Opinions

/ 2012/02/15 10:53 pm

Privacy and the internet: A viable future or a fool’s dream?

WITH THE AMOUNT of attention the U.S. Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act have been getting, along with Canada’s kid brother Bill C-11, the question of whether the Internet can be made a private place is being debated heatedly all over North America. While there are many advocates for limiting the scope of the web, it seems Fulcrum volunteers have come to the consensus that restriction is ignorant, and ultimately ineffectual. Point: A balancing act The evolution of the Internet [...]

/ 2012/02/15 10:51 pm

Want an iPad? Why not vote!

DON’T HAVE ENOUGH money to buy an iPad? Need bread from the Pivik, but don’t want to spend Flex dollars? Well, the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa’s (SFUO) elections office would like to change that. All you have to do is vote! Seem a bit like bribery? That’s because it is. This year, the elections office decided the [...]

/ 2012/02/15 10:48 pm

Mudslinging trumps maturity

WHILE THERE ARE those people who contend politics should, and more importantly can, be conducted in a civil manner (hello, poli-sci undergrads!), the fact is that the average person is completely uninterested in civility. Negative politics and attacks are the life blood of the political world. They are what keep people interested in the process. When Justin Trudeau refers to [...]

/ 2012/02/15 10:48 pm

What’s your opinion on…

Spare the rod, or get it in the back of the head later A NEW STUDY was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that found individuals who experience physical punishment during their childhood are more likely to become antisocial, aggressive, and potentially physically abusive toward family, friends, and spouses later in life. The study, which sifted through 20 years [...]

/ 2012/02/14 2:01 am

#SFUOelxns—where is your money going?

HAVING BEEN INVOLVED in event planning these past two years through my volunteering within the Health Sciences Student Association, I am surprised to see most political aspects of the upcoming election remaining unknown to your average University of Ottawa student. Having worked within the executive of a student federated body, a clearer picture of what was happening in “student politics” [...]

/ 2012/02/14 1:50 am

#SFUOelxns—’don’t be fooled’

AS A CURRENT vp social of one of the many hardworking federated body executives on campus, I find it laughable when candidates running for re-election run on a platform that is the exact opposite of what they achieved in their previous term. MC Noël, candidate for the position of vp social affairs of the Student Federation of the University of [...]

/ 2012/02/13 5:01 pm

Top things to have an opinion on this week

1. Ecstacy out West is more dangerous than users think. 2. MPs in support of controversial seal hunt to wear seal skin fur as show of support. 3. Taxing sugar and highly processed foods becoming more of an international trend. 4. Massive child porn bust nabs, among others, a childcare worker. 5. Sun Media stages citizenship ceremony, offends actual new [...]

/ 2012/02/09 4:35 pm

Not too comical

Re: “SFUO election period begins” (News, Jan. 26) ON PAGE 7 of the Jan. 26 issue of the Fulcrum, a cartoon was published that left me feeling alienated. Devin Beauregard’s political cartoon depicted Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) executive members Liz Kessler and Paige Gallette trying to get Sarah Jayne King out of her “Panic Room.” However, [...]

/ 2012/02/09 1:03 pm

Meme war FAIL

LIKE MANY STUDENTS, I delight in the occasional snide remark at my rival university. Indeed, much of the content of the “meme war” unfolding on Facebook between the University of Ottawa and Carleton University is harmless and amusing. I was, however, deeply disturbed to discover that my picture had been used as one of these characters. My photo was used [...]

/ 2012/02/07 11:14 pm

Nobody tosses a dwarf, they toss a consenting adult

AT THE HIGHLY-PUBLICIZED 2012 Grammy Awards, Game of Thrones actor and Hollywood’s resident little person Peter Dinklage added a cryptic message to his acceptance speech. “I want to mention a gentleman I’m thinking about in England,” he said. “His name is Martin Henderson. Google him.” Henderson, who was diagnosed with a form of dwarfism as a child, was the victim [...]