These sorts of escapades are not uncommon among newsrooms.  The existence of FIRE and SPLC proves that in and of itself.

But as a small weekly paper, it seems that as we look back on this past semester we have been greedy. We have racked up on these formidable events and more in just one lone semester.

The official motto of Winthrop is “Live, Learn, Lead.” If we pay attention enough on campus and in our classes we can hear that motto reiterated so many times until it becomes practically redundant.

However, there is another less official theme that tends to resonate around Winthrop’s campus. This whispered motif seems to flit around the campus green, curl around the halls of the arts and sciences department and sing along with the notes in the music conservatory.

It is the almost tangible annihilation of transparency and the First Amendment.

I guess we shouldn’t be too mad that our university president refused to sit down with one of our editors due to “time constraints.” After all, President DiGiorgio was vitally needed in Atlanta for the NCAA tournament as Winthrop’s support for the former men’s head basketball coach who recently compared his time at Winthrop to “indentured servitude” was clearly detrimental.

Oh. Gregg Marshall’s Wichita State Shockers lost that night?

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The Winthrop administration was thoughtful enough to forgo resurrecting yet another ambiguous metal sculpture and instead plant a tree not too many years ago to honor that First Amendment which, if we recall correctly, protects and celebrates the freedom of speech and the press among other probably unimportant rights.

The tree, albeit its dead appearance, crouches in a forgotten corner of Winthrop’s campus hidden between two voluptuous magnolias and Oakland Ave.

Despite the (hopefully) living testament to all that which is sacred (writing), this semester has proven time and time again that not everyone appreciates student press.

Is it too much to ask that the administration’s respect for the First Amendment and the freedom of the press be as easy to find around this praised campus as that scrawny tree?

At Winthrop we might as well change from the student press to the student oppressed.

At this point it shouldn’t be a surprise to the student body that a new president has been elected unanimously by the Board of Trustees to replace retiring president DiGiorgio in the fall (thanks to our student newspaper). It also shouldn’t be a surprise that President-elect Jayne Comstock brought with her overwhelming fanfare for all things garnet and gold a cloud of carefully placed words, convenient misconceptions and fabricated details surrounding a Butler University lawsuit against a student disguised as an anonymous blogger (again thanks to our student newspaper).

The future administration brought up an intriguing question to The Johnsonian. They asked if a person who hides behind anonymity still deserves protection under the First Amendment.

Despite the near impossibility of overlooking that clear lack of knowledge of how the Internet operates with a substantial dash of simply pure ignorance, The Johnsonian critically thought that question out even further.

Why take up protection with mere constitutional rights when we can follow in the administration’s omnipresent shadow and hide behind fabricated and thinly veiled perceptions.

As one of the longest and most trying semesters in the history of The Johnsonian comes to a close, we want to say that while we are battered and at times afraid, we are still here. Our passion, although dampened and suppressed, is still flourishing (better than the First Amendment tree) and overflowing with questions to ask.

Winthrop may keep the First Amendment locked outside of its 29733 area code but The Johnsonian is ready and able to fight to break down those walls and allow for transparency to be as infinite as the supply of new mulch.

But this isn’t going to be a revolutionary statement about allowing the usage of cell phones in schools. The question is, why are they such a big deal, when there are bigger threats to worry about, such as weaponry?

The question is an easy one to answer. Cell phones are distracting, and it’s disrespectful and rude to text while a teacher’s giving a lecture. Unless it’s an emergency, you really don’t want to be taking calls during class time, either, and this goes for both high school and college.

The rules are also in place to prevent cheating. Courtesy and respect are good, valid reasons as to why cell phone use in schools should be regulated to an extent, but over the years, schools have taken this a bit far. There should be no reason for cell phones to take such priority over weapons and drugs in schools.

A quick look at the rules and regulations page for the Bronx High School of Science shows rather strict electronics policies. “Students may not have cell phones, laptops, ipods or other electronic devices within the school, or on school property, at any time.

