T
he
term
“supernova”
is used to describe the
extremely
dramatic
destruction of massive stars within
our
universe.
This
occurs in the final
stages of stellar life
as a star burns its last
amounts of helium and
hydrogen,
expanding
to an incomprehensible
size
and
increasing
the
temperature
of
its core to billions of
degrees.
The
outer
layers of the expanded
star
eventually
collapse
in
on
themselves,
producing
a final, absolutely massive and
catastrophic
explosion
that
destroys
the
star
completely.
Things go out with a boom.
The
Republican
Party
has
permanently chained itself to the
side of the Make America Great
Again Space Shuttle™, hurtling our
country out of earth’s reality.
The GOP decided at its 2016
national
convention
that
the
party
of
fiscal
conservatism
and anti-slavery would now be
dominated by isolationism and
ethnonationalism. The party of
the pragmatic, wise, morally just
words of Abraham Lincoln would
now be replaced by the scattershot,
misinformed, misspelled tweets of
Donald Trump.
This was a transformation that
was years in the making. From
the adoption of Barry Goldwater’s
radical nationalist positions in 1964
to President Reagan’s fiscally insane
“voodoo economics,” irresponsible
defense spending and military
misadventures, the party grew to
include the more fringe right-wing
ideologies, normalizing them in
the process. With the acceptance
of the anti-Obama Tea Party, the
GOP further incorporated beliefs
of science denial, xenophobia, blind
nationalism and a tribal mentality
that has a pathological hatred of
the U.S. government.
Yet as E.J. Dionne says in
his book, “Why the Right Went
Wrong,”
“no
conservative
administration — not Nixon, not
Reagan, not the two Bushes —
could live up to the rhetoric rooted
in the Goldwater movement that
began to reshape American politics
fifty years ago.”
Now,
the
consequences
of
elevating right-wing extremism
to
normal
political
discourse
have finally come to head. The
effects of the new Tea Party’s
Freedom Caucus in Congress,
and the constant commentary
of furious conservative pundits,
who, through cable news and talk
radio peddled pure nonsense of
the evils of Democrats and Obama,
leveled a further validation and
embracement of factually inept
beliefs. Millions truly believed the
Democrats were going
to
establish
death
panels,
take
away
all of our guns and
transform the country
into a “neo-socialist
Europe.”
This
dramatically
culminated
in
the
election of the physical
manifestation
of
an
angry
Facebook
comment,
President
Trump. His emergence
was
condemned
as
racist, xenophobic and not true to
conservative values. The “Never
Trump” movement desperately
tried to reign in his campaign that
had infected the party — or as
our secretary for the Department
of Energy, also known as man
who wanted to eliminate the
Department of Energy, Rick Perry
said, Trump’s candidacy was a
“cancer on conservatism.”
Yet this cancer had metastasized
and infected the members of
the party who decided to place
power ahead of country. They
nominated Trump and adopted
his ludicrous platform, heading
toward an election they believed
they would lose. And when the
Access Hollywood tape emerged
in which the nominee of the
party of traditional family values
bragged about sexually assaulting
women, many political pundits
began discussing the death of the
GOP — that this bubble of insanity
had grown to its limit with the
doomed candidacy of Trump.
While many Republicans began
jumping ship and preparing to
rebuild their party — the world
was stunned by Trump’s “massive”
electoral college victory. Suddenly,
these
spineless
Republican
politicians immediately flipped
their condemnations and came
scurrying back, blinded by the
thoughts of pursuing their own
personal agendas.
Cue
Speaker
Paul
“This
is
not
conservatism”
Ryan,
who pathetically defends the
administration’s insane proposal
for an ineffective $14 billion
border wall, all in the hopes of also
fulfilling his nighttime fantasies of
slashing upper marginal tax rates.
Cue Senate Majority leader
Mitch “I’m not a fan of the daily
tweets” McConnell, who, despite
getting screamed at during his
town hall events, plans his total
dismantlement of Obamacare.
