The Tufts Daily - Wednesday, March 17, 2021

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Wednesday, March 17, 2021

CSPA releases report on Massachusetts unemployment insurance, finds depletion, debt

AVA IANNUCCILLO / THE TUFTS DAILY

The surrounding Medford neighborhood is pictured in the winter.

by Alicia Zou News Editor

The Center for State Policy Analysis at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life released a report on Feb. 17 detailing the short-term and long-term challenges of Massachusetts’ unemployment insurance system. The report

also included evidence-based ways for lawmakers to address these challenges.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment benefits have helped to support laid-off workers, which, in turn, helped the state’s economy and tax revenues through the spending of these benefits at local businesses, the report said.

However, in the process, Massachusetts has depleted its unemployment insurance savings account and has had to borrow $2.2 billion from the federal government thus far to cover all the unemployment benefits from job losses.

“The pandemic has exposed serious shortcomings in Massachusetts’ unemploy-

ment insurance system,” the report said.

The report was written by Executive Director of the Center for State Policy Analysis Evan Horowitz, and reviewed by three individuals from other universities and institutes.

This issue is pressing, Horowitz said, because Massachusetts has to pay back the borrowed money,

as well as save for future economic downturns. He explained that the state is supposed to set money aside when the economy is thriving, so it has money to pay for unemployment when the economy is suffering.

“What happened this time, the economy was so bad that see UNEMPLOYMENT, page 2

Tufts student to launch college social media app FuzeMee this April

by Flora Meng

Assistant News Editor

Christopher Tsetsekos plans to launch FuzeMee, a college social networking app that helps students make friends, find roommates and explore on-campus events through a personalized feed, with co-founders David Graham of Ohio State University and Jon Krouse of Wake Forest University, next month.

Tsetsekos was accepted to the Tufts Class of 2024 but elected to take a gap year and will begin as a first-year in the 2021–22 school year.

“Last year, I was a senior accepted to Tufts and I noticed how difficult it was to find and meet my future classmates,” Tsetsekos said. “I wanted to make new friends but the only way to do so would be reaching out to someone on

Facebook [or on other social media apps].”

According to Tsetsekos, there are ways to learn about others in your class online, but the number of people and the lack of organization makes it hard for students to make genuine connections with their peers.

“There’s a huge Google Sheets with hundreds of rows of students … There’s also an Instagram account where stu-

dents introduce themselves via Google Forms … [but] there’s really no easy way to narrow down your search or create a group chat with people who have similar interests [as] you,” Tsetsekos said.

Tsetsekos detailed how FuzeMee presents a solution to this obstacle.

“When students create their FuzeMee profile, they answer all these same questions like

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SPORTS / back

From The Pub to the parade, St. Patty’s Day to look different from past years

What decades of space exploration tell us about the human spirit

During pandemic, pickup games abound on South Courts

hometown, major and interests and from there, they can easily connect with anyone at their school by texting them individually or in group chats [on the app],” Tsetsekos said.

Tsetsekos added that FuzeMee is targeted at not only incoming first-year students, but also older students. Users can create customized feeds for see FUZEMEE, page 3 NEWS

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Wednesday, March 17, 2021

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Gov. Baker’s proposed solution spurs controversy UNEMPLOYMENT

continued from page 1 basically nobody had enough money to cover it, but also, we never set aside an amount adequate to cover even a medium-sized recession, much less a catastrophic one,” Horowitz said.

Massachusetts’ unemployment insurance savings account is funded by taxing employers, with higher tax rates for businesses that lay off more workers claiming unemployment benefits. Thus, local businesses and workers have the responsibility of paying off this debt. According to Horowitz, businesses afford these higher tax rates by reducing workers’ paychecks by about the amount of the tax.

“It’s actually the workers who are losing,” Horowitz said. “[And] it probably disproportionately hurts lower-wage workers.”

John Regan, the president and CEO of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, a business trade association that advocates for businesses to ensure the health of Massachusetts’ economy, explained the relationship between increased unemployment insurance tax rates and lower worker compensation.