Cell phones or electronic devices that are seen, heard or found will be confiscated and brought to room 213D.”  It isn’t said how the student is supposed to quickly contact a parent or guardian in times of emergency, nor does It explain why the rule is so strict. What drew me to this page was the fact that there is no mention of a weapon/drug policy, and the section for cell phone/electronic use takes up a good third of the page.

There is something wrong with a school system who will search for and confiscate a cell phone in nano-seconds, but pay no attention to the fact that students do bring weapons to school.

Students manage to bring knives, guns, drugs, and other forms of illegal materials into school without being detected, unless the school has metal detectors or frequent searches.

However, there are schools that allow teachers to search students’ cell phones as well, and the cell phone search policies seem to be put into use much more often than searches for things that are far more harmful.

So….what makes cell phones such a carnal evil? One can easily say it’s an abuse of power; cell phones can be a problem when it comes to cheating and paying attention in class, but schools don’t have to take advantage of that fact by making the rules unreasonable.

It would be far better and safer in the long run to spend more time on educating students about what they should do if they see a weapon or evidence of drug use at their school, not attempting to scare them into not bringing their phones to school.

Safety takes priority over ethics, and with the way things have been going, schools need to take better measures in protecting their students than hunting down their cell phones.

Anyone who has played a video game in the last decade will likely understand this statement.  Characters such as Marcus Fenix of Gears of War fame, Duke Nukem from the self-titled game and Kratos from the God of War series have been a staple from the early 2000s till today.

Moreover, the comic book industry provides more than enough examples of this as well: Marvel has Wolverine, The Punisher and let’s not forget the plethora of angst filled X-Men or better yet Tony Stark.  Whereas DC spawned Lobo, probably one of the most violent and poor examples of what makes a man a man that exists.

On their own, these characters are entertainment.  Little more than snuff film action characters that are put onto the screen for the audience to tune in, turn off and be ‘shocking’ for their political incorrectness or over the top antics.   What makes it awkward is when these characters are being heralded as representatives of what it truly means to be a man.

Is everyone growing up just expected to believe that all it takes to be a man is literally to scream just about every word, treat women like second or third class citizens and do little more than use violence to resolve every issue?

Men are not defined by their animalistic side, ultimately they are defined by their integrity, dependability and determination.  Real masculinity not only comes from strength of the body, but from strength of character and the willingness to admit a mistake.  In that willingness, comes growth and the chance to fix the errors that were made in the past.

Manhood and adulthood in general is simply growing out of the selfishness of the past;  then growing into a more reliable state of mind.

As children, people often lie to cover up mistakes, resort to violence as a means of answering their problems and simply cannot be depended on for anything more than the simplest of tasks.   Masculinity is not being so strong that no one can oppose a tyrannical rule; there is no might makes right within the world.

Masculinity, true masculinity, is being that person whom others can look up to and admire realistically.  It is the formation of character and work ethic that make those whom know the man to be proud to know that much.

Thus, the minds of the young should not be so readily swayed towards these violent fantasies; rather, they should be ready to accept the wisdom that comes from patience and experience.

Over the past year, the military dictator of North Korea has released statement after statement against the Western World, pushed out propaganda in order to insight fear and to portray himself as a powerful leader and in general followed in his father’s and grandfather’s steps.

While Kim Jong-un’s actions have put the world on edge, there are still a great many questions that remain unanswered due to the isolationist policies of the country.  What is known is that North Korea is suffering from a severe shortage of food, a dismal economy and probably the largest discrepancy between lower and upper classes in the world.

Above this, any pleas for aid that North Korea sends out are being rejected as even China, North Korea’s largest backer, has refused to send an ambassador to the country when a request was made.

Furthermore, most of the support that North Korea did have prior to 1991 came specifically from the Soviet Union; with their collapse the financial sector of the country took a huge hit.

