Culturally insensitive jack-o’-lanterns to avoid this Halloween

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October 28, 2013

Of course we all know that Halloween is a fun time to get together and have good wholesome fun. Kids get to go out about the neighbourhood and collect candy from strangers; teenagers get to practice their explosive and fire-safety skills and adults have an opportunity to disguise themselves as whatever they choose.

Whether it’s a Native American chief, their favourite rapper or their most admired SS commander, they get to take a break from their boring lives and are allowed to drink excessively as someone other than themselves for once.

Unfortunately, sometimes the fun of Halloween goes a little overboard and you may accidentally offend people with cultural appropriation! So this year, before you lather up some blackface for that great Trayvon Martin costume you’ve been planning, remember to take some time to think of others while you carve your pumpkin.

It can be tough to know what is and isn’t acceptable to include on your jack-o’-lantern, so just in case, here’s a list of UNACCEPTABLE designs that you should avoid this year. We think that they are so terrible and offensive that we’re going to publish them all with really big pictures. These are really horrible and in poor taste! Enjoy the full list and share it with all your friends!

NO!

If you think this is an appropriate jack-o’-lantern to put out on your stoop this October 31, think again! This is an offensive, stereotypical portrayal of Asian culture. I know you may think it’s okay because you added “Vampire eyes” to make it spooky but those teeth are so obviously that of a blood-sucking Oriental that it’s not even funny!

UNACCEPTABLE!

I don’t know what kind of monster you’d have to be to think that this is alright but what you see here is NEVER OK. Sure, it looks exactly like Jay-Z but changing the colour of a pumpkin is down-right offensive and insulting to the good white farmers who grew them. Don’t insult our proud Caucasian pumpkin-farmer culture with this nonsense!

I DON’T THINK SO!

This one is so obvious it doesn’t even seem necessary to explain, but you cannot carve this into your pumpkin! Yes, it’s a great attempt at a tribute to the Nazis but you’ve got to get the tilt right. The way it’s done here makes it look like the buddhist symbol for good luck and is an insult to the rich history of Nazi-culture!

NO WAY JOSE!

This is cultural appropriation at its ugliest. Of course the sombrero is hilarious and a classic Halloween accessory that everyone will love, but there are those Asian fangs again! You can’t do that, come on!

TRY AGAIN!

A mohawk, really? You think it’s okay to make your Jack-o-lantern look like a stereotype of one of the longest suffering, most ill-treated groups out there? Think again pal, this is something that NEEDS to be avoided this year. Honestly don’t you think Travis Barker gets mocked enough without you going and doing this?

DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!

This one is just so tiredly offensive that it’s boring. Yeah. we get it ‘Arabs love fireworks,’ that’s really funny. Truth is not all Middle-Easterners love fireworks. Some prefer bombs and others even dislike fireworks so much that they refuse to celebrate the 4th of July! So quit it with these stereotypes and represent ethnic groups accurately!

NOPE!

This is totally insensitive, please don’t put anything like this outside of your house, okay? It may not be that upsetting to you if you’re a North-American privileged Caucasian and say it’s just a ‘silly joke’ but just think about other people who didn’t grow-up the way you did and won’t understand the cultural reference. Not everyone was raised in a Spongebob-watching culture and you have to respect at!

GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD!

I feel like we’ve already covered this, but your jack-o-lantern should just be about you. A lot of people who don’t share your sensibilities of what’s acceptable and unacceptable are going to see it and judge you. Avoid this design, not only for your Jack-o-lantern but just in general. It’s revolting and you should know you’re living in a SEATTLE SEAHAWKS FOOTBALL CULTURE! Go ‘Hawks!

GET OUT OF HERE!

This one is so offensive that I don’t even have the words. If you think this is okay you must be seriously messed up!