And cue the countless other
Republicans who condemned the
lunacy of the xenophobic, racist
and ignorant Trump campaign,
only to defend and cozy up to the
new administration like pathetic
dogs. From Rep. Jason “can’t
look his daughter in the eye if he
votes for Trump,” Chaffetz, to
Senator Marco “Donald Trump
is a con artist, Donald Trump
will never be the nominee of the
party of Lincoln,” Rubio — these
congressmen, senators, pundits,
all now have capitulated to the
monster they helped create that is
Donald Trump’s GOP.
And now, chained to this
administration, the GOP is a
bubble growing ever larger —
a star becoming all the more
unstable. The problems that the
nomination of Trump exemplified
have been swept beneath the rug
by a smiling Paul Ryan and a
sweating Reince Priebus.
And
the
ever-increasing
temperatures
seen
before
a
supernova in the death of a star
mirror the inner chaos within the
Trump administration and the
defense mounted by the GOP. In
one month the 45th president of
the United States has managed to
attempt an unconstitutional travel
ban, dismissed federal “so-called
judges,” called the press the enemy
of people, appointed a right-wing
political hack as a permanent
member of the NSC and had to
force the resignation of his national
security adviser because of an
ongoing scandal.
And as Reince Priebus, Sean
Spicer and the GOP dance in
goddamn circles attempting to put
out these endless fires, a dotty old
racist continues to wander around
the White House in a bathrobe,
tweeting about his crowd sizes
and “The Celebrity Apprentice”
— allowing his sycophant white
nationalist advisers, such as Steve
Bannon and Stephen Miller, to
draft ludicrous executive orders
further engulfing the GOP in a
fiery hell.
This is what happens when
you
normalize
such
fringe
movements of ethnonationalism.
This is what happens when a
reality TV celebrity capitalizes on
free media and your party lacks
the constitution to dismiss his
populist rhetoric.
This is a bubble that was
supposed to pop in November — a
star destined to explode with the
defeat of Trump — that now, is
growing ever hotter, its stability
becoming all the weaker.
This is something that will go
“boom.”
A
couple weeks ago, I had
the opportunity to attend
TedxUofM’s
annual
conference
in
the
Power Center, and I
was struck especially
by Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s
talk. University alum
El-Sayed, the health
officer and executive
director of the Detroit
Health
Department,
told
the
crowded
audience
to
“think
upstream”
when
considering issues of
poverty and public health.
It’s true that poverty and poor
health go hand-in-hand, but the
story is bigger than that. It is
not a simple cause-and-effect
relationship
between
poverty
and poor health; rather, there are
several underlying factors that
cause and sustain poverty, and
poverty itself has several effects
that cause poor health.
Removed as many of us are
from poverty, most University
of Michigan students are at least
aware of it as a problem. However,
the problems of food scarcity and
lack of health education in America
seem even further removed from
our privilege. It can be difficult
to believe that there are people in
the United States — a developed
country — who do not have
access to a basic human need:
healthy sustenance.
However, these problems are
closer than we think. A USDA
“food desert” is defined as “a
low-income census tract where
either a substantial number or
share of residents has low access
to a supermarket or large grocery
store,” and a map of food deserts
in America shows a startlingly
large amount across the country.
Though they are more prevalent
in the rural South, there is a food
desert not less than an hour away
in our very own Detroit.
There are several factors that
culminated into Detroit being a
food desert. Built by carmakers,
Detroit is a large city with
highways in and out of the city, but
not a lot of public transportation
for those living within the city.
So, while many Detroiters may
realize that they should be eating
healthier, the grocery store is so
far away and only
about 40 percent of
people in Detroit have
regular access to a car.
Systematic racism in
the last century has
concentrated
people
of low income and
minorities in certain
areas
in
Detroit
where
the
crime
rate
is
especially
high. So, while many
Detroiters may want to take a walk
around the block for exercise, the
neighborhood isn’t exactly the
safest to stroll around at night.