“There are non-wage costs of doing business, health care

being probably the biggest … worker’s compensation insurance, unemployment insurance,” Regan said. “These are all costs that the business bears … As non-wage costs go up, the employer … in order to remain profitable, may need to pay workers less than they might otherwise pay them.”

The unemployment insurance tax rate changes according to the reserves in the savings account with a decrease in rates when the reserves are high and an increase in rates when the reserves are low. The unemployment insurance employer tax rate is set to increase this year without legislative action, but the timing of the increase is not optimal due to the struggles businesses are currently facing, the report said.

Horowitz described the challenges now facing the state.

“One is a short-term challenge … We really have to pay off our debts or we’re going to start paying interest on them pretty quickly,” Horowitz said.

“The longer-term challenge [is that] we never were setting aside enough money. We have to find a way to fix the system so that in the future we are in a better position.”

Massachusetts has underfunded the unemployment insurance account for much of

the last decade due to lawmakers freezing the tax rates.

Horowitz explained the politics of this issue.

“When you have an automatic system in place, the beauty of it is it’s supposed to just work, and nobody has to intervene … [but] people keep overriding those means, even if you put in place the best policies,” Horowitz said. “That’s a major political challenge because it means even if you get the law right, there’s little to stop future legislators from preventing it from working the way it’s supposed to.”

Though the report found that this trend will lead to longterm insolvency and debt in the future, it advised a shortterm freeze followed by longterm changes that will build up reserves during a strong economic period.

To address the underfunding, the report proposed that the state can index the taxable wage base so taxes are adjusted every year to match the percentage in wage growth or raise.

The state could also raise the taxable wage base from $15,000 to $30,000 or $40,000 as other states have done to address the disproportionate burden on smaller, lower-wage businesses.

This issue has gained attention partly because Gov.

Charlie Baker proposed a bill to exchange the $2.2 billion debt to the federal government for bonds that employers can pay back in the next 30 years. The bonds would cover the current unemployment insurance funding deficits and additional deficits through 2025. This proposal eliminates the unemployment insurance tax increase on employers and prevents further interest payments on the debt, the report said.

Phineas Baxandall, a senior analyst at MassBudget who focuses on unemployment issues, said he wished Baker’s bill addressed long-term changes to the unemployment insurance system.

“I would have liked the bill to restore the state’s unemployment insurance reserves to ensure long-term solvency and to make the system more equitable,” Baxandall wrote in an email to the Daily. “Both ends could be achieved by widening the wage base on which taxes are levied.”

Regan echoed Baxandall and expanded on the inequities of this bill.

“Companies that incur the debt might go out of business, leaving the burden to pay to fall on people who maybe didn’t lay that many people off in the first place,” Regan said.

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Wednesday, March 17, 2021 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY

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FuzeMee beta-tested at Ohio State University, Wake Forest University FUZEMEE

LYDIA RICHARDSON / THE TUFTS DAILY

A page of the “FuzeMee” app is open on a phone.

continued from page 1 upcoming events and activities based on their personal interests, which would be applicable to all students.

“On the community page, it shows events happening on and around campus, and students can also post any events on this page … I’ve noticed a lot of students promoting their clubs or upcoming events on Facebook groups where it gets lost… So on FuzeMee, you can filter by school or student-led events, and also by the date,” Tsetsekos said.

Allison Zhang, a member of the Tufts University Social Collective, described some of the challenges involved in advertising events to students online.

“Participation for events has been greatly impacted

by Zoom and the virtual format … And I do think this is something that TUSC is kind of struggling with because we try to post on multiple channels like Facebook, Instagram and Instagram stories, but obviously with a [temporary] story, if you don’t follow us avidly or check consistently, you wouldn’t be able to see it,” Zhang, a first-year, said.

Shona Horton further emphasized the difficulty students face in keeping up with events and college-related posts on multiple platforms.

“If I remember to check Facebook, I will check it, but in my opinion, Facebook is mostly for parents so I almost never check it,” Horton, a first-year, said. “And then the Presence interface is kind of hard to navigate and never user friendly …

I also don’t really understand why we need to sign in to view the events on there.”