Stuff We Hate: Vaguely Halloween-Related Edition

By

EIC

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October 28, 2013

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The Class Zombie

You know that guy? Yes, that guy, because let’s be honest here; it’s only guys who do it. The guy who sits in front of you for the whole lecture — headphones in, glassy eyes half open— playing LOL (League of Legends). Yes, many of us make use of the pacifier that is video games from time to time, but really? Do you need to inflict such dire dramatic irony on yourself in class? Melting your brain when you should be developing it.

I mean don’t get me wrong, I love video games more than half as much as I should studying; it could be said that I even love playing video games (but that would be sad, so it’s best left unsaid). But, do you really, truly, feel the need to bring that love into the classroom? No one wants to see that; it’s quite simply PDA. You keep it to yourself like feelings or a bad report card (or perhaps any report card if you continue in this way).

So please, I beg of you do not play LOL in the classroom. Do not play any video game. In fact don’t even play tic-tac-toe. You’re here to learn, not to play like a child. But hey, don’t let me tell you how to live your life. If you want to pay $6,000 a year to play video games then be my guest.

Written by Alex Bloom

Scary Roller Coasters

I really dislike roller coasters. Some might even say that they’re something I hate. But my reasons for this hatred are really quite simple. Personally, I just don’t like the feeling that I’m going to die and that’s pretty much exactly the sensation that roller coasters aim to elicit. Paying money to experience a simulation of what the last moments of my life would feel like is not exactly my idea of fun.

But I don’t aim to push my views on these supposed “thrill” rides onto others. It’s not like I go around telling people to not enjoy things that they love just because they don’t appeal to me. Just like I’ve never stopped anyone from eating onion rings or playing charades, I’ve never told anyone that they shouldn’t enjoy roller coasters. And yet, as a coaster-hater, I’m continually challenged by people who won’t accept that I just don’t have fun on them.

People who I confide in with this dislike constantly search for an underlying reason for the hatred. Like, I must get sick on them or I must think they’re unsafe. Neither of these things are true. First of all, I don’t get sick, I just get terrified because they are terrifying. And I’ve never questioned their safety. I don’t think I’m going to die when I ride a roller coaster, I just know that the roller coaster is designed to make me think I’m going to die. And it does a goddamn great job of it. So please, don’t force me to pretend to enjoy these death-simulators just because you like them and let me watch you from the teacup ride in peace.

Written by Brad McLeod

We Day 2013 brings thousands to Rogers Arena

By

EIC

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October 28, 2013

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On October 18, 2013, the standard green, white and blue of Rogers Arena was replaced by the bright neon t-shirts of approximately 20,000 educators and students from more than 700 schools, province-wide. We Day Vancouver featured world-renowned speakers and performers, such as Spencer West, Jacob Hoggard (of Hedley), Kofi Annan, Avril Lavigne, Martin Luther King III, and Down With Webster.

We Day is an initiative of Free the Children, an organization co-founded in 1995 by then 12 year-old brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger. When asked what drove him to create initiatives like We Day back in 2007, Craig remarked that he was just trying to create something he wished he had back when he and Marc were kids. Basically, the Kielburgers wanted to make it “cool to care.”

Tickets for the event were free of charge for all attendees, with one caveat: all attendees had to have participated in one local and global action in order to be eligible for attendance. The students selected to attend the annual event were chosen based on their volunteer work history and merit as part of We Act. This year-long service learning program enables students to earn their way to We Day.

Since 2007, We Act has helped thousands of youth volunteers, raised over $37 million dollars, and collected over four million pounds of food. We Act is just one of the engagement programs offered by Free the Children — an international charity that promotes education, sanitation and health care for the less fortunate.

Kielburger continued, “Music, academics, and sports are all part of a well-rounded childhood, but so is service — that’s why we wanted to create this. [We Day] is the Grey Cup of doing good; [it] is the Super Bowl of service!”

We Act chooses specific charitable causes each year; this year there was an emphasis on bullying.