For people in poverty in food
deserts, being healthy is not a
choice like it is for many of us. For
example, if I have poor health,
it’s because I didn’t visit the salad
bar in the dining hall, or I was
too lazy to cross the street to
get to the NCRB. However, for
those who are not as fortunate,
poor health is a condition they’re
forced into by their environment
and circumstances.
It is easy to judge people of low
income as lazy, not hardworking
and unhealthy, to tell them to pull
themselves up by their bootstraps
and dig their way out of poverty.
However, that is easier said than
done, because the poverty they
are in right now will keep them
in poverty. The unhealthy diet
maintained by a low income
leads to poor health that could
eventually lead to serious health
problems and a stay in the hospital.
Even with the Affordable Care Act,
health care carries a hefty price tag
that is a heavy burden for people
who already struggle financially.
Unable to work and having their
savings zapped by hospital bills,
people in poverty cannot “pull
themselves up by the bootstraps,”
because they are caught in the
vicious negative feedback loop of
poverty and poor health.
However, the cycle can be
stopped. The theme of this
year’s TedxUofM conference
was “Dreamers and Disruptors,”
which
certainly
encapsulates
El-Sayed: He works to disrupt
the current cycle of poor health
and poverty and he dreams of a
healthier Detroit. Public health
policy has failed poor people in
Detroit, but El-Sayed’s work with
the Detroit Health System is all
about stopping the vicious cycle
that has forced people into poverty,
so they have a chance to be healthy.
A few projects in Detroit have
sprung up as a result of his work,
including Sister Friends, which
mentors pregnant teens through
pregnancy and childcare, and a
partnership with Vision to Learn,
which offers free eye exams and
glasses to students in Detroit.
These programs strive to break the
cycle of poverty and poor health
that wracks people of low income
in Detroit.
In
the
meantime,
it
is
important to learn about the
importance of public health and
erase stigmas of poverty. It is
so easy to judge people stuck
in poverty without realizing
the extent of their situation
— a situation that leads to
poor
health
and
minimizes
the chances of upward social
mobility. Instead of shaming
those with low income, we must
strive to understand the whole
extent of their situation and be
cognizant of the uncontrollable
circumstances that have trapped
them
where
they
are.
We
must empathize and withhold
judgment, because there are
extenuating circumstances that
we do not understand.
With
the
fate
of
the
Affordable Care Act in the air,
it is more important than ever
to realize that while the law did
have its flaws, accessible health
care is a lifeline for people with
low income, who are trapped
in this awful feedback cycle of
poverty and poor health.
Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Monday, March 6, 2017
REBECCA LERNER
Managing Editor
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.
EMMA KINERY
Editor in Chief
ANNA POLUMBO-LEVY
and REBECCA TARNOPOL
Editorial Page Editors
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s Editorial Board.
All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
Carolyn Ayaub
Megan Burns
Samantha Goldstein
Caitlin Heenan
Jeremy Kaplan
Sarah Khan
Max Lubell
Alexis Megdanoff
Madeline Nowicki
Anna Polumbo-Levy
Jason Rowland
Ali Safawi
Kevin Sweitzer
Rebecca Tarnopol
Stephanie Trierweiler
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Good health isn’t always a choice
ASHLEY ZHANG | COLUMN
Things that go “boom”
MICHAEL MORDARSKI | COLUMN
Michael Mordarski can be reached
at mmordars@umich.edu.
MICHAEL
MORDARSKI
NIA LEE | CONTACT NIA AT LEENIA@UMICH.EDU
I
n a psychopathology class
I am currently enrolled
in,
discussion
on
the
manifestation of stress
arose, as stress is a
prominent
factor
in
mental illness. While in
many stress is apparent
and noticeable to its
possessor, there are
documented cases in
which stress manifests
itself
physically,
through twitches or
tics, or even in partial
blindness.
While
incredibly
rare,
this
disorder
(conversion
disorder)
was
particularly interesting to me, as
I was reminded of my own high
school experience.