Another feature on FuzeMee is a function that helps students find potential roommates.

“On your profile is also a roommate questionnaire …

Students want to find … some-

body with the same interests as them … rather than just getting paired with somebody and getting their email a couple days before moving in,” Tsetsekos said.

Tsetsekos said that FuzeMee will be student run on college campuses, including Tufts, but sees room for future partnerships.

“FuzeMee is independent from [universities], but given the benefits FuzeMee provides … I would love to potentially collaborate with Residential Life to help kids find more compatible roommates in the future,” Tsetsekos said.

Tsetsekos also shared results of FuzeMee test runs at Ohio State University and Wake Forest University.

“In early March, FuzeMee was beta tested at Ohio State and Wake Forest in the entrepreneurship classes, with over 100 students using the app,” Tsetsekos said. “On a weekly basis, students engaged with FuzeMee over 14 times per day.

And we noticed students’ promoting their clubs and Greek life events on the app.”

A survey from that beta testing further revealed the prevalence of FuzeMee. “82% of students indicated they would be disappointed if they couldn’t use FuzeMee anymore, while 42% said they see no alternative if FuzeMee were no longer available,” Tsetsekos said.

Students involved in that testing also signed up to be ambassadors for the app.

“We have over 400 high school and college students as ambassadors with a combined digital reach of 3.5 million,” Tsetsekos said.

Horton emphasized the way she thinks FuzeMee can benefit her.

“If there’s one place where I can go to see everything that I would be interested in, it would be a lot more appealing than what’s currently going on for sure,” Horton said.

4 Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Features

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Greater Boston area celebrates 2nd St. Patrick’s Day Bagelsaurus during pandemic

Casey Cummings Coffee Talk

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unday mornings are for bagels. That’s why, a couple of Sundays ago, I found myself biking through the pouring rain to Porter Square. I was on my way to pick up an egg and cheese on an everything bagel from Bagelsaurus, and I can attest: It was well worth it. If you won’t take my word for it, take Guy Fieri’s; the man himself visited Bagelsaurus on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” (2006–).

Partially because of the cafe’s popularity, and partially because of their responsible compliance with COVID-19 guidelines, treating yourself to Bagelsaurus requires some planning in advance. On weekdays, customers can order their bagels for pickup as early as 8 a.m. I recommend ordering before 10, because they sell out quickly. However, if you’re not a morning person, don’t worry! On weekends, customers have to place their orders a day ahead of time.

Meaning, you can order your bagel before going to bed and select a later pickup time, allowing you to sleep in!

So why do I go through all of this trouble just for a bagel? First of all, a bagel from Bagelsaurus is never just a bagel; it is an experience. Their bagels are light and fluffy; their eggs are just a little bit runny; and their cheese is melted perfectly. Every bagel I’ve had from Bagelsaurus (which has been many) has been accompanied by the most photogenic cheese-pull, and I have the pictures to back it up.

However, the best part about Bagelsaurus is its menu. If you’re getting tired of menus limited to bagels and cream cheese or bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches, Bagelsaurus’ menu is filled with innovations like the “Eggspañola,” which is stuffed with a perfectly fried, free-range, over-medium egg; Maplebrook feta; pimenton aioli; and parsley gremolata. They also sell baked goods and, of course, coffee. For anyone who is dairyfree: They have oat milk!

On to my favorite part, what I order: The best bagel I have ever gotten: The “Classic Jumbo,” which is packed with a free-range, over-medium egg, Cabot cheddar and their signature mustard butter. I added roasted tomatoes and ordered it on a cheddar garlic bagel. The bagel itself was honestly the best bagel I have ever had and the roasted tomatoes were a game-changer.

What I want to try next: The “Charcuter-Brie” which comes with French brie, fennel salami, salted butter and arugula. Personally, I’m planning to swap the salami for one of their beautiful eggs and save myself 50 cents!

