University of Utah Student Newspapers | 2013-02-01 | Page 5

DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE Thursday, January 31, 2013 5 Communication breaks free from technology M oving to Spain has been an utter disaster for me. Being unable to communicate is one challenge — it took a 10-minute conversation with my host mother to understand where to put my shoes in my closet and how to turn on the faucets in the bathtub. I hate not knowing how to tell stories about my life in Utah or ask questions about my host sister's boyfriend. This kind of culture shock has disrupted everything that was previously stable in my life. I can't read labels on the items in the supermarket and I'm unsure of about 70 percent of what my host mother says. I don't know how to ask questions about the food I'm eating — I'm not Opinion Columnist even sure what time cena (supper) is supposed to be. Communicating has been disastrous, but it's made me realize how spoiled I've been because of technology up to this point. In Spain, you don't see people on their phones when they're eating a meal in a café. Phones, although not rare, are used for short, snappy calls and not much else. Wi-Fi is far from guaranteed, and in Madrid two of the biggest communication sites — Facebook and Gmail — didn't function at all. Without Wi-Fi, the entire group of students I came here with had no way to FaceTime, use third-party texting apps or email their friends and family to let them know they had arrived safely. Although that experience was beyond frustrating, having to communicate without technology has been almost refreshing. I'm fortunate enough to have Wi-Fi in my apartment, but I've had just as much fun watching a telenovela with my host family and American roommate as I have had chatting on Facebook SMITH KEOGH Continued from page 4 Continued from page 4 When we assume that torture works, as "Zero Dark Thirty" does, an anti-torture stance becomes even more conflicted. It is hard to reconcile the beliefs that it is OK for our soldiers to shoot and kill an i8-yearold enemy combatant — with a mother and father who love him — who did nothing but enlist or get drafted into the war, but it is not OK to torture a high-ranking Al Qaeda official who has information that would spare the lives of potentially tens of thousands. It is even harder to reconcile the beliefs that civilian causalities in matters of war are unavoidable and morally permissible, but torturing known terrorists in order to effectively spare the lives of even more innocent civilians is not. If thousands, hundreds or even one innocent life could be spared by using enhanced interrogation on an Al Qaeda detainee, would you still refuse to use such a technique? This is, of course, all hypothetical because — as the critics above have pointed out — it might be the case that torture is completely ineffective and that the movie paints an inaccurate picture of it. However, in order to form genuine and consistent beliefs on the morality of torture, one has to entertain the hypothetical that it might actually be effective and it might actually save innocent human lives. "Zero Dark Thirty" should be praised and not condemned for forcing its viewers to come to face this possible moral conundrum head on and giving them the opportunity to formulate consistent and genuine moral beliefs about torture — whether they are for or against it. [e-mail] Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in his favor. This case determined segregated schools to be unconstitutional. Pursuant to the Equal Protection Clause of the i4th Amendment, "Separate but equal is not equal." Other cases that involved segregation in public schools caught Marshall's attention. He also addressed higher education segregation in Oklahoma and Texas. The Supreme Court decided that the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment required these states to admit black students to their campus, too. Marshall is one of the most significant characters and civil rights advocates in our nation's history, and he did much to advance the legal rights of black Americans. His triumphs paved way for equal treatment of other races as well. As Black History Month approaches, let's appreciate the work of leaders such as Marshall, who helped define freedom in our country in so many ways. [e-mail] Letters to the Editor DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: The Student Media Council is now accepting applications for Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Utah Chronicle. Contact Jake Sorensen at [phone] or [e-mail] for more information or to obtain an application. Completed applications are due Thursday, February 28 by 4 pm. THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH STUDENT MEDIA COUNCIL 0:4,1\)'!" Skiyprz■ MLR D4V highlight 9roblems New technology Sh.d.. targets ondiattic of Had brain tumors 7 erg res1niakeer71 to friends back home. I love that I have a method of seeing my family's faces, because I know how much I will miss them, but I also love that my life here isn't consumed by devices. When the students in my program want to meet up to go for tapas or coffee, we have to plan out our meetings an hour in advance. We can't text each other when we get there — we have to trust one another will just be there. It makes dinner conversation much livelier as well, because we're spending more time getting to know each other instead of texting people who aren't with us. It only took me a week to learn what I know about my fellow Academic Programs International students in Spain than it might have taken me in three weeks back in the states. At the same time that I'm learning how to communicate in Spanish, I'm also relearning how to talk to people in English. Speaking Spanish is something I've always struggled with, because it's face-to-face communication and I'm nervous about making mistakes aloud. However, being forced to do that every day in English is improving my confidence in my native language and likewise with speaking Spanish. So, yes, moving to Spain has thrown me off my feet and has been a bigger disaster than I could have imagined — but it's the best kind of disaster I could've asked for. [e-mail] SALLY YOO/The Daily Utah Chronicle