By creating a large-scale event tailored towards budding student leaders, the brothers hoped to create an environment in which young people were inspired, engaged, and empowered to lead through service. The Honorable Romeo A. Dallaire, Lieutenant-General of Canada, urged attendants to “be the generation without borders.”

We Act chooses specific charitable causes each year, and this year there was an emphasis on bullying. Molly Burke, a young, visually-impaired motivational speaker, told an enlightening story on how she was relentlessly bullied, but eventually chose to stand up for herself. Premier Christy Clark also spoke at the event, and proclaimed to that effect: “How do we stop bullies? Stand up!”

We Day Vancouver also marked the launch of the newest initiative from Free the Children — We365, a digital platform that acts as a “one-stop shop” for youth to take action. This platform can be accessed through a mobile app or online website, and it allows youth to collect and track volunteer hours, as well as connect with other social activists. It is the first platform of its kind, with special features for youth under 13, and the Parent Tested Parent Approved Winner’s Seal of Approval.

Developed in Canada, We Day has expanded to become a global phenomenon. The stadium-sized movement has spread to the US — with conferences being held in Minnesota and Seattle — and for the first time ever, We Day will be held in London, England in March 2014.

Clan split two at home

By

Peak Web

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October 28, 2013

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For the SFU women’s volleyball team, the 2013 season has already been wildly successful compared to their 2012 campaign. They’ve doubled their win total (from four victories to eight), including three within their conference. But are they satisfied? Not quite yet.

The Clan have struggled with consistency and maintaining momentum so far this season, a fact highlighted by their 3–5 record within the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC).

When they can’t keep that momentum going their way, they struggle. Last Thursday against the first-place Alaska Anchorage University (AAU) Seawolves, the Clan were swept by scores of 25–21, 25–22, and 25–14.

SFU led the first set 10–2 at one point and led the second by a 16–9 score before AAU came storming back. And after giving up the first two sets, and their momentum, the Clan lost their competitive groove, falling behind 7–2 early in the third set, a deficit they could not overcome.

“We started the game off with great energy but we couldn’t hold on and lost our mental focus when they got the momentum on their side,” said sophomore Alanna Chan post-game, having led the Clan with 12 digs in the contest.

SFU has struggled with consistency and maintaining momentum so far this season.

But when things are going their way, and they have needed breaks on their side, the Clan have shown a killer instinct that the team has sorely lacked in seasons past. Two days after the loss to Alaska Anchorage, the Clan turned right around to beat another Alaska-based team, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks, in straight sets.

It wasn’t an easy victory, by any stretch. The first set totaled 60 points, and after a back-and-forth affair eventually went in SFU’s favour, 31–29. There was never more than a three-point lead for either side, and the score was tied 16 times. It’s no secret the Clan have struggled in close games in the past, but they are finding ways to get on the right side of the ledger. The final two sets were slightly less wild, with SFU winning them 25–20 and 25–18.

Junior left side Kelsey Robinson led the Clan offensively with 16 kills and, after the game, hammered home the value of momentum. “Once we won the battle in the first set the momentum was on our side,” she said. “We’ve just been working really hard on our defense and blocking all week and I think it paid off in this game.”

The Clan have done well bouncing back from defeats, winning games after losses three times this season (four, counting their nonconference schedule). But, the team has yet to post consecutive victories in the GNAC and, sitting two games below .500 within their conference is hardly an enviable situation.

There’s definite progress being made, but progress won’t satisfy a program that’s long been starving for positive results (Editor’s note: Other things that are notoriously hungry: zombies, werewolves and vampires). A few more wins ought to do the trick.

Why is feminism all about men?

By

EIC

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October 28, 2013

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Renaming the feminist movement is a hot topic, particularly among those in the equal rights movement. The more politically correct among us wax on about being inclusive to trans, intersex, and other kinds of self-identified women who don’t want to be pigeonholed, but what I often hear is, “We should be more like men.” Usually, when equality is mentioned, it often frames women’s achievement in terms of men’s, or is muddled in order to achieve inclusiveness.

