Beyoncé, Activism, And The Double Standard, All In One Show

Beyoncé, Activism, And The Double Standard, All In One Show

Beyoncé becomes an activist on the world's biggest stage and here is why it is important.
Simcha Glassman
Simcha Glassman Feb 16, 2016
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The halftime for the Super Bowl this year was especially laden with activism. Everyone is criticizing Beyoncé by calling her performance "inappropriate" for her supposedly anti-police song and her references to the Black Panthers and possibly Malcolm X but no one is talking about Coldplay supporting the LGBT campaign. If this isn't a clear example of the double standards that exist in our society, I don't know what is. I believe that Beyoncé's performance is especially important given the negative reaction and that it is important to look at the double standard we hold.

"Formation" is about Beyoncé embracing her black culture and heritage and urging others to see their black as beautiful too. While Beyoncé exclusively references the Black Lives Matter movement, the message can apply to all minority groups as well. The song calls for all African Americans to stand up and face the discrimination they have been facing for years because only together can they make a difference. This message can also be applyied to other minority groups as well.

Not only is the song being criticized, many are also criticizing her dancers' outfits resembling the Black Panther Parties' outfits and her dancers forming and 'x' to possibly reference Malcolm X. People are comparing Beyoncé supporting the Black Panther Party to a white artist deciding to wear a sheet to reference the Klu Klux Klan.

This is a completely outrageous comparison because the Klu Klux Klan murdered thousands of people whereas the Black Panther Party did not murder one person but instead provided food, clothes, and education to poor communities. Many forget that the FBI told people they were a communist group and were forced to disband. As to the reference to Malcolm X, whether or not this was the intention of Beyoncé, you also have to remember that while his views were quite radical in the beginning, after his trip to the Mecca he found a new sense of peace and activism and started to create a new following with these new ideas before he was assassinated.

This biggest issue we see here with these arguments are the ridiculous double standards we hold on African Americans as opposed to whites. On very clear example is that no one is talking about the impact of Coldplay's message "believe in love" with rainbow colors but are instead talking about how poor Chris Martin's performance was.

Also, artist like Tom Petty, Lynyrd Skynrd, Pantera and Kid Rock have all used the Confederate flag in public performances, and while there is a big debate on the significance of the flag as either a cultural or racist symbol, the point is that no one questioned their use of the flag but when Beyoncé decides to reference important people involved in African American movements, she gets criticized all over the internet.This is just a couple of examples of the double standard we hold when it comes to the different races.

I think the message in Beyoncé's song is really important for all people; to learn to appreciate their backgrounds, but especially for minority groups to know that their unique traits are beautiful too. I think her performance was also especially powerful for not only the cause of African American people, although it exclusively references the Black Lives Matter Movement, but for all who are fighting for their rights. If people can't see the true meaning behind the performance than that just means we have that much more work still to do for the cause of all minority groups.


Cover Image Credit: James Planas
Simcha Glassman
Simcha Glassman Feb 16, 2016
At Wells College

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Your Wait time At Theme Parks Is Not Unfair, You're Just Impatient

Your perceived wait time is always going to be longer than your actual wait time if you can't take a minute to focus on something other than yourself.

Lauren Alice Margheim
Lauren Alice Margheim Jul 9, 2018
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Toy Story Land at Disney's Hollywood Studios "unboxed" on June 30, 2018. My friend and I decided to brave the crowds on opening day. We got to the park around 7 AM only to find out that the park opened around 6 AM. Upon some more scrolling through multiple Disney Annual Passholder Facebook groups, we discovered that people were waiting outside the park as early as 1 AM.

We knew we'd be waiting in line for the bulk of the Toy Story Land unboxing day. There were four main lines in the new land: the line to enter the land; the line for Slinky Dog Dash, the new roller coaster; the line for Alien Spinning Saucers, the easier of the new rides in the land; Toy Story Mania, the (now old news) arcade-type ride; and the new quick-service restaurant, Woody's Lunchbox (complete with grilled cheese and "grown-up drinks").

