We know the old story, The Evil Queen, in her vanity, consults her magic mirror about the most beautiful person in the kingdom and does not like the result. Yet today, I have noticed a similar trend of vanity, and superficiality amongst people. In the era of Instagram, Snapchat, and Photoshop is anyone truly their authentic selves online anymore? This ‘disease’ has spread to all social groups.
Grindr profiles of ‘no fats, femmes, or Asians’ have become a quasi-meme at this point. Why do we as people find it so hard to look past the outer façade of our appearances to what lies beyond, in the “caves of our character” as Virginia Woolf would say. We all need to look past the outer shell, to the myriad of colorful personalities underneath, before we lose those for good.
Patrick Young
When they were a kid, everyone watched Dr Who, and don’t tell me you didn’t. Most parts of pop culture have competition, alternatives if you will: people who don’t like Blur tell everyone they prefer Oasis (and never stop telling them, thinking that that passes for a personality), for example.
Dr Who is the exception: not only is it without competition in terms of quality, there is genuinely no other show able to match its type of content. It’s not uncommon for the Doctor to talk about the nature of evil and what it is to be human before the Tardis explodes and they “fall through a rift in time” (which of course means a few sparks wheeze out the console and they shake the camera about a bit). It’s ridiculous and campy, but anyone who uses that to say it’s a bad show are missing the point.
Joe Molander
One thing that has become apparent to me as a Fresher at this great university is the inherent dissatisfaction with the current state of both national and international politics amongst the student body. In consideration of current events, this may seem like a fair stance, but personally the wishes of installing a Marxist utopia in Britain seems all a bit fanciful at this moment in time.
Instead, I’d suggest that these grassroots revolutionaries look closer to home, at the effects of one of the key referendums of our times.
That’s right, the decision not to join the NUS. The fact that that I can’t receive a 10% discount on Lurpak in OUR Co-Op whilst those from across the Sandyford road can, is frankly, outrageous. If the revolutionaries want to make real change for real people, they can start with a sponsored boycott until this shameful practice of discrimination ends.
Sam Slater