While the country has remained on everyone’s radar, North Korea is now impoverished aside from the ever growing military which takes anywhere from 14.5 to 16 percent of the annual budget.

Putting this into perspective, the United States, who spends the most on their military in any given year only spends about 4 percent of its gross domestic product.   Granted these numbers are only in relative terms, the U.S. outspends North Korea by leaps and bounds.

Some maintain hope that the North Korean ideology of Juche will prevent them from expanding into a true threat rather than a simply a loud-mouthed nation seeking attention.  While the ideal asserts that North Korea is an independent nation and should be completely self-reliant, believing in one’s own power rather than relying on another nation.

Despite North Korea’s claims to be following the Juche ideal, this is likely little more than a political front in order to justify war-like proclamations and hostile stances towards other races.

It is well-documented that North Korea is both xenophobic and has shown racist tendencies in the past.   Not to mention a complete brain-washing of society who feel that South Korea is tainted by outside influences and wishes to rejoin with the ‘dear’ leader.

Looking at North Korea and their actions, there is no sense of true logic being applied; instead, viewers are left with a corrupt, communist inspired environment.   Due to the numerous factors and the lack of information on the country, it is hard to pinpoint what North Korea’s plans truly are.

Personally, given what has happened in the recent days, including North Korea’s requests for outside assistance and talks with China, not to mention the obvious fear of retaliation from either South Korea or the United States,  I have a hard time believing that Kim Jong-un or any military official would dare lash out.

Smarter men than I have said the same thing about Hitler and Saddam Hussein.  In this instance, it is best to let discretion be the better part of valor as neither the United States nor China could properly care for the North Korean people should the regime fall.   At the moment, the world is stuck in a catch-42 with North Korea and one can only hope that a natural revolution will take place.

Many would disagree, as there are still one too many factories blasting their smoky waste in to the air, and trucks still have no qualms about heavy diesel smoke being blown out into the sky.

Some places, such as densely populated cities, are even unsafe to live in to a certain degree because of the sheer amount of air pollution. We’re getting cancer and lung problems associated with dangerously unclean air – so what’s a possible alternative to something we’ve been relying on for decades?

A group of researchers at the University of Georgia who had these thoughts in mind have figured out how to transform the trapped carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into industrial products – a possibly very efficient alternative to gasoline, coal, and oil. It’s speculated that this could pave the way for biofuels made directly from carbon dioxide in the air.

According to Michael Adams, a member of UGA’s Bioenergy Systems Research Institute, “Basically, what we have done is create a microorganism that does with carbon dioxide exactly what plants do, absorb it and generate something useful.” He adds, “What this discovery means is that we can remove plants as the middleman. We can take carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and turn it into useful products like fuels and chemicals without having to go through the inefficient process of growing plants and extracting sugars from biomass.”

Stories such as these make me believe that progress is being made in the way of environmental preservation. It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out that the more earth we strip away, the less we’ll have to live off of, and the fact that researchers are looking into alternative sources of power and industrial supplies indicates that the environment itself is still being considered. I’m going to try my hardest to avoid a preachy anti-fossil fuels argument, but we are in need of cleaner power sources.

Al Gore wasn’t off the mark at all in “An Inconvenient Truth” – we’re not exactly doing our best for what is currently our only home, and supporting researchers in their efforts to discover better, cleaner ways to deal with fuel is a step towards progress.

I mean, with gas prices trying to hit $4 per gallon, we want, for example, the electric cars back, right? The cars were successful. People liked having a clean car to drive. Unfortunately, oil companies, staring in sadistic dismay at their rapidly dwindling wallets, quickly killed this dream in favor of, “Gas might be dirty and unsafe, but hey, as long as we’re the richest men on the planet.” But hey, we got them back – sort of. We have hybrids now. That’s something to be glad about, as well.

In recent years, I would say that we have made significant, if small, steps toward taking better care of our land. We may not eradicate fossil fuels and global warming completely, but it’s a comfort to know that sometime in the future, we may have a cleaner planet.

