OCR Text |
Show 4 Tuesday OPINION www.dailyutahchronicle.com Disney finally gets things right Veterans' PTSD Frozen' produces strong female role models miwN14- you bist\IEN/ Fop vwl ALL GErrN6 deserves more attention than unjust U.S. wars Ilart 041,- ROSE JONES Columnist omestic violence and terrorist acts perpetrated by United States military personnel against fellow Americans have skyrocketed over the past decade. American veterans laden with post-traumatic stress disorder from fighting unjustified and unwinnable wars are demonstrating a new level of disturbance, suicide and killing never seen before on the homefront. Likewise, U.S. victims of violence are suffering from PTSD in historic proportions. This forges a conu drum that will only stop when the wars stop. It is time to let foreign countries fight their own battles and make special interests warlords who have exploited our military for profit fend for themselves. According to Iraq Veterans Against the War, our government's insidious appetite for world power is destroying the very people they are supposed to be working for. Sending our armed forces into wealth-ordained police actions causes them to develop mental illnesses that they bring home and perpetuate on others. Never before has domestic violence committed by returning war veterans been so high. Nearly one-third of the 1.5 million veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have committed or attempted to commit suicide. Most of the misery suffered by these veterans is mental — such as PTSD — more than physical, or even worse, both. Make the Connection, a veteran's networking resource, interviewed a number of veterans with PTSD, and they all agonize over similar events they experienced in wars that never should have happened. Robert Motta, a professor of psychology at Hofstra University, told Mother Jones that "trauma is a contagious disease; it affects everyone that has close contact with a traumatized person." Mother Jones also reported that "55percent of U.S. military service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are seeking veteran health care services. That's a new record for U.S. wars." Iraq war veteran Clark Fish, who is suffering from PTSD, is now in jail in Phoenix, Ariz., waiting for sentencing for strangling his girlfriend to death. The Buffington Post attempted to gather statistics from governmental agencies regarding the number of veterans incarcerated, and "neither the Department of Justice, nor the Department of Defense, nor any institution has an accurate count of how many vets are in our nation's prisons and jails." As far back as 2008, The New York Times stated "veterans are more likely to have committed violent crimes than nonveterans." Colorado Springs Gazette reporter Dave Phillips researched local newspaper articles about crimes committed by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. He found one battalion had been given the codename "Lethal Warriors" because eight veterans from that group — all of whom are likely suffering from PTSD — were convicted of murder. While our country's leaders are pouring trillions into unnecessary wars, weapons and congressional special interest projects, we are ripe with internal violence from veterans who are suffering from a dangerous epidemic of PTSD. We need to begin healing our country's physically and mentally wounded. What we don't need is more corporate sponsored occupations and wars. D LINDSAY SCHURING/The Daily Utah Chronicle BAILEY CARVER Columnist s a leading studio for children's movies, much speculation is put into what Disney portrays in its films. For the first time, with their new hit "Frozen," they nailed it. One of Disney's most popular tropes is that of the princess. In two of its earlier films, "Sleeping Beauty" and "Snow White," the title princesses literally couldn't do anything but wait until their princes came to save them from unconsciousness. After what feminists might call moral blunders — portraying to young girls a world in which a brave prince will fix all her problems — female leads became more common. Belle and Jasmine, for instance, insisted they were not "a prize to be won." Tiana and Mulan tried to prove they could hold their own in the world. Rapunzel was resourceful and even beat up Flynn A with a frying pan, which as a literary symbol could be argued to represent femininity. Despite adding a dynamism to their princesses, Disney has maintained a formula for its princess movies, always presenting true love as a theme and ending with a happilyever-after and a royal wedding. Up to this point, the only hope for children is that they aren't as impressionable as critics believe. After years of head-shaking at Disney's educational attempts, there was little more to expect from the newest film other than upbeat musical numbers and a happy ending, but instead Disney dealt aces. "Frozen" was a moral gold mine, covering concepts not just for children, but for all generations. Before the main conflict even began, the movie undid a generation of princess mistakes, stating that rushing into marriage exhibits poor judgment. In the main theme of love, "Frozen" preaches that being desperate for love can blind a person to what it actually is. It actively denies the idea of love at first sight. Most importantly, it aimed to prove that romantic love is not the only love out there, nor is it necessarily the strongest. Finally, Disney taught viewers that life does not begin when "The One" comes into a person's life. Family and friends are too important to drop or forget about for that special someone. Beyond this, screenwriters made good use of the characters without romantic subplots. Although her main purpose is as a plot device, there is a lot to learn from the snow queen. Mainly, that people's actions are not always what they seem; fear is one of the most crippling forces on the planet; emotions can't be willed away; happiness comes from being oneself; and the weight of the world does not have to be borne alone. Also, to round it all off, the characters throw in lines to emphasize that people should be loved for who they are, that no one likes to be alone, emotionally charged decisions do not make bad people, and love and understanding are the most effective responses. The importance of royalty was also taken out of the movie, as it focused mostly on a more relatable theme — sisters. The fact that they were princesses could almost be taken out, and appeared to be merely for convention. With hope, this is the beginning of a new generation of understanding each other's struggles, responding with love and not giving up, because the writers at Disney appear to have stumbled onto answers that elude most of the world. letters@chronicle.utah.edu Climate change, not Olympics, need focus letters@chronicle.utah.edu PATRICK BONER Columnist T he Olympics have been going on for almost a week now, and there has been very little discussion about the climate conditions. This is not just a trend for the Olympics — the media seems to be covering this topic less. That's because with this past winter, there has been a growing sense that climate change has stopped. This is the farthest thing from the truth. This past winter and the extreme weather patterns are even more evidence for climatic change. With the extreme winter that has been happening in large portions of the United States, a sense that climate change has paused is growing. This fallacious belief is based on one scientific study that media giants such as National Geographic, ABC and The Conversation sensationalized. Yet when The Guardian investigated, they found, "even though these reports spoke in detail about the complexity of the research ... they could inadvertently cement the idea that global warming has in some way stopped, when it hasn't." This has had the inadvertent result of limiting the discussion about climate change. Instead of looking at all the evidence, we have assumed that one study can be generalized. When you look at the other indicators of climate change, it's obvious this is a continuing problem. Just look at the climate surrounding the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Max Cobb, president of the U.S. Biathlon Board, said, "This really resembles spring skiing. It's not as if the athletes haven't seen this before. It's just rare for the Olympics." It may be rare now, but if you look at the temperature trends, this is only going to become more normal. Global temperatures have been increasing for the past half-century, and we have begun to see an acceleration. With each Winter Olympics, the average temperatures for the Games have increased. The temperatures for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway were below freezing, while the 2014 Winter Olympics have had temperatures around 5o degrees. This past winter in the U.S. demonstrates how drastic climate change is becoming. The Midwest and East Coast have been slammed by storm after storm, while the West has experienced a heat wave. It has been a while since I can remember having spring rain during February. Far from being a rare occurrence, though, these extreme weather phenomena are becoming the norm. This lack of discussion about climate change is a sign of a larger trend of apathy toward the changes we must make to combat this problem. We have been discussing measures to slow down climate change for decades now Instead of critically assessing these problems we attempt surface changes. The first step toward these changes we need is discussion. We must have an ongoing discussion about change. We can never forget the urgency of this dilemma. letters@chronicle.utah.edu LUIGI GHERSI/The Daily Utah Chronicle |