Tag Archives: Twitter

The Rock latest celeb to talk depression

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By JUSTIN SOBELMAN

Continuing a movement that has seen a huge amount of growth in the past few months, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson became the latest prominent male figure to publicly share his experiences with depression.

Johnson is one of the most famous celebrities in the world and one of the most beloved (and a University of Miami alum to boot). He’s also famously strong and muscular, playing the hardened, badass character in many of the movies in which he stars.

Some people may see this news and say, “Who cares? Boo hoo. A multimillionaire is crying on his yacht, am I supposed to feel bad?” This misses the point entirely. Mental health is not based on one’s bank account and despite what some may believe, celebrities have an enormous impact on the public, especially young people. Johnson is an activist, philanthropist, and general good guy, so there are worse options for kids to mimic.

What Johnson’s story does is continue the conversation, allowing mental health to be discussed openly and without shame, not something that gets bottled up and ignored. The fact that he is a man, and a non-white man at that, is even more important.

Generally, famous women are the ones who share their stories about battling mental health, and in movies and television its usually women who deal with these issues. Of course, that’s perfectly fine, but as Johnson says himself, men have more trouble discussing their emotions and mental states. The social norm is for men to not show their emotions, and women typically are much more emotionally healthy as a result. Johnson shows that you can be a tough guy and have emotions, they aren’t mutually exclusive.

DeMar DeRozan, the Toronto Raptors All-Star guard, really got the ball rolling when he opened up about his own ongoing battle with depression, and he expressed support for Johnson. If an NBA All-Star and a world-famous actor can thrive in their field even with depression, that helps others realize that you can still be successful while dealing with a mental health issue.

Many of the responses to Johnson were like the one displayed earlier, expressing surprise that Johnson dealt with depression and happiness that they weren’t alone. Many news outlets covered this story, which helps to spread Johnson’s message even further. Hopefully, guys like DeRozan and Johnson become the rule, not the exception, and help us move toward a future where we can talk about our problems and heal them, not just hide them and let them eat away from within.

Fox News show host mocks student

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By PATRICIA SANTANA

Fox News weeknight host Laura Ingraham is embroiled in a controversy after mocking Parkland student activist David Hogg’s college rejections.

Ingraham retweeted an article posted by right-wing website The Daily Wire with the headline “Gun Rights Provocateur David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied.”

“David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it,” Ingraham commented in her retweet. “Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA…totally predictable given acceptance rates.”

Soon after, Hogg took to Twitter to ask his followers to ask companies who advertise during Ingraham’s show to pull their ads. Many of these companies, such as Hulu and TripAdvisor, have already listened to the public outcry and are now boycotting Ingraham’s show.

Ingraham has since apologized on Twitter for her comments. Hogg has not accepted her apology, stating that “an apology in an effort to save your advertisers is not enough” and that he will only accept the apology if Ingraham denounces the way Fox News has treated the student activists from Parkland.

Most of the drama in this story played out on Twitter. Ingraham’s initial comments and apology, Hogg’s responses and calls to boycott, and some companies’ statements of pulling their support were all tweets.

As a result, most news organizations have embedded many of the tweets in their coverage of the story. I found that the more tweets a news organization embedded, the more engaging I found the article.

For example, The Washington Post included the most tweets out of any of the articles I read, and I found that that was the article I enjoyed most. Being able to see the exact tweets allowed me to see the article Ingraham retweeted and click on it, making the story more interactive. It also made for a visually appealing article since the embedded tweets broke up the blocks of text.

Other outlets, such as The New York Times and CNN, included only one tweet. I found that decision puzzling given how much of the story played out on Twitter and it made the stories a duller read.

I also found that embedding the tweets made the articles flow better, since tweets can be very awkward to quote due to their conversational nature and usage of links and hashtags.

UMBC pulls off historic upset

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By JUSTIN SOBELMAN

Well, it finally happened. For the first time since the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament moved to a 64-team format in 1985, a 16-seed toppled a 1-seed.