First, there are the really stupid movies, like the Twilight saga. For those lucky readers who haven’t seen Twilight, it suffices to know that the plot consists mostly of Taylor Lautner taking off his shirt, Kristen Stewart trying to say things with emotion and Robert Pattinson sparkling in the sunlight. The main moral of the story is that if a girl meets a semi-attractive gothic boy in high school, she should fall in love with him within about twenty minutes, run away from her family to marry him after graduating and then start having babies. I wonder why some people don’t like it?

Then there are the “cute” movies. Now you can tell that the people making the movie really, really, really tried to make it good, but for some reason it just didn’t work out for them. Yes, I am talking about nearly every Disney live action movie ever made “Oz the Great and Powerful”. By the end though, you just really don’t care about the characters, plot, or any of it really.

Then there are those good/fun movies. Think “The Avengers”. You watch the movie, you’re entertained, you go “oooh” and “aaahhh,” and then it’s over. They can be super-duper fun, but that’s mostly all that they are.

Finally, there are the awesome movies. These are the movies that pull you in, make you fall in love with the characters, have you sweating bullets on the edge of your seat, and may even make you shed a tear or two. We have had a lot of awesome movies like this come out last year such as “Argo” or “Les Miserables”.

In Les Miserables Every time you watch Anne Hathaway perform “I Dreamed a Dream” after her character’s life has gone to hell all in order to provide money for her daughter to live, you feel a little piece of you die inside.

The thing about movies in the last few years is that there have been a lot of extremes. You have “Avatar,” a story about how a crippled soldier becomes a half-naked blue alien in order to save some spirit trees from the evil marines. It was amazing, but then you have “Prometheus,” where the only ones to get lost on the planet are the ones with the map. Then for some reason this old guy pretends to be dead, and someone has a squid baby.

The biggest thing that pisses me off about modern movies though, is when everyone knows that the only reason the movie exists is to make money (again, “Oz the Great and Powerful”). I mean, they’re making “The Hobbit,” into a trilogy. And whose idea was it to put “Star Wars: Episode 1” back in theatres last year? It was bad enough back in 1999, now they are making Episode 7! Okay, people make movies for money, but if all they want is my money, at least make the movie good enough that I can’t tell. For example, everyone knew the “The Avengers” only existed to be a goldmine for Marvel, but we were okay with that because it was really cool to see Thor and the Hulk fight flying aliens in New York.

Oh, but though modern movies can be a bunch of pocket pickers, don’t ever believe they never have depth or meaning to them. In “Lincoln,” Daniel Day-Lewis debates the eternal question of the end justifying the means, with the lives of hundreds of thousands of people on the line. I get goosebumps thinking about it. “Argo” pits the nation’s agenda against the lives of innocent people. Even “Skyfall” gave you a struggle of having to choose to fight for a lesser evil.

So, after all this, I love modern movies. And while they can be cheap or over the top, there are very many out there to love.

Psychologists have studied the effects of anonymity on human behavior; the results have been disappointing.  The three major sources of online disinhibition, anonymity, invisibility and lack of eye contact, these can induce a negative atmosphere through threats, sarcasm or anti-social behavior.

Social networking sites like Facebook are particularly vicious sources of these activities, with groups dedicated to the belittling of certain religious beliefs, political ideals or possibly certain actions.  Studies have ascertained that the lack of eye contact and ‘closeness’ results in less fear to conform to social standards.

During these situations of relaxed standards, insults become more commonplace and the likelihood of intelligent statements dwindles to next to nothing.  For proof of this, read any theological debate on Facebook or take a look at the various gay versus anti-gay propaganda.

Without deviation, each and every one will boil down to little more than the two sides flinging insults at each other.

Yet, the real problem with this is illustrated by the concept of comfort during conversation.   When someone is uncomfortable or angry, the possibility of any change or message reaching the intended audience decreases exponentially.

