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Show OPINIONS A5 Five things UVU students love We have some random trends on campus By Joshua Wartena Opinions Editor uvureviewopinionseditor@gnnail.conn I really enjoy people-watching. I'll go hang out at Wal-Mart, just walking around and gawking. As Ron Swanson said, "I come here for the same reason other people go to the zoo ... Look at that thing!" Because of my propensity to extrapolate information without context or personal details, I form strong opinions rather quickly. This in mind, I am baffled and sometimes irritated by current trends on campus. Wide-rimmed baseball caps with the sticker still on Baseball caps are one of those unobtrusive clothing choices, like flip flops or jeans, but why are so many guys turning to ridiculously large-brimmed, oversized caps? My favorite way to spot a douchebag is to see if the informational sticker is still on his brim. The first time I saw a hat with a sticker, I figured it was an accident, like forgetting to take the clear size strip off your new jeans. I was wrong. Objectively speaking, leav- ing the bright gold "made from water-wicking material" sticker on your oversize hat brim makes you look like a guy who went and sold alarm systems all summer, and you really shouldn't want to look like that. Dr. Dre Beats headphones I see so many people walking around the halls with the signature white or black earpieces and for the life of me can't figure out why. They are supposed to give great sounds, but while working at Staples, I never sold a pair of Beats to anyone older than thirty. These things cost anywhere from $250 — $400. Plug that into your MacBook Pro and you're spending half a semester's tuition to watch cat videos on YouTube. If the headphones cost more than the iPod, you might be getting ripped off. Pinterest/Reddit If you begin a sentence by saying, "I found this on Pinterest/ Reddit?" I will turn around and walk away. Obviously, girls are more attracted to Pinterest, and guys seem to enjoy their Reddit, which is fine; enjoy your internet. The problem is a good chuck of conversations I hear, because I eavesdrop, are concerning what someone posted, pinned, or linked on these sites. Come on, have an original thought or topic! A streak of color in the hair No, we aren't talking about highlights or dying hair; this is a stripe of non-hair-color hair running right through the middle of the tresses. Honestly, I think it's kind of attractive, but who came up with that? "Yes please, I'd like a bright purple streak right down the middle on my blond hair." Maybe it's to distinguish from the university over the hill and the generally conservative religious and political climate, which brings us to number five. Bashing BYU UVU student absolutely love to rag on BYU. This one I completely understand and participate in. When I started here, the school was still UVSC, and I was constantly asked by family, "Oh, did you not get in to BYU?" That question seems less frequent since this we are now a university, but to many people, UVU is clearly a second-rate school, for those who just can't handle BYU. They ignore our amazing nursing, aviation, entrepreneur, communications, and business programs, and the regionally-winning basketball, baseball, wrestling, and track teams don't matter. So of course UVU students enjoy talking smack about the honor code and elitist BYU-ites. From hat stickers to Pinterest, some things seem ubiquitous at UVU. UVU REVIEW We're spiraling into disaster, but what's going to save us? By Nick Boyer Assistant Photo Editor elijahboyerl3@gmail.com "Twerking" is now a thing like "Planking" or "Owling." It's just a way for people to do something slutty. Just make shaking your butt a cultural meme and then whoever does it is just participating in a cultural event like Halloween. You know, I don't really care about Ke$ha or Miley Cyrus as people. I don't feel I have to accept them as people before I accept whatever stupid melody about being stupid in America they've construed. It's like how people vote for the guy they'd like to have a beer with; I don't feel like I have to relate to them personally to enjoy their music. Vote for the qualified person. Listen to the catchy song. I'm not saying it's amazing music, but neither is a corn dog an amazing meal. I'll eat it every now and then anyway. Maybe both these things are indicative of an ever-growing acceptance of some sort of human expression of passion and desire for instant gratification. Tweet your identity, twerk your sexuality, eat your fast food, and vote for the guy with the most zingers. I'm not making a case that I'm above this decline in quality; I love it. My mom used to make amazing meals for us growing up, but I got really excited when we'd eat out, to the point that a Thanksgiving feast is less desirable to me than Taco Bell. Liking fast food more than home cooked meals may not be a generational thing, but I bet Americans eat out more than ever. Is it the biggest flaw to Western productivity? We get what we want, when we want it, and supersize it. But we lose things. We are the biggest losers in terms of obesity in the world. We