The Current | Vol. 31 Issue 29

April 6, 2021 | nsucurrent.nova.edu 11 Seven states in the U.S. formally recognize April as Confederate History Month, but, why? There’s no “Union History Month.” We still learn about the Civil War and the Confederacy in our history classes, so why dedicate an entire month to the history of a country that no longer exists? In a time such as now, when our country is so divided by race, there’s no reason to spend a month celebrating a country that only existed because of how desperate it was to keep its right to own other humans as slaves. Don’t get me wrong. We definitely need to be educated on the atrocities of the Civil War and everything surrounding it, but setting aside a “Confederate History Month” isn’t the way to go about it. We can educate ourselves and others without spending a month celebrating. \Growing up in the Deep South, I When the shutdown following COVID-19 seemingly fell into our laps, us students let out a sigh. No class. A longer spring break. A blessing until it seriously wasn’t. Day by day, the pandemic got worse and began to grab a hold of the world in the worst way. Unfortunately, we had no choice but to keep life going with the anchor-like weight of COVID-19 on our shoulders, consistently dragging us down. We made it through the last half of the spring semester, sick from cabin fever and praying the end would be coming soon like the rumors said. Four months later, we began our first full semester in the pandemic, and although it was a challenge for everyone, we survived. Then, there came a shift in attitude. People were over it, over the trouble their daily life had become, and was surrounded by people constantly justifying the actions of the Confederacy. They always insisted that the Confederacy was “right” and would go as far as they possibly could to defend it. When confronted, they would insist that the Civil War wasn’t about slavery, but states’ rights. These same arguments are being made by government leaders in these Southern states in defense of Confederate History Month. The issue, however, is that you cannot separate the Civil War and slavery. This “holiday” isn’t about education and history as the congressmen and governors of these states are insisting. These states want to celebrate a country that proudly made statements about how slavery was a blessing to them morally, socially and economically. Why would we, as a country, continue to try and celebrate an entire rightfully so. However, a change in attitude means a change in proficiency. The second semester started and suddenly the idea of COVID-19 and its crushing weight withered. It wasn’t a virus that killed thousands, it was an inconvenience. It was a political stance. A great many failed to take COVID-19 seriously in that regard anymore. This change has placed a great burden on students. We were met by our professors with an attitude that said, “You made it through one semester of this lifestyle, so you shouldn’t be affected by COVID-19 anymore.” From the minute we started the Winter 2021 semester, our lives had become dominated by our work. Work has invaded our homes. When we aren’t earning money to survive, we are sitting at home participating in class. When we aren’t in class, we are working on homework with J. L. Glasthal Contributing Writer into an actual conspiracy. News outlets began talking about it and people began to take it seriously. Although there has been some solid evidence of this theory being somewhat true, it is also constantly being debunked and has pretty much died down as of lately. There are several conspiracy theories that have spawned from the Area 51 location. After all, everything is completely restricted. The facility is under 24-hour surveillance, employees arrive by airplane and the terminal is hidden. With all of these restrictions, there are bound to be some conspiracy theories that arrive from this location. One of them is the reporting of aliens. In 1989, a man named Robert Lazar claimed he worked on extraterrestrial technology inside Area 51, and although this man was discredited, it is still believed to be true that there a “late work equals a zero” rule shoving anxiety into our bodies. Our tests are to be taken in the comfort of our home where the comfort is stripped away by the lockdown browser camera surveillance, hovering over us worse than any professor in a real class has. The professors can’t catch up on grading because of the mess and stress they are experiencing during the pandemic, causing us to stress even more about whether or not we are going to pass. All the while, our usual break that we are accustomed to is taken away for a shorter semester. You just read the recipe for the biggest and longest burn out in history for all parties involved. The biggest problem facing students right now is the wall professors put up to create a power balance. We already operate in an educational environment akin to a high school environment with Opinions How a global pandemic is still affecting us a semester and a half later Conspiracy theories in mainstreammedia Jaden Wilson Contributing Writer Why do we have Confederate History Month? Evan Kelley Contributing Writer social organizations and similar academic expectations, but it does not help that our professors forget to treat us like adults, let alone humans. We are all going through it. Tolerance, understanding and sympathy are required from all of us if we are going to get through this, not only as an institution, but as a global community. This is my cry out for help on behalf of the students struggling to meet expectations this semester: cut us some slack. Stop the hard grading, stop the difficult testing, stop forgetting we have lives, too. Let’s all communicate and get through this together. We all want to learn and be a part of the renaissance born out of the destruction COVID-19 has left in its wake. Give us a chance to avoid being part of the ash. Conspiracy theories have been around for a long time, and I have to admit that they are pretty entertaining. We’ve all heard conspiracy theories that were based around pop culture or other aspects of life. A couple of years ago, it was an online trend for some YouTubers to make videos surrounding conspiracy theories simply for entertainment. The theories would surround rumors about celebrities or about other things that would happen in pop culture. Now, with the hype of conspiracy theories raging in mainstream media, it seems as if society is beginning to take these theories more seriously, and since they are being taken more seriously, some of these theories have reached news stations and are being considered to be true. However, in the end, these theories are far-fetched and are believed to be not true by many. Around 2016, Texas senator Ted Cruz was accused of being the Zodiac Killer. If you don’t know, the Zodiac Killer is a man suspected of killing at least five people in the San Francisco area in the late 1960s. This man would send letters to local newspaper outlets explaining the crimes that were committed, but he never got caught. Now, Ted Cruz got wrapped into this theory after a humorous tweet about one of Cruz’s speeches being titled “This is the Zodiac Speaking.” After this tweet, people started to run with the joke that Cruz was actually the killer. The internet made it into a meme by making videos and coming up with humorous tweets that alluded to the joke, and honestly, I remember them actually being kind of funny. However, soon after, the jokes started to become a bit too real, and thus, the zodiac killer meme turned are aliens hidden in Area 51 to this day. In recent years, this theory has reached mainstream media because people online have called to “raid Area 51.” In 2019, a group of people attempted to raid Area 51 in light of the conspiracy theories, and this entire thing reached news outlets and was outed to mainstream media. I do not believe in these conspiracy theories that were assumed to be truthful in mainstream media. However, I do think it is super interesting to see how far rumors can travel and to see the type of people who are true believers of these theories. It’s entertaining to hear about conspiracy theories and perhaps thinking that, in the end, some of these conspiracies may not actually be just conspiracies. month dedicated to another country that stood for something so vile? Honoring the Confederacy during a time when people of color are being mistreated and killed is incredibly tone deaf. However, at the same time, this country does seem to be pretty good about celebrating holidays that focus on the deaths of others -- Columbus Day and Thanksgiving are the first to come to mind. To put it simply, this holiday is completely unnecessary. If anything, it should be renamed to clarify that its purpose is not to glorify the Confederacy, but to educate on the Civil War. Though only seven states formally recognize Confederate History Month, it leaves the impression that the U.S., as a country, values a time when we were divided over the inhuman act of slavery, which should not be true. With permission to print from Unsplash.com