Why Evolution is not “just” a theory

To not believe in evolution is in my opinion very uneducated and quite frankly silly. Most biologist and scientist are now more united when it comes to evolution than ever, but there are still people in doubt. For instance, in the United States, the subject of evolution is to this day very controversial compared to in Sweden. Mostly it has to do with the US being a vastly religious country where most individuals believe in a religion of some sort. In many cases the religion has a very limited understanding of evolution and science in general, which contributes to the issue.

I’m very tired of the saying “Evolution is just a theory”. I’d like to make a point of clarification here. What is a theory? A scientific theory is based on evidence and observations that are proven, and all point in one general direction. Evolution has always withstood testing. The same applies for the theory of gravity, the theory of cells, atoms, our solar system, and Einstein’s theory of relativity.

The theory has gone through immense trials with scientist from all around the world.  Many people confuse a theory with a hypothesis. A hypothesis is simply based on an unproven “idea”. A religion is merely a hypothesis, an idea without evidence to support it. Only old scripture from a time where they thought the earth was flat.

Studies have shown that around 40% of Americans directly believes in genesis (the Bible) and Adam and Eve. Genesis states that the Earth was created in less than 10 000 years by God and that is a tremendous error. With modern Technology we can easily determine the age our planet to roughly 4.6 billion years. This is done by examining radioactive decay like Uranium-235 and Potassium -40. Radiometric dating is also used to prove the age of fossils. The results have shown that there has been life on earth since at least 3.8 billion years ago that most likely has evolved in adaptation to the environment. This was first presented by Charles Darwin in “On the origin of species”, and is proven to this day.

Other important evidence for evolution are distinct similarities in anatomy and DNA between different species. All of this strongly suggests we have a common ancestor.   

The very famous physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei lived in Italy during the 16th and 17th century. He simply proposed that the Earth circles around the sun and not the other way around. This caused a great deal of turmoil with the church and he was accused for heresy and later sentenced to lifetime in house arrest. As late as 1992 the pope came out and expressed regret for how Galileo was treated. He also conceded that the Earth is not the center of the universe.

In the words of Evolutionist Richard Dawkins: “Evolution is a fact. The evidence for evolution is so strong that to withhold assent would be perverse”. I fully agree.

So, evolution is a theory based on tested, objective evidence. You can’t deny a theory  unless you have other observations that says otherwise. Evolution will remain a fact until it has been disproven. Therefore evolution is far from a belief. Religions on the other hand and their views of the creation of life are not even hypotheses. They are “just” ideas.

United Airlines behind abuse of a passenger

You've all probably heard of the recent incident regarding a man that was dragged out of a United Airlines plane, at Chicago O'Hare International Airport. The flight had been overbooked and United needed to free up seats in order to transport crew members. After offering compensation to passengers to give up their seats with no luck, United chose four passenger who then had to involuntarily give up their seats and leave. One of these people were Dr. David Dao - but he utterly refused, explaining he had patients waiting for him. Airport officers were called in and numerous videos show how they yanked the screaming doctor out of his seat and then hauled him down the aisle in an extremely unprofessional manner. Dao was later on seen with blood running down his face.

The event of course caused fury, and the videos spread quickly on the internet. But the most aggravating thing about the incident is that it was played perfectly by the book, apparently! United Airlines have every right to expel passengers against their will, which we think is completely morbid. What kind of rule is that?! It’s the airline’s fault they overbooked and the most reasonable solution would simply be that the four crew members take another flight. Why are people like David Dao to be punished for United Airlines’ ignorant mistake?

Lisa, Maria & Warsame

Darth Jar Jar?

Jar Jar Binks. The Star Wars character that everybody loves (or maybe not). But could there be a darker side to him that we never knew about? Well, it’s hard to say for sure, but there is evidence that points towards it.

Firstly, he does a huge jump when we first meet him. At first, you might think this is a trait shared by all his species, but you never see any other Gungans do it, and this seems not to be the case. And speaking of other Gungans, it seems like Jar Jar is feared by most others.