It’s shortsighted to focus on becoming men. Equality should be a checkpoint, not the end goal.

Feminists often encourage equal representation in male-dominated fields, rather than giving value to what is feminine. We encourage women to become programmers, but don’t address “that marketing chick” in tech start-ups who gets hated-on. Our post-gender fantasy world includes gender neutral kids’ toys that incorporate blue but resist pink.

The overarching sentiment is that being a man is imperative to being a liberated person — that masculinity is freedom. Yet, in some ways, the social code of men’s conduct still has harsh penalties. Women may get called a “crazy bitch” for being bullish bosses, but “crazy bitches” still get promoted; men who cry at meetings, however, not so much. The masculine-code may have it better, but it is not great.

Aside from equality with men, feminism also often pivots on advocating men’s issues, in an attempt to achieve true equality. These issues, for example, include the fact that dying for one’s country has only ever been mandatory for men; fathers are seen as incompetent caregivers, meaning they rarely get full custody of their kids, but they are stuck with child alimony; suicide rates among white men over 50 are higher than women’s, though they are equally likely to be depressed — a fact often attributed to the expectation of men to bottle-up their emotions.

It’s shortsighted to focus on becoming men. Equality should be a checkpoint, not the end goal.

Even though the aforementioned is scary, women have plenty of issues on their own to worry about. Take, for instance, the facts that women who volunteered in wars were almost completely written out of history; or, because women are seen as natural caregivers, their work is usually undervalued, resulting in a smaller pension for them — the human population statistically shown to live longer.

It doesn’t make sense that feminists still haven’t fixed women’s issues yet want to get involved in men’s.

Men have the resources to fix their own problems. As we have heard many times, men overwhelm the C-level suites at 96 per cent of Fortune 500 companies. They dominate fields such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and the media industry. Men are in the decision-making roles capable of reversing the bumbling dad trope in films and ads. They are the politicians who can reverse conscription laws (and the lobbyists to pressure them), and have the money to funnel into suicide hot-lines.

Men’s rights activists — the supposed equivalent to feminism — seem more interested in complaining than actually diverting energy into creating habitable spaces for the discussion of men-centric problems. If they’re so uninterested in doing anything about their problems, what makes any women or feminists think they care to do anything for women’s problems?

Including men’s issues on the feminist agenda is a waste of energy — we have enough trouble as it is giving ethnic and sexual minorities fair coverage. Yet somehow the onus is on us to provide men with a space at the table when they have no problem finding a chair.

So, as it stands, modern feminism’s fight for equality is a contradiction of aiming too low yet jumping too high.

Professor talks deadly bacteria

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EIC

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October 28, 2013

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For the second instalment of Café Scientifique’s dialogue series, SFU assistant professor Julian Guttman explained how different pathogenic bacteria infect humans, what illnesses they cause, and the ways some bacteria can be used as bioterrorism weapons.

These “talks with docs” are intended as educational, casual discussions between research professionals and the general public and aim to engage the community by connecting them with current research.

Guttman began his chat by bringing recent bacteria-related food recalls to mind — these include the E. coli contaminations in XL Foods beef and at Gort’s Gouda Cheese Farm in Salmon Arm, BC. “When bacteria come up [in conversation], essentially everyone thinks about related human ailments — the diahrrea, the vomiting, and everything disgusting that comes with it,” he notes.

In his research, Guttman examines a variety of pathogens — including E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria — to discover how they cause diarrhea in infected humans. While it is traditional knowledge that bacteria induce diarrhea through controlling intestinal muscles and membrane ion channels, his lab has found three additional causes of diarrhea. These include breaking the protein junctions between cells, controlling cell water channels to keep excess water in the body, and creating extra communication tunnels in cells.

Listeria, another hazardous bacterium on Guttman’s agenda, kills 30 per cent of infected individuals and is one of the only bacteria able to effectively infiltrate the fetuses of pregnant women.