The UMBC Retrievers became an instant sensation as they pulled off what will go down as the biggest upset in NCAA basketball history, blowing top overall seed Virginia out of the gym in a 20-point thrashing.

It was shocking to watch, as a UMBC team that had lost to Albany 83-39 in January made UVA—a team that made mincemeat of its home Atlantic Coast Conference with just one  loss, a team with one of the best defenses in college basketball history, a team that ground far better squad than UMBC into dust— look like it didn’t belong in the tournament.

Unsurprisingly, the Retrievers’ notoriety ballooned nearly as quickly as their second half lead did. The UMBC Athletics Twitter account became just as big a star as the team itself, as the account lobbed clever insults and pure bliss into the world. Any analyst who wrote off the Retrievers became a target, as CBS’s Seth Davis did before the game.

Even the man behind the account had a swell in popularity.

Everyone’s general reaction to the upset was disbelief and happiness. It was hard not to get behind UMBC, sports fans love an underdog, and you couldn’t pick a more unlikely David to topple the Virginia Goliath.

UMBC became everyone’s new favorite team for the weekend and UMBC went from “Who’s that team that’s going to get destroyed by Virginia?” to an acronym that sports fans will remember for decades, and whose highlights will pop up every time a 1-seed is on upset alert for years to come.

More than that, it was obvious that the stars of the team, like Jarrius Lyles and K.J. Maura, were playing their hearts out, even as the odds overwhelmed them.

This was especially evident in their second match-up, a loss Kansas State. The game itself was truly a slog to watch, and the Retrievers looked every part of the 16-seed they had earned. However, even as they struggled mightily to score, their effort and hustle never waned, particularly on a remarkable series of saves to retain possession in the contest’s closing minutes.

The scrappy underdog vibe was played up considerably by the game’s commentators, who acted like the UMBC players had dunked from the free throw line every time they dove for a loose ball, but they deserved it.

Like others have said, a champion is crowned every year, but nobody else can claim to have accomplish what the kids from UMBC have, and that’s something that deserves to be celebrated.

Melania Trump addresses social media

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By ANDREA ILLAN

First Lady Melania Trump delivered a speech about the challenges of American youth at a recent a White House luncheon.

In light of the recent protests by the younger generations of Americans regarding gun control, FLOTUS stressed the fact that children deserve a voice when it comes to these issues. Additionally, she encouraged parents to teach their children positive social media habits.

Many, saw the irony in this remark, as her husband’s social media presence has been anything but positive. And, as highlighted by BBC news, these people took their frustrations to twitter, where her comment about positive social media was ridiculed.

The BBC news article did a great job at providing tweets from Twitter users criticizing Melania’s speech:

These tweets and the others highlighted on the article imply her remarks are ironic given the nature of Donald Trump’s tweets.

However, he is not the only member of the Trump family guilty of negative social media usage.

The article also highlights the fact that Donald Trump Jr, her stepson, liked a post on social media that falsely accused an innocent man of being an “FBI stooge”.

Further, Mrs. Trump has been known for posting risqué pictures to her social media accounts prior to becoming First Lady. Even after her new position, she has been criticized for posting selfies and utilizing Snapchat filters on her posts.

So, the mass criticism of her speech also comes from her own usage of social media, which many believe to not be appropriate for the First Lady of the United States.

NRA uses Leslie Knope in pro-gun tweet

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By KRISTIAN DEL ROSARIO

Former stars of the hit NBC show “Parks and Recreation” are furious at the National Rifle Association for tweeting a GIF of a scene from their series.

After the tragic events that happened at Marjory Stonemason Douglas High School, students, faculty and parents of victims gathered at CNN Town Hall on Wednesday. They gathered for questions and answers with Florida lawmakers.

The NRA tweeted a message of support to the official spokesperson, Dana Loesch, who was at the event.

“Thank you for begin the voice of over 5 Million #NRA members.” read the tweet. A GIF showing one of the main character of the show, Leslie Knope was put as an attachment.