Secondly, there is evidence pointing towards Jar Jar using so called “Jedi mind tricks”, meaning that he is able to control other people's minds with the Force. He almost always gets his wills through, but most droids don’t like him, and since droids don’t have “minds” to control, that further supports our thesis.

But finally, perhaps the most convincing clue comes from the creators of Star Wars themselves. One of them tweeted “I will say this, it feels good when the hidden meaning behind the work is seen. No matter how long it takes”, and in an interview, director George Lucas said that “Jar Jar is the key to all of it”. This would make sense, seen as the prequel trilogy mostly mirrors the original trilogy, and in the original trilogy we have Yoda, a seemingly insignificant creature found at the side of the road who turns out to be a great and powerful Jedi. This could very well have been the same (but opposite) of Jar Jar.

To conclude, Jar Jar may not seem like a threat at the first glance, but under the clumsiness and dumb acting there may be a way more evil master mind...

By Mattias, Kaleb and August

Easter bunnies aren’t for everybody!

About a week ago we celebrated easter. The happy holiday includes tonnes of eggs, chickens, easter bunnies and rabbits. Many peoples like to celebrate it by giving gifts, and that is nice, except that some like to give a real live animal. Sure it would be really nice to receive a little yellow chicken or a little cute fluffy bunny, but what many peoples don’t understand is that all animals are a commitment.

There are many reasons than buying a rabbit for someone for easter is a bad idea. First, many peoples that buy rabbits as easter presents aren't aware of the commitment they make. Rabbits are just not for fun over the weekend, they live and need care and love for up to ten years.

Secondly, those who receive a rabbit as a gift aren’t maybe ready, prepared or motivated to care for a little life. The rabbit can take harm while the owners may not know how to feed and care for it. Also, many peoples don't know that having a pet actually cost. The initial cost can go up to 300 dollars and the cost for each year after that may cost up to 800 dollars a year. If you get your pet as a gift, you may not be prepared for the cost, which leads to that they may leave them away for shelters, or give them up.

Last but not least, stats shows that 95 % of the rabbits given as easter gifts don’t survive to their first birthday, and 21 000 are abandoned during their first year. Many of those go to shelters, and 80 % of the rabbits in shelters are abandoned easter gifts.

Some people compares buying a rabbit for easter which buying a reindeer for Christmas. That's absurd and these peoples want other people to realise that buying a rabbit for easter is just as unreasonable. So next time you hear someone talking about buying a pet for someone during easter or any other holiday, tell them about what you just read and that maybe it's better to buy a stuffed animal!

Feminist or equalist?

Yesterday on the bus I heard something rather upsetting. A man, an idiot really, claimed that he was an equalist and could never be a feminist.  I simply don’t understand why. The definition of feminism is that all genders should be equal on a social, economical and political level. It is not a man-hating organisation that wants women to be above everybody else. So why are people resisting to call themselves feminists when in reality it should be an obvious choice.

Feminism is a movement primarily led by women, and that movement is the reason to why women today have many rights. And I understand that to some it might seem confusing. Because if feminism is about all genders being equal why does the name itself stand for woman?

Well simply because the movement developed in a time where women were extremely suppressed (still are), it was led by women for women. Erasing that word, feminism, because it isn’t “equal” would devalue all of their work. And instead of arguing over a word we should all pick up where our former feminist fighters left off.

So why keep on resisting to call yourself a feminist? If you believe in equality for all genders then you, my friend, are a feminist and not an equalist.

Written by:

Elvira
Ellen
Ali
Tiago

Two things mobile phones destroy

There are two things in life that our dearest mobile phones have destroyed. Firstly we have the nice quiz walk. Secondly we have the fun prank: pushing someone into a pool. But nowadays we are unable to do these things, because cheating is easier when searching for information is an option and pushing someone into a pool will definitely destroy this lucky person’s pricy phone.