Why is it those who are most vocal or demanding of change are the quickest to sling mud in another person’s face?  Discourse is supposed to be intelligent, well-thought out and respectful on all sides.  If change is something that truly is desired, then everyone needs to follow the methodology of the former civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. and his inspiration Mahatma Gandhi.

Both of these men were prominent speakers that preached both non-violent and non-confrontational means of protest. Demanding change is both wise and necessary in today’s age.

When demands become insults and constant bickering occurs the true message is immediately lost; the violence creates more reasons for oppression to take place.     Let’s just take a deep breath for a while and understand that no matter what is said, berating, antagonizing or otherwise attacking someone, be it anonymously or not, leads to little more than violence.

Graphic by • Althena Holenko, Holenkoa@mytjnow.com

With all the information-sharing technology available today, it’s hard to not know of at least one issue going on in the world involving the abuse of human rights. From the ongoing crisis in Syria, to child-marriage in countries such as South Sudan, to the killing of those who support the rights of girls to attend school.

What is a bit easier for many of us, unfortunately, is forgetting that events like this are happening all the time and all over the world.

After all, the majority of us at Winthrop have never feared the falling of a bomb on our towns. We have never worried that our fathers would marry us to a man who we did not love so that our family could have money. We have never looked skittishly across campus, eyes alert for those who may shoot us for attending classes. It is not our reality, and therefore, it is easy not to think about or to believe that it doesn’t affect us.

That is a lie.

We may not be directly affected by human rights abuses. Our lives may continue as normal, never the worse off. This is no excuse for inaction. Human rights are possessed by everyone and are therefore meant to be defended by everyone.

The minute we let apathy and inaction take over, we become just as guilty as those who are violating those rights.

Would you stand by yawning while watching someone get robbed, or shrug uncaringly and continue walking as a girl gets raped? My guess is no. So why would you stand by and not do anything at all to help those whose human rights are being violated?

Mary Robinson, a former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights once said, “We must understand the role of human rights as empowering of individuals and communities. By protecting these rights, we can help prevent the many conflicts based on poverty, discrimination and exclusion (social, economic and political) that continue to plague humanity and destroy decades of development efforts. The vicious circle of human rights violations that lead to conflicts – which in turn lead to more violations – must be broken. I believe we can break it only by ensuring respect for all human rights.” Her statement further outlines how we all are responsible for defending those whose rights are abused.

I’m not saying you have to donate to every organization that defends human rights, or that you must champion every cause. That’s unrealistic.

However you can, do smaller things. Start by using Google to research human rights issues, and find some organizations that defend the rights you find yourself to be most passionate about. Perhaps learning about the egregious abuses against the homosexual community in Cameroon and other countries makes your blood boil. Maybe the thought of censorship and threat against liberty for those who speak out against the government has your fists clenching and unclenching.

Search through NGO websites and the websites of other organizations to find out their mission, where they work, and how you can get involved.

You don’t necessarily have to spend money. Amnesty International provides many opportunities for people to get involved without spending a dime. For example, they provide information on staging and participating in virtual protests, such as “Shine a Light on Azadi Square.” Another organization, Human Rights Watch, has ample opportunities for people to get involved as well. This is often in the form of sending a letter to officials who can affect change.

According to Amnesty International, Jean-Claude Mbede, who was imprisoned on charges of homosexuality in Cameroon, was granted provisional release in July 2012 as a result of letters sent by those who participated in a letter-writing campaign hosted by Amnesty International.

Winthrop also hosts cultural events where students can learn about human rights. Check out the events calendar and see if there are any such events scheduled. If there isn’t one, plan your own, or host a different kind of event to raise awareness about an issue. Perhaps you can set up a table on Scholars Walk and talk to interested students about the importance of the issue you present and how they too can become involved. Be as creative as you want. Maybe a nearby city or hometown is hosting campaigns or forums you can become involved in.

Whatever it is you decide to do, do something. With all the capabilities and technology available today, there is no excuse not to.