Casey Cummings is a sophomore studying international relations. Casey can be reached at casey.cummings@tufts.edu.

by Katie Furey Features Editor

Last St. Patrick’s Day came just shy of a week after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic and only a day after Tufts required that all students move out of on-campus housing. It was the first holiday we experienced in a pandemic, and many states were just beginning to enter almost total lockdown. So little was known about how the virus spread that wearing face masks was not yet the norm for most people in the United States.

This year, St. Patrick’s Day is the first holiday people are experiencing pandemic-style for a second time. The world has since adapted to the realities of the pandemic, and much more is now known about the virus.

People also have had the time to come up with creative ideas for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in a safe way.

Joe Zoccola, manager of The Pub –– an Irish pub and eatery in Somerville –– can speak to the difference between this year and last, as his establishment was closed last St. Patrick’s Day but is now open at limited capacity.

“Last year, they shut everything down the day before,” Zoccola said. “So, we will do our best this week with the restrictions that are in place as far as capacity, which is, in the city of Somerville right now, still 25%.

I'll be operating at about 50 people, at most, and I still have to maintain the 6 feet, social distancing and masks on, no standing.”

Zoccola anticipates some people will try to break the rules to celebrate the holiday, but he intends to stick to state safety guidelines, as he has throughout the pandemic. “[They’re not] my rules to change. All I can do is enforce them, whether people like it or not,” Zoccola said. “I can’t jeopardize all my other customers who are here abiding by the rules just because you don’t want to wear a mask or you want to walk around and dance to the music.”

While grateful that The Pub can be open at all, Zoccola lamented that the bar will not have the same energy it usually does on St. Patrick’s Day. “[A non-pandemic] St. Patrick’s Day is probably like a thousand other bars in Boston or anywhere in the country,” Zoccola said. “It’s just a fun day … It’s kind of like New Year’s Eve in the middle of the year.”

Bryan Bishop, director of operations for the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade, also misses the fun, crowded St. Patrick’s Days of years past. With the exception of this year and last, since 1901, South Boston has hosted

a St. Patrick’s Day parade on the Sunday closest to March 17. This date marks both St. Patrick’s Day and Evacuation Day, when British troops evacuated Boston in 1776 during the Revolutionary War. The parade is a celebration of both Boston’s Irish heritage and the city’s veterans.

“On a normal year, South Boston would be packed with about a million people, and we’d have about 120 to 140 parade units, varying from bands to nonprofit organizations, Irish groups, entertainment groups, veterans groups, which is huge because of the Evacuation Day tie-in to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade,” Bishop said. “It’s like one big party.”

According to Bishop, ever since the 2020 parade was canceled, the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, which usually hosts the parade, had been thinking about what to do for the 2021 parade.

“We were pretty much sure in November that we were going to cancel, but we just wanted to wait because, in the event of canceling, we’re like, ‘Well, what are we going to do?’” Bishop said.

“We didn’t want to do a virtual parade … but we wanted to make sure that people still realized that there is a Southie parade [and] also know a little bit more about South Boston.”

Bishop and his team made the official call in January to cancel this year’s parade, and in its place, they began working on a television special highlighting South Boston.

“I started working with Brian DiBello at NECN and Comcast to put together a ‘South Boston Revisited’-type 30-minute TV show basically just wetting people’s appetite and also, at the same time, setting us up for 2022,” Bishop said.

The television program can be seen on NECN Boston News on Wednesday, March 17, at 7:30 p.m.

“The whole point was not to do a parade, and not even just to do highlights of the parade, but … a highlight of Southie itself,” Bishop said. “So we had some of our former chief marshals, some historians to talk about Evacuation Day … We also had the [Boston Police Gaelic Column of Pipes and Drums], which is the bagpipe and drum group that always leads the parade.”

As much as he enjoyed working on the television special, Bishop emphasized that this is not a long-term plan and that the South Boston Parade will be back and even better in 2022.