Imagine a beautiful summer day, you and your friends are having a quiz walk. The questions are really tough and basically all you can do is guess the answers. When it is time for the results you realize that the other participants have every answer correct. You now understand that your friends have cheated by searching up the information on their mobile phone. Not funny.

After this quiz walk, you go back to your friend’s house to hang out. Outside there is a pool, and your friend is standing very close to the edge. Of course you get the brilliant idea to push your friend into the pool, to give everyone a great laugh. The problem is, your friend is carrying their cell phone, as everyone is doing nowadays. There is no rice in the pantry, and the blow dryer is not working, which means that you will have to pay for the damage.

Of course, this is not a daily struggle and it is not a reason to exclude our dearest mobile phones. But it’s still very sad how mobile phones can destroy so much fun.

Linnea, Eliza and Alexandra

Hitler was not all bad

Hitler only wanted to unite the German people. Some of the bad things told about him is pure propaganda. He was a vegetarian, animal-loving man who never drank or smoked. He even went as far as to give animals some basic rights (no torture and so on). Gandhi even sent some letters to Hitler, addressing him as a friend. Having the strength, ambition and charisma of a great, natural-born leader, he was not entirely bad.

Firstly it wasn’t even Hitler who declared war on France or the United Kingdom. It was Churchill, the war-mongerer and plausible avid wife-beater, along with the French generals. Hitler tried merely to undo the injustices brought upon Europe by the Versailles treaty. Attempting to make the borders fit the populations living there more, sorting by nationality and such.

Secondly Hitler also made the German economy flourish. He built the glorious Autobahn, one of the greatest works of infrastructure ever. Hitler was also a brilliant painter but got rejected by the leftist austrian school of arts.

In contrast to Stalin or Mao Zedong, Hitler didn’t kill nearly as many people as them. Stalin sent millions to work camps and also men and women to the borders, without guns. Mao Zedong didn’t care at all for the people either. He only wanted power, unlike Hitler who wanted the best for the Germans.

Finally Hitler introduced the winter holidays to the world. This was a way for all children in schools to get their chance to celebrate the German success in France and USSR. It was also a way for teenagers to get active and interested in politics and the military.

To conclude, some of what is told about Hitler is pure propaganda by the winning side. You don’t often hear bad things about Stalin or Mao, even though they were worse, only because they won. After all, the winners write the stories. It is important to stay open minded in all aspects and always consider different perspectives before you make your decision. The consequences of Hitler's actions took the lives of over six million people. Does this compensate for what you just read? Does the mass killing weigh more than his other good actions?

By Anti-fascists Benjamin, Michael and Milton

Abortion is not the best solution 

Abortion implies the removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy. Abortion is very common in today’s society because most of the people think it is an excellent solution to end an unplanned pregnancy. Actually, it is not the best solution, contrary, abortion is like to murder a human being and all creatures are worth living. Moreover, it happens so many illegal and unprofessional abortions that women get injured or at worst die. Also, the right of abortion promotes an irresponsible behavior. Therefore I am againt abortion.

Firstly, abortion is something that is associated with murder. Though, it is still an innocent life that one quit. One can easily define this as killing someone who can not speak for himself. A pregnant mother's freedom over their own body should not prevent a person a chance in life. Every individual should have the right to live. No civilized society allow people to hurt or kill another human without punishment, and abortion should not be diffrent.

Maybe someone wonder ”does not the woman have the right to her own body?” The answer is yes, but a pregnant women carries not only her own body. The unborn child has as much right to their own bodies and the right to live as their mother.

Secondly, abortion can lead to serious repercussions and damage of the mother, especially in countries where the medical situation and the security is not as strong as in Sweden, where it is less common after-action damage caused by abortion. 

Finally, the right of abortion promotes an irresponsible behavior. With abortion as a resort many, especially young people ignore to take responsibility for their actions. They can for example have unprotected sex with multiple partners. 

To summarize, abortion is a murder because one kill an innocent child. Don’t you think that all creatures are worth living?