It demonstrated Knope pointing and saying, “Thank you.” Knope is famously played by Amy Poehler who did not mince words when she heard about the tweet.

Moments later the co creator of the show Michael Schur tweeted, “Hi, please take this down. I would prefer you not use a GIF from a show I worked on to promote your pro- slaughter agenda.”

Poehler does not have a Twitter account, but requested Schur to post a message for them. “Can you tweet the NRA for me and tell them I said f**k off?”

The news media covered this story in a very honest and raw way providing the facts about the situation and how it was a chain effect. Tensions are very high right now in regards to anything involving guns because of the high school shooting.

Although, the news media did manage to keep their coverage respectful and honest.

Exercise app threatens national security

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By ALLIE SIMON

Australian student and analyst for the Institute of United Conflict Analysts, Nathan Ruser, recently discovered that the Strava fitness tracker could impose threats to U.S. national security by revealing locations of military bases.

In November 2017, Strava released global heat maps that use running and cycling information from wireless devices to show hot spots of heavy activity. Strava’s maps take the GPS location from a variety of devices that have their tracking services turned on, covering over 17 billion miles and tracking 27 million users.

According to Ruser, “US Bases are clearly identifiable and mappable.” The running paths of soldiers became visible to Twitter users when they noticed high activity in places including a suspected CIA base in Somalia, military sites in the Falkland Islands and a suspected military operations base in the Sahel region of Africa.

As of 2015, 20,000 soldiers and reservists were invited to participate in a program in which the Army issued Fitbit Flex wristbands. The location and patterns of these devices are easily accessible to those who have the Strava fitness tracker. The participants in this program do not even include the thousands of soldiers who exercise in their spare time using their personal devices.

Ruser tweeted on Saturday that “if soldiers use the app like normal people do, by turning it on tracking when they go to do exercise, it could be especially dangerous. This particular track looks like it logs a regular jogging route. I shouldn’t be able to establish any pattern of life info from this far away.”

Nathan Ruser reveals privacy violations for U.S. bases his tweets.

Strava not only shows where people move, but also how they move. Time and paths are easily determined from the tracker. The Washington Post said that Afghani and Syrian bases are exposed and not only patrol lines, but also where “troops live, eat or work, suggesting possible target lines of enemies.”

 

The heat maps put a spotlight on the daily lives of all military personnel, not just U.S. forces. Hmeimen, the main Russian base in Syria, is visible, along with patrol routes.

The spider web-esq lines that connect bases and protrude from highly active locations endanger the lives of many and poses a breach of security.

Ruser’s in-depth research has led him to conclude that this slip-up by Strava is a “big oversight,” according to his tweets. Strava is now working with military and government personnel to change privacy settings and protect troops.

Trump tweets change news coverage

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By AMANDA PRATS

“Mr. Trump said on Twitter,” has become a common way to source quotations from the President of the United States. In an article regarding the missile strike ordered by the president on Syria Thursday night, The New York Times referenced a tweet from President Trump from 2013.

The tweet read, “President Obama, do not attack Syria. There is no upside and tremendous downside. Save your ‘powder’ for another (and more important) day!”

The president’s extensive use of Twitter has thrown political pundits and news media professionals for a loop. His tweets have been regarded differently by different audiences.

Some insist his tweets are largely hyperbolic in nature; others assert that when the president tweets, that is an official statement and should be regarded as such.
Regardless of how the tweets are interpreted, they’re out there. It seems for nearly every comment Trump makes, one of his tweets surfaces. Oftentimes, they’re contradictory, uninformed, and inflammatory.

Since taking office, Trump’s tweets have been even more deeply analyzed. Many expressed concern when the timeline of Trump’s tweets on April 3 made clear that the president spent close to three hours watching Fox News that morning.

Beginning at 3:15 a.m., Trump tweeted, “Such amazing reporting on unmasking and the crooked scheme against us by @foxandfriends. ‘Spied on before nomination.’ The real story.”