“The parade for 2022 is going to be kind of a beta test of some huge changes that we’re looking to implement to bring the professionalism and also the types of exhibitions to a whole new level,” Bishop said. “[We’re] using a lot more marching bands from around the country and around the world, pipe bands, local organizations, Irish organizations, as well as community organizations.”

Bishop said one of the most significant changes to next year’s parade is that the planning committee wants to bring back floats.

“We’re really encouraging for 2022 to bring back floats that people get together as a community and build,” Bishop said. “We want it to be the most spectacular parade we’ve ever seen.”

Considering the rich local Irish history, it’s no surprise that many residents of Medford and Somerville look forward to traditional St. Patrick’s Day festivities, whether it be going to Irish pubs like The Pub or The Burren, or attending the South Boston Parade.

According to Kevin O’Kelly, the local history librarian at Somerville Public Library, approximately 18.1% of Somerville residents trace their ancestry back to Ireland.

O’Kelly delved into the experi-

ence of Irish people who immigrated to Somerville in the late 19th century.

“There was a big influx [of Irish immigrants] in the 1870s. A lot of them came to help build the railroad line, and they were looking for places to live that were less crowded than Boston,” O’Kelly said. “In the 1870s, the Boston and Lowell Railroad bought the Arlington and Lexington Railroad and built lines connecting the two, and some of them went through Somerville.”

O’Kelly also touched on how the Irish community changed as time went on.

“They went from being isolated in specific neighborhoods to, by the end of World War I, they have moved into almost every single ward,” O’Kelly said.

According to O’Kelly, Irish immigration in previous centuries can help inform how people view immigration today.

“You hear people of, say, Irish ancestry complain about immigrants coming to this country who don’t speak English or seem foreign, and their ancestors were viewed in the same way when they immigrated,” O’Kelly said.

Regardless of whether they claim Irish heritage, local residents and students alike will be finding new and interesting ways to celebrate this second consecutive St. Patrick’s Day during the pandemic.

Tufts Dining will be celebrating with Irish themed meals all day on Wednesday, including a traditional corned beef and cabbage boiled dinner with potatoes, carrots and Irish soda bread at Carmichael Dining Center, as well as shamrock smoothies at Hotung Cafe, among other options.

Hopefully the third time’s the charm, and there will be some more luck with St. Patrick’s Day next year; but until then, the greater Boston community is certainly making the most of this year despite the circumstances.

ANN MARIE BURKE / THE TUFTS DAILY

The Burren, an Irish pub on Elm Street in Davis Square, is pictured with St. Patricks Day decoration lining its windows.

ARTS & POP CULTURE

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Chris Panella Comfort Cartoons

Roller coaster ride ‘Lilo & Stitch’

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leeping with the television on was a dangerous game. Sometimes, it’d be fine. You’d fall asleep to some game show or a BBC documentary on the city of Pompeii and sleep safely and soundly. But most of the time, you’d wake up to something like the “George Lopez” (2002–07) theme song or that “Ultimate Love Songs Collection” commercial. The latter featured Michael Bolton

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Wednesday, March 17, 2021

and Céline Dion belting at the top of their lungs; it’s no wonder you’d jolt out of bed, desperate for the remote.

Throughout my childhood, Disney Channel used to play some of its best animated shows in those late-night hours before its Playhouse Disney (and later Disney Junior) programming. Nights usually went like this: after a Disney Channel Original Movie and maybe a few episodes of “That’s So Raven” (2003–07), the schedule switched to classics like “The Replacements” (2006–09), “Brandy & Mr. Whiskers” (2004– 06) and of course, the heartwarming “Lilo & Stitch: The Series” (2003–06). The last one was always a highlight for me.

After the 2002 animated film’s success, “Lilo & Stitch” became a television show. The

show follows the search for Dr. Jumba Jookiba’s other missing genetic experiments (one of which is Stitch), something the direct-to-video “Stitch! The Movie” (2003) sets up perfectly.

That formulaic plot — find an experiment, determine what its purpose is, help it join a community where it belongs — makes the series easy to watch.

And lovable, too.

