Using misinformation to pursue oppression OPINION

Commentary

By Ahavah Kirwan Contributor

Last week, a mass shooting occurred at The Covenant School, a private elementary Presbyterian school in Nashville, Tennessee. Six people were murdered: three nine-year-old children and three staff members. This was the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. since the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 21 people were killed.

The 28-year-old shooter, who was killed by responding police, was initially identified by their legal name, Audrey Hale, who went by the name “Aiden.” Police also initially identified the shooter as a woman, but then later said that he was a transgender man. Hale was under care for an emotional disorder during the time of the shooting and had legally purchased seven firearms between October 2020 and June 2022. There is debate on whether Hale was receiving hormonal therapy. However, whether he was or was not receiving hormonal treatment is unknown, but it has been confirmed that he was on medication for his alleged emotional disorder.

Hale’s identity as a transgender man in relation to the massacre perpetrated by him has been the subject of controversy within the Republican

ADHD continued

In a 2018 study, the Journal of the American Medical Association found a “significant association between higher frequency of modern digital media use and subsequent symptoms of ADHD over a 24-month followup.” The relationship between media consumption and ADHD symptoms shown by this study reveals the toll that extreme internet use can have on one’s physical and mental health. More children are being diagnosed

Commentary

By Malaki Lingg Assistant Web Editor

TikTok is one of the largest social media platforms, boasting approximately one billion active users globally — eighty million of these users reside in the United States. On January 30, Congress announced its plans to investigate ByteDance, TikTok and its CEO, Shou Chew, on March 23 before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Before the hearing on March 7, Congress announced the RESTRICT Act — a content regulation law with huge implications.

The RESTRICT Act is seemingly meant to protect the U.S. from foreign media containing spyware or similar dangerous properties, deeming them as national security risks. The act will allow the secretary of commerce, in collaboration with the executive branch, to “[enforce] any mitigation measure to address any risk” regarding a “current, past, or potential future transaction.” The act allows the government to investigate virtually any form of digital media from a country deemed as “opposition” and put restrictions or bans on it.

Normally when something is inaccessible in an area or country, internet users will use VPN programs to access the media. Under the RESTRICT Act,

Party; specifically, the theory that him being transgender was his motive for the shooting. Multiple right-wing commentators such as Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson have all expressed the belief that the hormonal treatment the shooter may or may not have received was tied to the crime. Some of these commentators are explicitly claiming that the “transgender movement” is targeting Christianity. The fact is that out of every school shooting in the United States, only three shooters have been transgender. The rest have been men, usually white males. Those claiming that transgender people are violent school shooters are blatantly publishing false lies which are hurting transgender people around the country. As the threat of transgender genocide lurks around the corner, these lies are further motivating lawmakers and the general public to believe that trans- with ADHD now than ever before, and the internet might be the culprit for these rising numbers.

With diagnoses of ADHD growing at such a fast pace, there needs to be a reflection on the social causes of the disorder before proper treatment can be administered. As treatments like behavior therapy and play therapy have proven to be effective in treating the symptoms of ADHD, drug-free alternatives to medication should be the first step toward improving lives. But the United States has a drug problem, and the potential profit big pharma gender people should be treated as second-class citizens.

As seen in recent months, antitransgender legislation is being pushed in Texas, Arkansas, Florida, Missouri and many other states by GOP lawmakers based on nonsensical evidence such as this, with these laws and bills being passed at alarming rates. With this only being the third school shooting perpetrated by a transgender shooter, the Republican party is using Hale as a mascot to try and push the idea that Christians are being targeted by transgender people.

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Chloe Williams | Web and Social Editor Web@paisano-online.com and Socialmedia@paisano-online.com this will no longer be feasible. Those caught by the government accessing banned content are subject to upwards of $1 million dollar in fines and/or a 20year prison sentence.

Though, if somebody violates the bans, how would the federal government know? The act will allow the U.S. government to investigate “gaming applications,” “desktop applications,” “webcams,” “mobile networks” and more if they are deemed to “pose an undue or unacceptable risk.” This allows the federal government to access all private digital information of whoever or whatever they deem a national security risk. can make off the six million children with ADHD has led to more children receiving medication rather than behavior therapy. There is no denying the positive impact stimulants have had on the quality of life of those living with ADHD, but medication can only provide moments of relief. Finding alternative and effective treatments for ADHD needs to start being prioritized and put before prescribing medication. Minimizing symptoms through therapy must become normalized in American culture — not taking pills to feel normal.

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The RESTRICT Act, being proposed in tandem with the congressional hearings as a “TikTok ban,” does not even mention TikTok within the bill itself. It is not about TikTok, and it never has been. It is all about controlling the American public. While Congress has ranted in the TikTok hearings about the Communist Party of China (CCP), it is nothing but fear-mongering.

In 2001, after 9/11, Congresspeople spouted propaganda saying that they needed to pass the Patriot Act to protect the American public from the threat of Al-Qaeda and other terroristic threats. The Patriot Act drastically increased the government’s ability to spy on its citizens while reducing its accountability.

The RESTRICT Act is the modern Patriot Act; swap “AlQaeda” with “CCP” and “terrorism” with “spying” and similarities become even more apparent. The government claims this law needs to be implemented to protect the U.S. from foreign espionage, but it is just another way to surveil us. In 2001, the Patriot Act was signed into law, and history seems to always repeat itself. To oppose this unjust law, find and contact your local representatives’ office at https://www.house.gov/ representatives#state-texas.

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On his Fox News segment, Tucker Carlson claimed, “The trans movement is the mirror image of Christianity, and therefore its natural enemy. one side is likely to draw blood before the other side.” Carlson argues that transgender people have been and will continue to target Christians in the United States. However, in 2022, over thirty transgender people in the U.S. were murdered simply for being transgender, while Christians use their ideology and power in U.S. politics to push laws in the name of God to the praise of the American government and general public, and are not victims of hate crimes, nor targeted or persecuted based on their beliefs, nor murdered as Carlson suggests. The Editorial is the official opinion of The Paisano editorial board. Commentaries are the opinion of the

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