“Listeria has the ability to cross the blood-placenta barrier that normally stops microbes from getting to the baby,” says Guttman. “It’s a very hard barrier for a microbe to cross, but Listeria has figured out a way to do it. After the fetus is infected, it doesn’t stand much of a chance against the bacteria.”

While a 30 per cent mortality rate is not to be taken lightly, the afflictions of these bacteria are minor compared to bioterrorism-level bacteria like Francisella, Guttman explains. Though rare, this bacterium belongs to the highest category of bioterrorism agents in existence — one microbe, he estimates, is enough to cause full-blown disease in humans.

“We know that Francisella can kill people in about two days to a week,” said Guttman. “You’ll essentially have flu-like symptoms and then die, which is horrible. You would have no idea [what hit you], and that’s exactly what a terrorist would want.”

“Hopefully, we’ll be able find a solution so that people feel more at ease about these bacteria and we can eliminate them off the threat list,” Guttman concluded. “It’ll take a lot of work, though.”

SFSS AGM Notes

By

EIC

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October 28, 2013

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Picture: 2012 SFSS AGM

Petition for official anti-harassment, internal conflict resolution policy presented

Student Joseph Leivdal presented a 516 signature-strong petition asking for a motion to develop an official anti-harassment and conflict/complaint resolution policy for the SFSS. The motion, crafted by Leivdal, states that the policy would be developed by an “open, democratic committee,” which “must contain a two to one ratio of students, staff or faculty to any elected representatives present.”

Leivdal presented the motion during the discussion period on the passing of the meeting’s agenda. Due to the meeting not reaching quorum, no new motions were allowed to be added to the agenda.

Board members Humza Khan, president, and Chardaye Bueckert, external relations officer, expressed that the SFSS constitution and policy review committee have been working on an anti-harassment policy for several months, and will continue to do so.

“The constitution and policy review committee has been going forward with a policy similar to this; anti-discrimination policy has been being worked on since the summer,” said Bueckert. She went on to say that an anti-harassment policy based on BC WorkSafe guidelines would be discussed by the committee at the meeting on Oct. 25.

Health and Dental Plan Fee Referendum planned for March 2014

A presentation was made about the SFSS Health and Dental Plan, which is managed by Studentcare. It was announced that the society is planning to hold a referendum in March of next year to increase the plan fee “in order to maintain or restore benefits.”

The presentation was made by Kristen Foster, Pacific and Western director of Studentcare. According to Foster, the increase is needed because some benefits of the plan were reduced in 2010 and 2011 due to the current fee ceiling, and further reductions may be required in 2014 if the plan fees aren’t increased.

Foster also presented a new feature of Studentcare, a new mobile healthcare service that allows users to connect with BC doctors via smartphone or computer. The program is called Studencare’s Doctor Network, and has been developed along with Medeo.

The Doctor Network allows students to consult with doctors and other medical professionals from their personal devices, and Foster claimed that the wait times to see medical specialists will be much shorter through the program than in-person consultations.

Society auditor presented financial statements

Gary Wozny, of Tompkins, Wozny, Miller & Co., presented the SFSS’s 2013 financial statements, which the firm found to be in accordance with Canadian accounting standards for not-for-profit organizations.

SFSS 2013 finances by the numbers

Total current assets: $12,348,898

Total current liabilities: $2,256,757

Total fund balances: $12,358,898

Total revenues: $9,007,491

Total expenses: $8,711,601

– office, operating and admin: $614,571

– building maintenance and renovation costs: $111,699

– activity, programs and grants: $5,157,598

End of year fund balances: $10,102,141

Taking Halloween candy from a baby

By

EIC

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October 28, 2013

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A recent study by CandyUSA has found that those suspicions you probably had about your mom taking all the good stuff from your Halloween haul while you were at school were completely justified.

According to the study -— an online survey of 1,300 Americans — 81 per cent of parents confess that they take candy from their child’s Halloween collection. Reportedly, some are, at least, sneaky about it: 26 per cent of parents wait until their kids go to bed or school before sneaking some sweets.

