Opinion

Recent efforts by the Trump administration discredit journalists and enforce a single narrative By THE EDITORIAL BOARD   On Oct. 14, new restrictions were issued by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, targeting the work of the “very disruptive” journalists within the United States Pentagon: requiring escorts, discouraging communication with sources and barring publication of information without […]

Proposition 50 offers Californians the opportunity to flip five Republican House seats blue in response to Texas’ redistricting   By THE EDITORIAL BOARD — opinion@theaggie.org   At a time when President Donald Trump and Republicans are dominating headlines, Proposition 50 offers an alternative: a way to use your voice, even when it feels bleak, a […]

How did a generation raised on fantasies of revolution grow to idolize the leisure class? By GEETIKA MAHAJAN — giamahajan@ucdavis.edu The start of the 2020s felt like the end of the world as we knew it. Between a global pandemic and constant political upheaval, it seemed like the very pillars of society were collapsing — […]

How to thrive in the face of indifference  By JACKSON IVY — jjivy@ucdavis.edu To be young in today’s world is to struggle. We struggle for calm, justice or some assurance that things are not as bad as they seem, yet so many things are stacked against us. Media reports are rarely good, and it’s too […]

How MAGA Christianity is being used to protect the Trump administration By SABRINA FIGUEROA — sfigueroaavila@ucdavis.edu When you grow up in the Catholic church, going to mass with medieval stained glass windows and the Virgin Mary constantly staring you down, you retain a lot of religious guilt about everything you do, especially if your actions […]

What global protests reveal about the state of our nation By NEVAEH KARRAKER — nakarraker@ucdavis.edu Immigration is arguably the most prevalent issue in the world right now, and the unease encompassing it isn’t leaving anytime soon. Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, Poland and Germany are being swept deep into a wave of anti-immigration protests. Although […]

In defense of puns as a form of highbrow humor By ABHINAYA KASAGANI — akasagani@ucdavis.edu I promise the reader that the initial conception of this article did not stem from my being relentlessly mocked for my penchant for puns. My sincerest apologies that we all cannot be absolutely hilarious with the way we turn words […]

Affective polarization: an affliction with insufferable symptoms By VIOLET ZANZOT— vmzanzot@ucdavis.edu History will have its way with the affective polarization that exists in America today. Future textbooks will have headlines that read “The battle between the blue-haired and red-capped raged onward,” and Alligator Alcatraz will be memorialized similar to Manzanar. Much as we may have […]

You don’t know the life of a showgirl, babe By MOLLY THOMPSON – mmtthompson@ucdavis.edu  Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” released just 3 hours, 43 minutes prior to my writing this, and I’ve already listened to the whole thing twice. From just the promotion and aesthetics, it was evidently going to […]

From sidewalks to screens, policies to partition By NEVAEH KARRAKER — nakarraker@ucdavis.edu Sometimes the loud hammering of construction, beeping of trucks and barricaded roads make me question whether it’s even worth going to class. Sidewalks are unusable and classrooms are nearly inaccessible near the Touchdown Tower (one of UC Davis’ iconic water towers) as bike […]

Grok, is this true? By SABRINA FIGUEROA — sfigueroaavila@ucdavis.edu From asking ChatGPT to write an email to directing xAI’s Grok to fact-check a Pop Base post on X, artificial intelligence (AI) has us in a chokehold.  Since the first launch of ChatGPT-3.5 in November 2022, generative AI has been integrated into our lives — willingly […]

Exploring the toxicity of intellectual prejudice  By VIOLET ZANZOT— vmzanzot@ucdavis.edu I’ve never understood the true definition of “smart,” and yet, I can certainly say that I’ve spent too much time feeling dumb. It’s this weird, ambiguous feeling — to feel a certain way about your own intelligence — because, while it shouldn’t be, it can […]