He posted three more tweets, each of which correlated to coverage on Fox News at the time. This continued until 5:51 a.m.

“@FoxNews from multiple sources: “There was electronic surveillance of Trump, and people close to Trump. This is unprecedented.” @FBI,” Mr. Trump said on Twitter.

Robot responds to president’s tweets

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By VERONICA SPAGNA

We should all be at least a little familiar with Donald’s Trump famous Twitter account; @realDonaldTrump.

The president’s tweets are bold and mostly childish, they can be categorized as a form of entertainment, mostly because they are hard to take seriously. He attacks anyone who offends him and twitter seems to be his main medium of expression.

But how will Donald Trump respond to an offense made by a robot?  I’m talking about a robot’s Twitter account responding to the president’s tweets with videos of a robot designed to print and set fire to them.

Since Donald Trump has opened his Twitter account in March 2009, he has gained more than 27 million followers and sent out around 35,000 tweets. His tweets bring with them a lot of controversies and are very condemning, leading to disappointment in the president even among people who voted for him.

This Tuesday a new account was introduced on Twitter with the description “Giving Trump’s tweets the attention they deserve.”

Since it went live, the account called @burnyourtweet, has posted a video each time @realDonaldTrump has tweeted. The videos posted consist of a robot printing the tweet on a piece of paper. The paper is then moved above a lighter, which sets fire to the paper and tosses it in an ashtray.

The video captions “I burned your tweet.”

After just one day of replying directly to Trump’s twitter, @burnyourtweet gained more than 10,000 followers. Many seem to praise this ritual and numerous reporters called it genius. I feel like it can be seen; as a work of art, a form of expression. A message that can be interpreted in various ways, but that shows clear disapproval in Donald Trump’s statements.

Behind the twitter account and the building of the robot is engineer David Neevel. A creative technologist from Portland who currently lives in Amsterdam.

He reasoned that Donald Trump’s tweets continuously cause negative emotions and the robot can isolate feelings because of its immunity to them.

Trump’s tweets depict his thinking. He is supposed to be a leader and an inspirational figure as he is the president of one of the most powerful countries in the world. His Twitter topics are improper for his position. His tweets can be inflammatory and, in this case, the response is a robot that turns his words into ashes.

Covergirl’s model tweets racist remarks

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By ANDREA HUETE

You may have heard about Covergirl’s first male model back in October 2016. Today, the same spokesperson that social media crazed over, James Charles, received backlash after he tweeted about all of Africa having Ebola.

The tweet read “’I can’t believe we’re going to Africa today omg what if we get Ebola’ ‘James we’re fine we could’ve gotten it at chipotle last year’….”.

The Covergirl model explained that he and his friends were traveling to South Africa on a school trip and that it wasn’t his intention to offend anyone.

Although, in his apology letter that’s posted below, he makes one large mistake. James called Africa a country and Twitter took notice.

Tweets started flying regarding the continuation of the negative stereotype of Africa being ridden with disease, starving children and poverty.

People also started looking deeper into James Charles’s tweets, and found more (not so shocking) racist remarks.

His actions were then compared to makeup mogul Jeffree Star, who was called out for his racist remarks and use of the n word in summer 2016.

Affinity Magazine quickly latched onto the Twitter drama surrounding these comments and made an article, which they said Charles’s management had asked them to take down, an order that they proudly declined.

Twitter makeup goddess and black beauty activist @imthebombdotcom lead the pack against the racist and stereotypical remarks, demanding that Covergirl’s PR team issue a response. Charles tweeted the controversial tweet at 3:37 p.m. Covergirl did not issue a response until 5:55 p.m., and that was not good enough for Twitter.

Tweets flew to Covergirl from women and men of all races, saying that Covergirl needs to rid their company of the young James Charles and, until they do so, they will not get the support/business of many.

I, for one, agree with the need to dismiss James Charles from the Covergirl brand. In a society that already contains racism and European-centric beauty standards, there’s no need for discrimination. Hopefully the 17-year-old Charles can educate himself on the culture and beauty of the continent of Africa.