“To me, that means that 19 per cent of people were lying,” Susan Whiteside, vice president of communications for NCA — National Confectioners’ Association — said with a laugh of the 19 per cent of survey-takers who claimed not to eat their kids’ candy. “Or at least 15 per cent. I would have expected that number to be even higher than 81 per cent.”

The survey also found that women are far more likely to sneak some candy, or enforce a “family sharing” rule, at 84 per cent versus 74 per cent of men.

Whiteside was also taken aback by findings showing that Halloween was the number one holiday for sharing candy, beating out Valentine’s Day, Easter, and holiday giant: Christmas. “I know that Halloween and candy are inextricably linked, but I really did think that Valentine’s Day, or perhaps Christmas would be shown to be holidays where people share candy more,” said Whiteside.

The study found that moms were more likely to indulge than dads while their kids weren’t looking.

When it comes to seasonal candy, Whiteside said the survey found that adults serve as gatekeepers for their children. Forty-one per cent of respondents said they limited their children’s candy consumption to a couple of pieces a day.

Unfortunately, for those trick-or-treaters who have been carefully crafting their costumes since the leaves turned orange, the survey also found that costume choice or creativity did not play a factor in how much candy households gave out.

“Sixty per cent of households say that an original or cute costume has no bearing on the amount of candy they dispense,” said Whiteside; “I personally found that surprising. A cute costume wins me over every time.”

Whiteside described an instance from last Halloween when she had a trick-or-treater come to her door dressed as Snoopy’s doghouse, in black clothing with a white doghouse for a hat, and his face done up like Snoopy’s.

“It was a pretty simple costume, but I’d never seen it before, and he had made it himself and it was really smart,” said Whiteside.

The best of the worst: horror films

By

Peak Web

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October 28, 2013

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If your Halloween plan this year is to stay in and gorge yourself on mini chocolate bars while watching horror movies, we salute you. If you’re looking for some so-bad-they’re-good flicks, look no further. Tired of Oscar-winning acting and life-like effects? There’s none of that to be found here. These films (if they can be called as such) all vary from “hilariously-bad” to “Oh-god-why” bad. So curl up and get ready to cringe.

Leprechaun

The movie isn’t particularly gory or interesting — except for the fact that it’s a movie about a leprechaun chasing down and murdering people in an attempt to retrieve all of his gold. It stars Jennifer Aniston as the annoying teenager who apparently needs to fight off a leprechaun for poorly defined reasons, and Warwick Davis as the titular leprechaun.

Leprechaun 2

So there’s this crazy rule where every 1000 years on his birthday the leprechaun gets to choose a girl and make her his bride. Suffice it to say there are rules and loopholes revolving around sneezing and people saying “god bless you.” It’s pretty much more of the same, but does delve a bit into the leprechaun’s mysterious past. Also the leprechaun gets better leprechaun-magic.

Leprechaun 3

What’s the next logical step after looking into the Leprechaun’s past and a thwarted marriage? Obviously you go to Las Vegas. Just for kicks, let’s have the main character become a leprechaun after getting bit by the bad guy — but make him tall. Also he magically grows a terrible Irish accent. They have a leprechaun battle at the end. Yeah, leprechaun’s are werewolves apparently. Also I think there was a con-man subplot in there.

Leprechaun 4: IN SPACE

This is where shit gets real. So the leprechaun tries to marry a space-princess to inherit a planet, but some space-marines kill him. Then the writer decided to parody Alien a bunch. Also the leprechaun turns into a giant because of an enlargement-ray. I think the space marines are the good guys? I was rooting for the leprechaun.

Leprechaun 5: In The Hood

The leprechaun is in L.A. and totally murders a whole bunch of rappers in order to get his magic flute back, which makes people do what he tells them to. Yeah.