“Lilo & Stitch” has always been focused on family, whether it be broken or whole, and how we can find connections and purposes that matter. The franchise’s earnestness has made it both famous and a generational touchstone. For people who grew up with the film (and its subsequent show), Stitch is just about the cutest plush animal you can get at The Walt

Disney World Resort. And the iconic line, “’Ohana’ means family. Family means nobody gets left behind, or forgotten,” has prompted thousands of Etsy home decorations and T-shirts.

The show builds on that recognition. Lilo and Stitch, a lovable pair, cause mayhem and madness while searching for each episode’s titular experiment. Some are just funny entertainment. The episode “Frenchfry” follows the duo’s desire to hire an experiment who makes delicious food after Nani, Lilo’s older sister and legal guardian, bans junk food.

But the experiment surprises Lilo and Stitch — it’s been preparing to fatten them up and eat them all along!

Other episodes, like “Spooky,” feel much more

grounded. The Halloweencentered episode features an experiment (named Spooky) who transforms into the characters’ worst fears. Of course, some of the fears are comical — Pleakley, an alien living with Lilo and pretending to be her aunt, is terrified of his own mother. Nani’s fear is a little more frightening — she’s afraid that Lilo will be taken away from her. While this plot is a reminder of Nani’s struggles and worries, rest assured that “Lilo & Stitch’s” main characters remain family through thick and thin.

“Lilo & Stitch: The Series” is available on Disney+.

Chris Panella is a senior studying film and media studies. Chris can be reached at christopher.panella@tufts.edu.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Fun & Games | Wednesday, March 17, 2021

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Opinion

7 Wednesday, March 17, 2021

VIEWPOINTS

NASA’s latest Mars rover illuminates the perseverance of the human spirit

by Caroline DePalma Contributing Writer

A great deal has changed since 1957, when the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik I and began the Space Age. One thing that persists, however, is our continued fascination with space and the science that brings us there.

On Feb. 18, NASA successfully landed its most recent Mars rover, Perseverance, on the surface of the red planet to search for signs of ancient life.

The rover is about the size of a car and carries technology that could pave the way for future robotic and human missions.

The two-hour livestreamed video of Perseverance’s journey through the Mars atmosphere to the planet’s surface has been viewed over 21 million times.

It is easy to understand the widespread allure that has surrounded manned missions to the space station and to the moon, but one might think that a robot picking up rocks would be different. However, the storied legacies of Perseverance’s predecessors proves this is clearly not the case.

Opportunity, nicknamed “Oppy,” reached Mars in 2004 for a 90-day mission along with its twin rover, Spirit.

Among other historic accomplishments, the mission found conclusive evidence that there was once water on Mars, suggesting that the planet could have supported microbial life.

Far exceeding its expectations, Oppy was still sending messages back to Earth as recently as June 2018, when a historic dust storm is assumed to have damaged the rover’s communication instruments beyond repair. In the eight months that followed, the team of engineers and scientists who communi-

Eli Striker The Strike Zone

‘The Social Dilemma’ and fascism

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n a chapter from his World War II-era book dubbed “Dialectic of Enlightenment” (1947), German Jewish philosopher Theodor Adorno hypothesized that capitalist media producers prioritize marketability over artistic value, causing all genres of mainstream entertainment to conform to rigid guidelines. According to Adorno, mass media encourages conformity to the point where “every detail is so firmly stamped with sameness that nothing can appear which is not marked at birth, or does not

JULIA ZWEIFACH

cated with Oppy sent songs to Mars, hoping that one of them would wake the rover up.

Before declaring the mission over in February 2019, they played one last song for their robotic friend, alone and silent on a barren planet: “I’ll Be Seeing You” by Billie Holiday.

Not long after rovers Opportunity and Spirit cleared a new path in space exploration, Curiosity was launched in 2011.

On the one-year anniversary of Curiosity’s landing, NASA scientists programmed the instruments onboard to hum the tune of “Happy Birthday” so that the rover could celebrate with the rest of us.

And just a couple of months ago, in the final stages of Perseverance’s difficult journey, engineers listened for signals from their newest robot.