Ken Bone becomes Internet sensation

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By MADISON BROWN

A man in a red sweater who asked a question at the second Presidential Debate on Sunday has became an instant Internet sensation.

Kenneth Bone asked Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton: “What steps will your energy policy take to meet our energy needs while at the same time remaining environmentally friendly and minimizing job layoffs?”

kenbone18The question itself isn’t to blame for Bone’s fame.

His name and the red sweater combined with his glasses made him the perfect internet meme.

Bone told CNN on Monday morning, “I went from, last night, having seven Twitter followers, two of which were my grandmother…to now, I have several hundred,” he said. “And I don’t know why they care what I have to say, but I’m glad they’re engaged in the political process.”

Now, Bone has more than 200,000 Twitter followers.

And the fan frenzy doesn’t stop there. #KenBone was a trending topic on Twitter, people created parody accounts, and Bitmoji—the iPhone app that allows users to make cartoon versions of themselves—created a Ken Bone-themed icon.

kennethboneNot to mention the Sexy Ken Bone Halloween costume that sold out within four hours.

Internet media sensations come and go faster than Ken Bone asked his question on Sunday, so who knows when his fifteen minutes of fame will be up and the next guy will have his chance in the Internet spotlight.

Memes play role in debate

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By ZACH STUBBLEFIELD

The presidential debate definitely provided some cringe-worthy moments Tuesday night. Whether it be Republican candidate Donald Trump fighting to protect his ego or Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton sounding more rehearsed than a Broadway actor at times.

All of these moments provided ammo for Internet personalities to make memes. A meme is a slightly altered picture or video that is made to be shared across the Internet.

These memes were being posted real time as the debate was going on. Clinton or Trump would say something and 30 seconds later it would already be on social media being made fun of.

While this is not a bad thing in and of itself, it does become problematic when that is the only way people get their news from the debate.

Many of my contemporaries told me and even bragged that they did not watch the debate. Instead, they just watched Twitter.

It makes sense that people would gravitate towards memes. They are much funnier than someone droning on about the debate on a live news station. They are also a lot quicker to digest than a late night show host’s take on an issue. Memes are convenient and funny, but they should not be one’s sole source of news.

Memes are convenient and funny, but they should not be one’s sole source of news. They are often too bias and almost never tell the full story. A Photoshopped picture of Trump in a toilet or a video of Clinton being made in a factory is not the same as actually sitting down and watching the debate.

Memes can be used to supplement one’s knowledge about an issue, but it should not be his or her only source of information about the issue.

#normalizebreastfeeding gains attention

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By ELIZABETH GELBAUGH

On Sept. 22, Cindy Boren’s article in The Washington Post labeled a woman as an inspiration for pumping breast milk while running a half marathon.

Anna Young completed the Revel Big Cottonwood half marathon in Salt Lake City on Sept. 9, her first race since giving birth to her daughter five months prior.

“I thought it would be something the breastfeeding community would appreciate, but I had no idea I would get such a strong reaction. It’s been mostly positive and I’m grateful for that,” Young said in her e-mail to The Washington Post.

Breastfeeding, whether publicly or privately, has recently caused a social media frenzy, with the hashtag #normalizebreastfeeding popping up on Instagram and Twitter. Women have shared empowering photos of breastfeeding and created a supportive community for breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding mothers.

However, not everyone is expressing overwhelming support for this movement.

Six days later, Kristine Guerra wrote an article for The Washington Post about a man who punched his wife in the mouth after a male doctor witnessed her breastfeeding her newborn in the hospital.

According to a police report, Rafael Orozco became jealous and enraged when his wife exposed herself to feed her child, causing him to punch her and grab her neck. He even slapped the infant on the head before he was confronted by hospital staff.

The Washington Post has done an excellent job presenting both viewpoints of this issue while still remaining neutral in its reporting. However, when does neutrality for the sake of journalism wind up preventing change?

