6 THE VOICE, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014 EDITOR ANDREA ANTHONY lewpoints cts of Indness rump rinking but the newest internet craze, neknominations, has taken this tradition to a whole new level of insan- ity. Neknominations involve people filming themselves drinking alcohol in some outrageous way then nominating their friends to try and one-up them within 24 hours. Participants tag the friends they want to nominate in their neknomina- tion post, thus creating peer pressure to complete the task. According — to BBC, there have been up to five deaths caused by : neknominations \ |) so far. Wd E mys In response to 0 P| N 10 N the neknomina- tion videos, a ANDREAANTHONY young man in South Africa has put a_ positive spin on the dangerous drinking game, starting raknominations, in which peo- ple are challenged to complete a ran- dom act of kindness. Now, this is an idea I can get behind. The act of performing insane and po- tentially dangerous drinking stunts adds nothing of value to the world be- sides a minute or two of cheap enter- tainment. However, since raknominations evolved from neknominations, perhaps neknominations served a purpose after all. Hopefully we can move on to better things. Using the internet and the pow- er of viral videos to spread kindness around the world is powerful because of the message it sends. A popular act featured on the raknomination videos is giving away food to people. For example, another South African man went into KFC and bought meals to give to the young park- ing attendants outside. The man told the boys it was to thank them for work- ing so hard. They kept saying they wished they could repay him and were clearly much happier than only min- utes earlier. Another man gave gloves, a toque, a jacket and soup to a home- less man on the street. Some critics have said filming your- self doing a good deed is narcissistic, but they are missing the point. Posting videos of yourself doing random acts of kindness then challenging your friends to do the same creates a positive chain reaction I hope we can all support. De games are nothing new, We want to hear from you Did we get a fact wrong? Got a different point of view? iProblems with something we've said?} Let us know. Email Ethan Baron at ebaron@langara.be.ca LGBT issues don't end with Sochi Olympics By MIKE HODDER time revolution and Olympic hock- ey was tough for supporters of LGBT rights in Sochi, but British inves- tigative reporter Liz MacKean man- aged to get ahead of the curve, albeit swept under the rug. Boasting a $50-billion price tag, the Olympic Winter Games were a marvel of human athleticism. But the real fireworks last week were fired at the riot police in Kiev’s Independence Square in clashes that left 88 people dead and hundreds in- jured, according to the Ukrainian Health Ministry. With many awaiting an official re- sponse by Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Ukrainian revolution, the formerly massive LGBT human rights issue in Russia had begun to seem like something of an afterthought. Giese for ratings against real Issues like LGBT rights don’t take a time out so we can cheer on Team Can- ada, and attention is spread thin once goals start being scored. But is it too tall an order for us to pay attention to both? With the amount of attention divert- ed to Twitter, Facebook, the game and pictures of our lunch, we should be up to the task. Hunted in Rus- sia, a documenta- ry by MacKean, aired on the eve of the Olympics on Britain’s Channel 4, depicting vigi- lante gangs in Russia using the country’s new anti- homosexual propaganda laws as a free pass for “hunting” and beating gay OPINION MIKE HODDER men. The feature-length documentary, which is no longer available on You- Tube, helped fuel a wave of public criti- cism of Russia’s anti-homosexual pro- paganda law. Vigilante gangs believe the law gives them government approval to carry out these crimes. Making no point of con- cealing their faces or withholding their names, they actually believe they’re doing the right thing. The Russian Embassy released a statement calling the film, “well-timed and cynical propaganda.” You could call it that, or good mar- keting. Using the Olympics as a platform for protest is effective; the entire world is watching. The problem is the entire world is watching the Games instead. Hunted in Russia is airing on CBC’s The Passionate Eye this Saturday. Check out my awesome neKnomination video! My friends are going to love it! Pon't you have anything better te do with your time? ANDREA ANTHONY photo illustration Puff that smoke somewhere else By EDRICK DUDANG hank you, I Langara, for not selling cigarettes. Recently the B.C. government announced it would increase taxes on tobacco by 32 cents per pack on April 1. Despite that in- crease, some stu- dents would still buy cigarettes on campus if they could. It is a good thing that Langara does not sell them. OPINION EDRICK DUDANG If the college did allow vendors to sell cigarettes, then the number of smokers would undoubtedly rise, along with unwanted second-hand smoke. According to the B.C. Lung Associa- tion, people who are aged 20 to 24 have the highest rate of smoking in the prov- ince, followed by 25 to 29 year olds. This is a scary statistic. Removing the accessibility of ciga- rettes can help reduce the introduction of smoking to students. In addition, school should not be a place where this deadly habit is en- couraged. If selling tobacco products was al- lowed, the college would be sending a message that smoking is appropriate. According to Physicians for a Smoke- Free Canada, selling tobacco on cam- puses “reinforces the notion that smok- ing is a socially normative, sanctioned adult behaviour.” Some of my mornings are ruined be- cause there are people smoking in front of me as I walk from the SkyTrain to Langara. The air quality of the pathway be- tween the two on school days is horren- dous because of smokers. If Langara started selling cigarettes, then the walk would be even worse. The same thing can be said at the front of the school and near the security guard office. Do I have to bring a mask just so I can safely go into school? I don’t think I should have to. 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VSY 226 WEBSITE wwwilangaravoice.com EDITORIAL STAFF THIS ISSUE: MANAGING EDITOR/ PAGE 6 Andrea Anthony PAGE EDITORS PAGE 1 Tricia Lo PAGE 2 Amy Jones PAGE 3 Jenny Peng PAGE 4 Nadim Roberts PAGE 5 Jesse Lam PAGE 7 Tyler Hooper PAGE 8 Bill Everitt WEB EDITORS Nick Eagland Gavin Fisher COPY EDITORS Vanessa Szpurko Kendra Wong REPORTERS Karly Blats Megan Bobetsis Erin Boe Lauren Collins Alissa Crane Edrick Dudang Madelyn Forsyth-Schiewe Mike Hodder Lukasz Jonca Leslie Kam Ash Kelly David La Riviere Ashley Legassic Edmond Lu Jeremy Matthews Graham McFie Christopher Slater Renee Sutton Ben Zutter Contact us: Online at langaravoice.com Twitter at @langaraVoice