Specifically, they were trying to hear what they nicknamed the rover’s “heartbeat tone,” letting

them know that everything was going according to plan from millions of miles away.

What can we learn from all of this? Aside from the impressive discoveries made by these robots as they examine extraterrestrial rocks, what is also significant is the sheer amount of dedication shown by the creators of these robots — some of the greatest scientific minds in the country who want to explore places that we, as humans, cannot go ourselves.

They give these machines names that encompass qualities we admire and strive for.

They send them music and teach them to sing (as much as the buzzing of machinery at different pitches can be considered singing). And when these scientists want to know that everything is OK, they give their robot a heartbeat. While this is a simplification of the vast and complex scientific

processes — and years of collective research and labor — that go into a successful Mars mission, there is something hopeful and innately human about creating a rover that we can all root for as it rumbles around on another planet some 140 million miles away.

That is not to say that space exploration is without its flaws. Space exploration and many careers in STEM have historically excluded or been made inaccessible to many, including women and people of color. This industry, like many others, still must make strides to become more inclusive. Furthermore, the future of publicly funded space travel and research is not as certain as it once was, as private corporations begin to capitalize off the opportunities beyond our atmosphere.

Even so, the science of space is entirely an investment in our

confidence in what humans can learn and accomplish with very limited precedent, and in our ability to use that knowledge for future endeavors.

Space exploration underscores our limitless optimism, our willingness to assume a risk with the confidence that we will be better off just because we have learned something.

This human spirit took us to the moon, and now it takes our robots even farther. We may not know what the future holds, but it will certainly be as exhilarating as every past victory. There are infinite possibilities and lots of work that still lies ahead, but if we have learned anything, it is that perseverance always pays off in the end.

meet with approval at first sight.”

“Dialectic of Enlightenment” was published after the Nazi propaganda machine fully infiltrated German society and offers a unique perspective on the roles of mass media and fascism.

Similarly, Netflix’s recent documentary “The Social Dilemma” (2020) analyzes how social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter promote the spread of misleading, hyperpartisan information. The central claim of the movie is that social media sites profit from the spread of highly visceral content, so their algorithms are designed to promote partisan news articles that collectively nudge their users to either extreme of the political spectrum. As former Facebook platform operations manager Sandy Parakilas noted, “We created a system that biases towards false information. Not because we want to, but because false infor-

mation makes the companies more money than the truth. The truth is boring.”

Adorno noted that mass media prioritized narrative over integrity and encouraged conformity; these traits are replicated today on social media sites such as Facebook, whose profit-driven algorithms promote visceral but misleading news that polarizes the masses and undermines democracy.

Adorno’s arguments about mass-produced media are reminiscent of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” Per “Allegory of the Cave,” hypothetical prisoners are trapped in a cave and the only things they can see are shadows projected onto a wall in front of them. Plato claims that for those theoretical prisoners, the images that they see constitute their individual perceptions of reality.

In other words, a person’s real-

ity is constrained by the imagery to which they are exposed.

Contemporary social media users’ feeds resemble Plato’s caves; people almost exclusively consume media that reinforces their prejudices. Fake news dominates the realities of a small minority of individuals, who consume it at a disproportionate rate; about 10% of Americans drive nearly 60% of visits to fake news sites. The effects of fake news appear politically asymmetrical: unverified conspiracy theories are more frequently believed by people on the right, and right-wing conspiracy theories generally target “out-groups” such as liberals and immigrants.

Because they prioritize profits over integrity, social media sites serve as the primary distributors of fascist rhetoric in the digital age. Sites such as Facebook profit from the spread of inflamma-

tory media, and capitalist corporations cannot realistically be expected to prioritize journalistic integrity over profits without enforceable regulation. The consequences of unchecked disinformation on social media are dire; disinformation erodes democratic norms by deceiving voters and undermining trust in democratic processes. During the rise of the Third Reich, Adorno noted that mass media promoted isolation and hierarchy, which subsequently left society vulnerable to the rise of fascist leaders. Today, social media sites expose billions of people to political polarization and misinformation worldwide, which does not bode well for the future of global democracy.