American women have many freedoms and privileges that women in other societies around the world couldn’t dream to have themselves, yet we are still encouraged to be embarrassed of our bodies and their life-giving functions.

With the outward support of respected mainstream news media, such as The Washington Post and The New York Times, society can rid itself of this idea of openly and confidently breastfeeding as taboo. News media are meant to be the voices of the people and progress is unlikely without their involvement.

Model, 56, changes her industry

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By SIDNEY STERLING

What do SLiNK, the only plus-size fashion magazine in print and Sports Illustrated have in common? 56-year-old British supermodel, Nicola Griffin.

This past month, SLiNK’s Passion Issue hit the stands featuring Griffin. Instead of just focusing on plus-size models they decided to take the publication a step further. If size does not matter in the fashion world, why should age?

Following her feature in SLiNK, Griffin also flaunted her physique for a Swimsuitsforall campaign inside the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.

Once consumers and readers caught a glimpse of Griffin’s pieces, an equal amount of positive and negative opinions immediately created waves in the fashion industry.

However, at the end of the day, Griffin was not trying to offend anyone. Instead, she intended to make a bold statement and raise awareness.

In an interview with People magazine, Griffin stated, “”Young girls open magazines and it influences them so much about body image. I particularly think it is very good for them to see different sized women, because otherwise they can feel bad about themselves if they do not look like the models they are constantly viewing.”

Social media outlets and various respected fashion news sites are praising Griffin for her brave statements.

Screen Shot 2016-04-12 at 2.07.13 AM

In an article, Bustle.com stated, “I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that if anyone were to become the next mature supermodel, it would be Griffin. Her positive attitude towards body acceptance, age, and her beautiful gray mane are inspiring, to say the least. Here’s hoping that she will star in another editorial very soon.”

To my surprise, after searching Twitter and various news sites I could not find one negative comment about Griffin’s pieces.

Screen Shot 2016-04-12 at 2.03.55 AM

People on Twitter fell in love with Griffin, her body and everything she stands for.

Do you think our society will benefit from including a more diverse group of models in everyday publications?

Keeping up with Kanye

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By BREANA ROSS

From his rants on Twitter, to his relationship with Kim Kardashian, to his $53 million debt after the release of his new album, Kanye West seems to always make headlines. Two weeks ago, it was his Twitter spat with rapper Wiz Khalifa that sent social media users into a frenzy. Then it was an offensive lyric against Taylor Swift in his new album that even earned a response from Swift at the Grammy’s. Now it is his feud with music producer Bob Ezrin.

Ezrin denounced Kanye West in an essay for The Lefsetz Letter when he wrote, “Unlike other creators in his genre … it’s unlikely that we’ll be quoting too many of Kanye’s songs 20 years from now. Kanye’s greatest achievements have been in the form of excessive behavior, egomaniacal tantrums and tasteless grandstanding.”

This sent Kanye West into a Twitter rant about Ezrin’s lack of “connection with anything” and irrelevance to the music business. But doesn’t Bob Ezrin have a point here? Every time Kanye West is involved in a dispute or a tantrum, which seems to be quite often, the media is all over it. Why is that?

Most people know by now that Kanye West is an interesting character who never fails to brew drama, whether it is on Twitter or on live music award shows. He is a controversial figure and that’s the thing that makes him a media magnet. Whether we love Kanye West or hate him, we want to see what outrageous thing he is doing or saying next. Right when we tune in to a media outlet to see the latest Kanye spat, the media has achieved its goal.

The news and entertainment media have grabbed our attention. Whether it seems like pointless news or not, the media have got our eyes and ears. So, yes, there are plenty of things we need to know that supersede Kanye West’s latest ventures but by giving that type of news attention, we give media outlets the impression that that is the type of news we want to hear.

Kanye West’s $53 million debt

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By SARAH BRANDT

“I write this to you my brothers while still 53 million dollars in personal debt… Please Pray we overcome… This is my true heart…” Kanye West.