Losing your snapstreaks is not the end of the world

According to me the whole concept of snapstreaks is pointless and superficial. The purpose of snapstreaks is basically to keep them for as many days as possible. The young generation has turned snapstreaks into a competition. A really long streak has become something to brag about, something that gives you a sense of pride and accomplishment. Devastated Snapchat users complain about the heartbreak of losing a snapstreak after hundreds of days. Some teens even appoint friends to take care of and keep up their streaks when they are on holiday and do not have access to internet.

I do not understand why people care so much about something as trivial as the longevity of their streaks. Why is a number that precious? The world does not end if you lose your streaks.

I guess that people feel a lot of social pressure and obligation to keep up their snapstreaks. This only leads to sending pointless non-personal snaps (often a snap with the dog filter or a black picture with the text “streak”) to everyone you have streaks with, with the only purpose being to prevent the streaks from expiring.

I don’t blame people for frequently using snapchat or wanting to keep up their streaks, I do as well. But I ask you to look over your priorities. Don’t you think there are more important things in the world than snapstreaks?

Posted by Johanna Pehrsson

About how we approach each other

One thing I have thought lately about is how we approach people on the street. When I was younger I always said hello if I met someone when out walking or riding my bike. Nowadays I do not anymore because the older I got, the weirder looks I received. And sometimes I forget myself and say hi again, but directly I am reminded of why I “should not”.

It is an unwritten rule in society. If you do not know the person, let them be and pretend they do not exist (exceptions when it comes to politeness of course). When you collide with someone in the supermarket, you clearly do not just ignore them and move on. You say sorry because it is polite. But it is totally fine to ignore the person you sit next to on the bus. If there is a double seat empty, and you take place next to another person, the others on the bus give you weird glances and the person next to you might actually consider you as a threat of sorts. “Does this person settling down next to me want to hook up with me or even kidnap me?” they might think. I know for sure that I would think like this if an older guy took a seat next to me if there were empty ones. Even though I would like to see the best in people, the society I live in have taught me to always be careful and look out for strangers.

But WHY is it like this? Have we forgotten how to communicate with other human beings? We are so in our own comfortable bubbles that we rather have our earphones on listening to music than talking to someone we slightly know. Like really, do we want this to continue? A child could come up to someone and say hello and it would be cute, but if I as a teenager did they would look at me like I was a total weirdo.

The other day I was so angry. One from my class in elementary school rode his bike in opposite direction towards me, when he was close enough I started to say hi, but as I did he turned his head the other direction pretending there was noone there. I mean, even though we did not talk much in school we have known eachother for almost 10 years. How hard can it be to churn out a hi?

What I want to say with all this is that, please be nice to whoever you meet. It does not take much energy to say hello. It gives more than it takes and surely you become a little bit happier if you receive a hello than if you are being ignored.

Self-dependant studies once a week!

Self-dependant studies once a week!

The teacher reviews your next tasks for the upcoming week. You’ve got exactly 14 minutes left of the class to come up with a theme and an introduction. You hear the sound of the keyboards being tapped every second. The clock is ticking, five minutes left and still not a word written. Unsatisfied with the wasted time, you leave the classroom. You didn’t gain anything except an increased stress level.

Every once in awhile, students need some time off from being inside the filled-up, noisy, claustrophobic classrooms. We would like to suggest to you; Once a week, where you can choose your own working place. Where you can sit in peace, quietly focusing on your school work. No wasted time on going through new subjects- pushing you further behind on time. Of course, for this not to limit your need of help (which we all need some times) the teachers will still be available at school and via internet. Some perks for a supplementary Self-Dependent-Studies-Day would be;

• It reduces stress when everyone can work in their own pace
• Easy contact with other students/ teachers
• Better study environment = Better results
• You can work with more resources (Interviews, photos, movies... etc.)
• It would leave gaps in the teachers schedules leading to shorter school days for every class in the school.

We think self dependent studies sounds amazing! It would really make the week go by both easier and faster. It´s like a sunray appearing in the dark. Like a rainbow after the rain. It´s different and needed amongst the stressed out students.

Shekinah & Lina