Leprechaun 6: Back 2 Tha Hood

Look at that title, just look at it. This movie is glorious. A whole bunch of “urban youth” find the leprechaun’s gold after he’s been banished to the underworld by four-leaf-clover-laced holy water. Of course, as the rambunctious youngsters spend the gold to do all the stuff they’ve always dreamed of, the leprechaun comes back to retrieve his gold, and murder a bunch of teenagers.

Jason X

Hey, you know Jason? Like from Friday the 13th? Yeah, so he got cryogenically frozen and now he’s on a spaceship . . . station? And there are a whole bunch of people up there. Man wouldn’t it be absolutely hilarious if he got thawed for some reason? It sure would!

Phantasm

The parent of two brothers dies and the older brother comes back to town in order to take care of the younger one, who is sort of rebellious, and sees the owner of a mortuary doing weird things with coffins and stuff. There’s also the “Tall Man” who is collecting corpses, shrinking them, and sending them through an extra-dimensional portal to sell as slaves — maybe? It’s not really clear. What is clear is that the “Tall Man” has an awesome floating sphere which jams itself into your head and drills in and then sucks all your blood out and stuff.

Troll 2

The only things you have to know about Troll 2 are as follows:

1. Troll 2 has literally nothing to do with Troll, the previous movie.

2. Troll 2 is generally considered the worst or second worst horror movie ever made.

Death Bed: The Bed that Eats

This movie has a part where a guy gets everything other than the bones in his hands burned off. They use skeleton hands from one of those science-class skeletons for his hands. They have metal pins in them, that you can see. And oh yeah, it’s about a bed that eats people because it’s possessed by a demon that a haunted painting-man killed a long time ago.

It’s a bad week to be Mr. President

By

EIC

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October 28, 2013

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It’s a bad week to be the leader of the free world.

You would think that with the defeat of the Republican-led government shutdown with an eleventh hour deal to avoid the breach of the debt ceiling, President Obama would be sitting on top of the world. Nothing could be farther from the truth, as domestic and international issues once again plague the president.

On the international front, the United States has come under heavy fire this week. Documents leaked from the now infamous Edward Snowden have revealed that the National Security Agency was not content spying on its own citizens, as the organization has apparently also engaged in the phone and internet surveillance of French citizens. These documents revealed that this surveillance extended to the French embassy in Washington, as well as the French delegation to the United Nations in New York.

One has to wonder if the United States is tapping into Canadian phone and email conversations as well. If they are willing to violate international law to spy on the French — who Secretary of State John Kerry called their “oldest ally” — they are certainly willing to do the same for us. Consider that they have also been accused of going through the personal e-mails of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

Using these weapons of terror does not reflect Obama having a Nobel Peace Prize.

Speaking of violations of international law, the United States has also been accused of war crimes in the past week by Amnesty International over the continued controversial drone strikes in the War on Terror. Despite claims from Obama’s chief spokesman, Jay Carney, that there must be near-certainty of no civilian casualties before a drone strike occurs, the United Nations believes that at least 400 civilians have been killed by American drone strikes in the past decade.

More importantly though, Amnesty argued that some attacked zones could not be legally classified as “war zones,” and suggested America may violate international law by striking them. Legally, lethal force cannot be used by one state against another except by UN Security Council authorization, or in self-defence against an armed attack.

There has been no such authorization for these areas, and America would have a difficult time making a self-defence argument here, being not only the most powerful country in the world, but also summoning missiles from half a world away. Using these weapons of terror certainly does not reflect Obama having a Nobel Peace Prize to his name.

With these violations, the United States is slowly losing its footing on the moral high ground. A morally superior country does not read the emails of their allied compatriots, they do they spy on their citizens in such an illegal manner, and they should not continue to deny any culpability in their role in the deaths of civilians in the War on Terror, which, let’s be honest, only seems to exist in the minds of Americans: we have not seen a major terrorist attack in many years.

The United States needs to own up to its actions, and stop placing itself above the international community before they lose even more respect in the world than they already have.