Kanye West Tweet

Kanye West Tweet

The above-mentioned post came from rapper Kanye West, which he posted on Feb. 13, 2016.

This was just a few days after his “Yeezy Season 3” presentation and his new album release “The Life of Pablo”.

His statement has been publicized all over the news, such as CNN, The Guardian and on Billboard. With this plea, he made himself the target for a lot of Kanye haters. Now hateful memes can be found online, including his comment of his $53 million debt.

West is very popular in the music industry and he had just recently released his brand new, and much anticipated album “The Life of Pablo.” Already, after he presented the world his new record, he received a lot of hate, from viewers and the news, about how his presentation of the album was nothing spectacular and he just simply pressed a button to play his songs. The fact that a few days later he posts this tweet does not make him much liked to a few people.

West had also posted the following, a few minutes later: “Mark Zuckerberg invest 1 billion dollars into Kanye West ideas,” also on Twitter.

This statement is very ironic and funny, as Zuckerberg is the CEO and founder of Facebook and not Twitter, and will most definitely not invest $1 billion for Kanye. The Guardian went on discussing West’s further tweets and pleads to other “tech billionaires.”

Kanye West is a very well known rapper, who just came out with a new “Yeezy” season and a new album, now happens to be in $53 million debt. Hopefully with his tweets, which are very clearly receiving a lot of attention from the media, which is not necessarily always positive, he will soon find someone to relieve and save him from his debt.

Steve Harvey’s ‘terrible mistake’

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By ETTY GROSSMAN

For the first time in the history of beauty pageants, the host of the event received even more attention than the contestants themselves.

During the Miss Universe contest on Dec. 20, 2015, host Steve Harvey committed what we can call an epic “oops!” Live on air as he announced that Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez had won the title.

But the joy lasted less than five minutes. While the prettiest woman of the entire universe celebrated, Harvey apologized and announced that he had made a “terrible mistake.”

Colombia was the first runner-up.

What an error! A night that was supposed to be remembered for its culture, perfect bodies, smiles and beautiful women ended up being a story full of irate messages and conspiracy theories.

Social media exploded and everybody had a comment about what had happened. It smelled fishy to many. Some people thought it was a publicity stunt to get everyone talking about Miss Universe when normally no one (except Colombians and Venezuelans) would be talking about it.

Tweets suggested the competition needed a boost so it wouldn’t be difficult to conclude that the crown switcheroo was previously arranged. Vulture’s Joe Adalian, a veteran television industry reporter, said, “everybody wins here ….”

As critics continued growing, others accepted human error as a plausible explanation and asked people not to be so hard on Harvey.

The corporate news media didn’t wait much as well. They focused their resources on every thinkable angle on the error. It was an unusual and very newsworthy situation, but, in my opinion, the media failed this time.

The scandal not only drowned out other important news that happened both before and after Harvey’s “mistake,” but also narrowed the coverage towards two things: Miss Colombia and Steve Harvey; leaving behind who was the actual star of the show: Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach.

The funniest thing is that you may have NO idea who she is. Oh well! Then, let me do what the media didn’t; introduce you to Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, Miss Universe 2015.

At this point, a really good angle to cover this tremendous scandal would be asking Miss Philippines what she felt or how does she feel now. Give her more importance. At the end of the day, like it or not, she is the one who won.

Governors refuse Syrian refugees

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By MEREDITH SLOAN

According to ABC News, at least half of the country’s governors are refusing to take in Syrian refugees in their states amid heightened security concerns following last Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Paris terrorist attacks, in which 129 people were killed. Since Friday’s attacks, ISIS has threatened to attack Washington, D.C., and New York.

This chilling effect has influenced several United States governors to refuse Syrian refugees. Ultimately the federal government decides on matters of immigration, not the states.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas has taken to Twitter to express his opposition to allowing refugees.

This tweet caused a mostly negative reaction from his followers and media consumers alike.

An individual with the twitter handle @jonvox responded to Hutchinson’s tweet saying, “ You are a horrible man and make me embarrassed to be an Arkansan.”