are five percent of the world population but we have a third of the obese population. We consume a quarter of the world's energy, and give back 30 percent of the world's waste. How productive is it to capitalize on every little want? Does our capitalistic way of life keep us satisfied or ever reaching for greater gluttony? What happens when we don't have the money? Just go into debt. See, if you don't have money to buy the crap you want now, all you have to do now is get a loan. The now is easy; the later is hard. Why are there so many apocalyptic movies? Because we know that coming storm of justice is coming to reign us all in, that conscience we feel for consuming more than we produce. Al Gore coined the term an "Inconvenient Truth," but I think of it as a "Convenient Loan" with a huge interest rate. When we're not being distracted or humoring our appetites, we can all feel the sharp shame of inequality and environmental raping. No matter how many demagogues tell us we're innocent and the other side is at fault, we know we all have blood on our hands to some degree. The great leaders like Ghandi or MLK would say to be the change you wish to see and to follow the golden rule. Is it possible to do these things on a global scale? I don't know. On an individual scale, we're like athletes in a fixed game. We should be true to our values and not our instant gratification. We need to be more than political ideologue zombies and cultural vampires. Maybe we need to be more self aware and less self-righteous. Maybe we just need to turn off the noise. These are things we can all do. Until then, to quote Jay-Z "Twerk Miley, Miley, Miley, Twerk." I think these are common positions and liberal instincts that I'm relating. But, on the other hand, are things so bad? The book "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined" talks about how the world is improving by being much less violent and more civilized. It begs the question: "How bad was the world?" and answers that it was pretty bad. We're living in a relatively peaceful time, probably because we depend on each other on a global scale. The wars we wage now are economically based. We have less violence in our daily lives. You're probably protesting these ideas with flashes of the incredible show you just watched or game you just played. Are we transferring our need for physical entertainment to our computers? Yes, we're transferring everything human to computers. Porn, games, social networks, blogs, tweets, instagrams, etc., but it didn't start with this Internet and small computers we have today. This started when the first humans started drawing on caves. In that moment, a person was trying to convey something about life, about themselves; transferring it on the wall using the only technology they had. This transferring of human experience using technology is called Art. Art always reflects our identities. We like things to be entertaining or honest. The art becomes transcendent when it mends and heals. Dylan said listening to his songs was like looking out a window, saying this is entertaining but also a view into the world. An "Inconvenient Truth" could also be called the "Ugly Truth." How much truth that movie may have is debatable, but Al Gore did not make that film to entertain our senses like the latest Michael Bay disaster of a movie. There are prophets and pageants in the world. We need moderation because too much ugly is depressing, and too much fluff is unsatisfying. Back to technology. Which road are we on? Will there be a reckoning, or will technology give us the grace to answer for our sins? Will we be able to save the world before we destroy it? Can we invent something that erases the injustices and inequality that changes the climate of our world? Perhaps, Miley isn't the answer but not really the problem either. She is just like us. The Internet is just a reflection of us. Technology is just the art that sums up what we can do based on who we are. Haven't these advanced computers really just shown us that we're all human? The uprising in the Middle East sparked organization of like people to challenge. People organize, share common interests, meet their soul mates, and give the world their part in the giant talent show that is now YOU'VE NOTICED? SEND A LETTER TO THE UVUREVIEWOPINIONSEDITOR@GMAILCOM our world, thanks to these advancements in human achievement. We're still human and coming together. Sure, there are drawbacks, but could a few drawbacks be worth the accomplishments? Permanence is inspiring. Mankind. That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. As the POTUS said in Independence Day, "We recently celebrated the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom. Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution, but from annihilation." He should have said, "We celebrate our Dependence Day!" Even though Randy Quaid did the "Up Yours!" thing with the jet, one man didn't save the world; the collective will of mankind did. I think that same coalition of the willing will be the saving grace of our species. What is going to work? Teamwork. 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