norm, tackle social issues

By Lilly Hanson | Feb. 2, 2015

Has anyone used JUBLIA toe fungus remover? If you watched Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday night, you might have seen the corny cartoon commercial for the JUBLIA toe fungus remover among other commercials. Along with half the population of the world, I watch the Super Bowl purely for the commercials. I love the ones that make me laugh and I love the ones that make me cry.

OPINION

ISIS's number one export: fear

By Hae Rin Lee | Feb. 2, 2015

Transnational terrorism has haunted us for many years, yet the current crisis with ISIS is quickly becoming one of the most unique cases we have witnessed so far. ISIS is one of the most dangerous and powerful terrorist groups in the globe, but how does it continue to exist and to trap us in fear? The political theorist Hannah Arendt once said, “Fear is an emotion indispensable for survival.” We should be able to use fear for the purpose of survival. In order to do so, we need to dig deeper.

OPINION

Letter to the Editor: Walker falls short on teacher training

By Lara Sokolowski | Feb. 1, 2015

Dear Governor Walker,

OPINION

Take a break from winter break and think about school

By Marisa Bernstein | Jan. 28, 2015

The transition from a relaxing winter break back into the seemingly indefinite schedule of constant work and exhaustion is never a simple task. As I am a naïve freshman this year, I originally predicted the four weeks spanning from Christmas through mid-January to be far too short of a break. After all, I had been in college for an entire semester, dragging myself out of bed to my 9:55 a.m. classes, always worried if my schedule would overlap with that of the custodians who cleaned my bathroom for me every day in my residence hall, having to pick out what vegetables would go in my omelet at Gordon’s, so on and so on. In my mind, one month would simply not be enough time to recover from all of these stressful freshmen woes.

CAMPUS NEWS

Stay warm with human connection

By Yukako Hirakawa | Jan. 28, 2015

People living in Wisconsin get used to the chilly weather, but we still feel cold no matter how many times we experience harsh winters. According to a 2008 report, “Cold and Lonely” by Chen-Bo Zhong and Geoffrey J. Leonardelli from the University of Toronto, It might be true, though, that feeling cold is enhanced by social exclusion, not the winter chill itself. The report mainly focuses on two experiments; one is about social exclusion makeing people feel colder than they really are. Participants who felt socially excluded gave lower estimates of the room temperature by a median of 2.58 points.