Caroline DePalma is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Caroline can be reached at caroline.depalma@tufts.edu.

Eli Striker is a sophomore studying international relations. Eli can be reached at eli.striker@tufts.edu.

8 Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Sports

tuftsdaily.com

Mask up hoops: Pickup in the age of COVID-19

by David Cooperman Assistant Sports Editor

For many, the recent shift toward warmer temperatures means shorts weather, a chance to lie in the sun on President’s Lawn or a time to go on a nice walk around campus. But for a group of students here at Tufts, it has been the motivation for an outdoor exercise opportunity: pickup basketball.

Winters are long, and they make getting proper exercise significantly harder, especially for busy college students. Now, with COVID-19 guidelines limiting access to the gym and options for other activities, it has been particularly difficult for students to find suitable outlets for exercise.

However, with the rising temperatures that have accompanied March so far, this problem is starting to fade into the past. In particular, students have flocked to the South Courts, located behind Harleston Hall, to play tennis or basketball. The basketball courts have been especially active, featuring students from all classes getting shots up with their friends.

On the courts, it is common to see (masked) high-intensity pickup games, whether half- or fullcourt, while there are also groups who are more casual, opting for fun shooting games like Horse and Knockout.

For first-year Jehan Chan, the intensity is what brings him out on the nice days.

ALEX SHARP / THE TUFTS DAILY

Tufts students with masks on play pickup basketball on the basketball courts by Harleston Hall.

“People there care about the Such a tight-knit communi- might never have met withgame, and it is more fun to play ty fosters friendships that go out the activity on the South when people try than when they beyond the court. First-year Courts. While Chan’s closest don’t,” Chan said. “You put in the Jake Freedman described some friendships didn’t get their effort for your teammates, because of these players as his “clos- beginnings there, he said that you know all of them want to win.” est friends” at Tufts, friends he he frequently sees friendly faces around campus that he knows from playing pickup.

Ultimately, it is the competition that inspires these friendships, as playing alongside others is a unique bonding experience.

At the same time, it is easy to gain respect for your opponent.

Senior Atef Fayed has experienced both sides of this, saying that he has made some of his best friends by “passing to them, scoring on them and occasionally fouling them.”

On top of the social aspect, in a time when club sports are on hold, it is even more important for there to be an outlet like this through which both varsity and non-varsity athletes can get out and play. Fayed, who plays on the club basketball and soccer teams, missed out on his senior campaign due to pandemic-related restrictions.

To help fill that void, Fayed and his friends have become regulars on the courts, playing pickup game after pickup game until the sun goes down.

Instead of getting buckets in the National Club Basketball Association, he unwinds after a long day of research by playing ball with his friends on the South Courts.

The competitive spirit is typically even higher when varsity athletes make up a chunk of the players on the court. Football players link up with members of the crew team and soccer players

take on the hockey team, typically with non-varsity athletes included. It creates a fun mix of athletic skills that culminates in games that stay competitive until the last point.

It is also not just the basketball players who make use of the courts. There are frequently benches, chairs and other obstacles set up for skateboarding, another valuable socially distant form of exercise. A shared understanding exists between the hoopers and the skateboarders, who each do their best to stay out of each other’s way. In fact, there is a mutual appreciation for each other’s abilities, as it is common to hear a shout of admiration after a particularly impressive trick or play.

Outdoor spaces for bonding like this are very important for the students that use them, especially now. With the fitness center reopening just recently in mid-February and sports team practices on pause for the latter half of the fall semester, there has been limited access to athletic facilities. The South Courts have been one of the solutions to this problem.

The time spent at the courts will continue to be an integral part of the COVID-19 college experience for many. The culture there runs strong, and if you want to get involved, grab your mask, head to the South Courts on the next sunny day and look for Chan, Fayed, Freedman or one of the countless other players there. Lace up your shoes, say “I got next” and get ready to play some good old-fashioned pickup basketball.