In the classic, over-achieving,
well-rounded, doing-this-for-my-
college-application fashion, I was
involved in as many aspects of
high school as I could potentially
fit within 24 hours. I would often
wake up early to go to meetings
before school, and I would rarely
return home from school until 8 or
9 p.m. My days were busy and filled
with stress, but if ever I were asked
about my own well-being I would
respond positively, confirming my
own happiness and mental health.
Importantly, I believed it. I never
thought much of the constant
stressors in my life, and I enjoyed
being busy. This raised a very
important question for me: Why
was I striving in spite of all of this
stress, while many of my friends
and peers were not?
Stress is huge in college students,
and majorly affects one’s mental
health. This can be explained in
any number of ways, though the
exact etiology of stress in college
students
remains
unknown.
Particularly at the University of
Michigan, I have observed stress-
perpetuating behaviors such as
stress competition and rumination,
which many of us are unlikely
to even be aware of, or perhaps
perpetuate ourselves. I hope that
if we notice and acknowledge how
problematic these actions are,
we can perhaps decrease their
prevalence on our campus and
subsequently decrease our stress
levels through self-awareness.
I am a relatively relaxed person
when it comes to assignments
and exams. I was
lucky to be raised
by a teacher who
somehow
managed
to
simultaneously
promote
both
the
importance of doing
well in school and
the
importance
of
maintaining a healthy
level of stress. My high
school was not very
competitive outside of
the cohort of students who took the
same AP classes and participated
in
the
same
extracurricular
activities, so like most freshmen,
my experience at the University
my freshman year was incredibly
different from my experiences in
high school.
What startled me most about
the transition was not the rigor of
the course exams, or the number
of readings I was assigned per
week, but rather other students’
responses to these expectations.
Though I was completely without
studying skills or experience with
vast amounts of homework, I
adjusted quickly to the rigor and
though I was overwhelmed, I
found the transition not to be very
difficult. Other students from my
small, underfunded high school
who now attend the University
related similar experiences. I
was shocked. Friends of mine
who had attended prestigious,
rigorous
high
schools
were
spending hours in the library
every day, our conversations
revolved solely around readings,
classes, professors and incessant,
constant stress.
I was immediately concerned
that I wasn’t stressed enough, that
I was perhaps not putting in the
requisite number of hours each
week studying. But as time went
on, I realized more and more that
the excessive stress my peers were
experiencing was hurting them
more than it was helping. I think
the phenomenon of “unnecessary
stress” demonstrated by many
students at this university can be
explained through a variety of
social cues and norms, and if we
become aware of these, we can
perhaps end the vicious cycle of
their perpetuation.
Studying has become more of a
social activity than an individual
activity, and this often leads to
distractions.
While
studying
with friends can be beneficial
when the studying is low-stakes,
group study puts students at risk
for distractions and decreased
productivity.
What’s
more,
studying in public or with friends
can be a double-edged sword. For
some, being around friends can lead
to increased social disruption from
concentration, while for others
it can be easier to hold yourself
accountable for studying when
you’re among peers. However, it is
important to differentiate between
studying and socializing. This
multitasking of socializing and
studying diminishes efficiency and
attention abilities.
Outside of studying and classes,
when socializing or working, avoid
topics of school, stress or exams.
While it is helpful to discuss
your worries and stressors to a
degree and in certain situations,
constant
discussion
of
stress
logically leads to rumination and
increased stress. It is not a secret
that students at this university are
very competitive. Have you ever
found yourself in a conversation
where your friend complains to
you about their workload, or how
stressed they are for midterms,
etc.? Have you ever immediately
shot back with your own workload
or stress level in a subconscious
attempt to one-up them? Stress-
competition can be incredibly
toxic, and not only leads to
rumination and increased stress,
but is also just bad conversation.
The last thing you need to do when
you’ve finished studying is worry
about studying more.
Maintaining healthy stress
MEGAN BURNS | COLUMN
ASHLEY
ZHANG
MEGAN
BURNS
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
Ashley Zhang can be reached at
ashleyzh@umich.edu.
Megan Burns can be reached at
megburns@umich.edu.