Likewise, Facebook and YouTube have been flooded with political comics and videos that compare the current refugee crisis to World War II.

Those who support the relocation of refugees in the United States have compared the current government opposition specifically to the opposition towards Jewish refugees.

The dissenting opinion of the U.S. governors is less likely to be accepted by media consumers on social media because of the chilling effect of terrorism.

Instagram star quits social media

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BY MEREDITH SLOAN

Australian model and Instagram star Essena O’Neill announced she was quitting social media this week via YouTube.

https://youtu.be/Xe1Qyks8QEM

According to ABC News, O’Neill, who had more than 700,00 followers on Instagram and 260,000 subscribers on YouTube, posted a shocking confession announcing that social media made her “miserable” and that online and mobile-sharing platforms can be unhealthy. She decided that she wanted to shut down all of her accounts.

 

According to CNN, O’Neill’s social media friends Nina and Randa Nelson published a YouTube video alleging she was doing this as a stunt to get more followers.

https://youtu.be/WB3HtCMfZic

All social media platforms have been exploding with both support and opposition for O’Neill’s stance. This debate has been a hot topic for news organizations alike.

 

I support O’Neill’s stance because her issue with social media is situational. She said that she didn’t like how the pressure to be perfect influenced her mental health. She also said that she wanted to set a good example for her younger sister and show her that she doesn’t have to be perfect and likeable online to be happy.

 

I do think that social media outlets are informative and necessary in this day and age for the spreading of information. Although, I don’t think that personal business accounts like O’Neill that promote unrealistic body images and clothing brands are necessary.

Firing of Miami football coach Al Golden

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By SAMANTHA COHEN

This past weekend and leading into the current week was filled with heated discussion on University of Miami’s biggest football loss in school history and the coach behind the team.

This past weekend University of Miami football team played Clemson University where it lost an by astounding 58-0. Throughout the web and all over social media, fans across the country were posting hate posts about al golden with the #AlGolden.

Numerous fans posted that he needed to be fired and how it was the worst game that has ever occurred in the school’s history. Every news publication from ESPN to Miami news organizations to USA Today immediately wrote articles on the game and the buzz on whether or not Al Golden will be fired.

ESPN’s Snapchat even did an article on the huge loss. On Sunday, Oct. 25, the news broke that Al Golden was officially fired as University of Miami’s head football coach. News stories leading that news discussed not only the story behind the firing but also more interestingly who would replace him. Numerous headlines such as “Top 12 candidates” and “Who’s next for Miami with Al Golden gone” graced websites. This story has been a major news report in not only local but also national sports news this week.

It should be interesting to see how the story progresses moving forward and how organizations will cover the news on the search for a new coach.

58-0: Coach, what have you done?

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By ANASTASIA MECHAN

The University of Miami football team is known for its games, players and big wins. However, everything changed this past Saturday when UM lost 58-0 at home against Clemson. This was not just a regular loss, but probably the most embarrassing in the history of the university.

What happened Canes? What happened Coach Al Golden?

Yes we get it that you are human and make mistakes, but don’t coaches get paid millions to  lead their teams to wins and winning seasons?

It’s okay Golden, we are not judging you as a human, but we sure are judging you as a coach. No, we will not let quarterback Brad Kaaya take all the heavy fault after suffering a head injury in the second quarter, just you, Coach Golden, #getwellKaaya.

Let’s not even mention the pushing during, before and after the game, it says a lot about the U, and the fans’ tweets and comments all over social media don’t help. Don’t believe me?

Check out the words from Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney, all over the Internet. Sigh. So the question is what is next? Are we keeping Al Golden? What are we doing to our players? I guess we will have to wait and see. Oh no, don’t pay attention to the planes and banners with the hashtage #FIREALGOLDEN in the sky, they are just very passionate fans who were ridiculously sad after Miami’s worst loss in the history of the program. And with that, all I can say as a proud cane is #itsallbecauseofGolden.

#GOCANES