Because we were so early, we did not have to wait in line to get into the land. We decided to ride Alien Spinning Saucers first. The posted wait time was 150 minutes, but my friend timed the line and we only waited for 50 minutes. Next, we tried to find the line for Slinky Dog Dash. After receiving conflicting answers, the runaround, and even an, "I don't know, good luck," from multiple Cast Members, we exited the land to find the beginning of the Slinky line. We were then told that there was only one line to enter the park that eventually broke off into the Slinky line. We were not about to wait to get back into the area we just left, so we got a Fastpass for Toy Story Mania that we didn't plan on using in order to be let into the land sooner. We still had to wait for our time, so we decided to get the exclusive Little Green Man alien popcorn bin—this took an entire hour. We then used our Fastpass to enter the land, found the Slinky line, and proceeded to wait for two and a half hours only for the ride to shut down due to rain. But we've come this far and rain was not about to stop us. We waited an hour, still in line and under a covered area, for the rain to stop. Then, we waited another hour and a half to get on the ride from there once it reopened (mainly because they prioritized people who missed their Fastpass time due to the rain). After that, we used the mobile order feature on the My Disney Experience app to skip part of the line at Woody's Lunchbox.

Did you know that there is actually a psychological science to waiting? In the hospitality industry, this science is the difference between "perceived wait" and "actual wait." A perceived wait is how long you feel like you are waiting, while the actual wait is, of course, the real and factual time you wait. There are eight things that affect the perceived wait time: unoccupied time feels longer than occupied time, pre-process waits feel longer than in-process waits, anxiety makes waits feel longer, uncertain waits are longer than certain waits, unexplained waits are longer than explained waits, unfair waits are longer than equitable waits, people will wait longer for more valuable service and solo waiting feels longer than group waiting.

Our perceived wait time for Alien Spinning Saucers was short because we expected it to be longer. Our wait for the popcorn seemed longer because it was unoccupied and unexplained. Our wait for the rain to stop so the ride could reopen seemed shorter because it was explained. Our wait between the ride reopening and getting on the coaster seemed longer because it felt unfair for Disney to let so many Fastpass holders through while more people waited through the rain. Our entire wait for Slinky Dog Dash seemed longer because we were not told the wait time in the beginning. Our wait for our food after placing a mobile order seemed shorter because it was an in-process wait. We also didn't mind wait long wait times for any of these experiences because they were new and we placed more value on them than other rides or restaurants at Disney. The people who arrived at 1 AM just added five hours to their perceived wait

Some non-theme park examples of this science of waiting in the hospitality industry would be waiting at a restaurant, movie theater, hotel, performance or even grocery store. When I went to see "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," the power went out in the theater right as we arrived. Not only did we have to wait for it to come back and for them to reset the projectors, I had to wait in a bit of anxiety because the power outage spooked me. It was only a 30-minute wait but felt so much longer. At the quick-service restaurant where I work, we track the time from when the guest places their order to the time they receive their food. Guests in the drive-thru will complain about 10 or more minute waits, when our screens tell us they have only been waiting four or five minutes. Their actual wait was the four or five minutes that we track because this is when they first request our service, but their perceived wait begins the moment they pull into the parking lot and join the line because this is when they begin interacting with our business. While in line, they are experiencing pre-process wait times; after placing the order, they experience in-process wait times.

Establishments in the hospitality industry do what they can to cut down on guests' wait times. For example, theme parks offer services like Disney's Fastpass or Universal's Express pass in order to cut down the time waiting in lines so guests have more time to buy food and merchandise. Stores like Target or Wal-Mart offer self-checkout to give guests that in-process wait time. Movie theaters allow you to check in and get tickets on a mobile app and some quick-service restaurants let you place mobile or online orders. So why do people still get so bent out of shape about being forced to wait?

On Toy Story Land unboxing day, I witnessed a woman make a small scene about being forced to wait to exit the new land. Cast Members were regulating the flow of traffic in and out of the land due to the large crowd and the line that was in place to enter the land. Those exiting the land needed to wait while those entering moved forward from the line. Looking from the outside of the situation as I was, this all makes sense. However, the woman I saw may have felt that her wait was unfair or unexplained. She switched between her hands on her hips and her arms crossed, communicated with her body language that she was not happy. Her face was in a nasty scowl at those entering the land and the Cast Members in the area. She kept shaking her head at those in her group and when allowed to proceed out of the land, I could tell she was making snide comments about the wait.

At work, we sometimes run a double drive-thru in which team members with iPads will take orders outside and a sequencer will direct cars so that they stay in the correct order moving toward the window. In my experience as the sequencer, I will inform the drivers which car to follow, they will acknowledge me and then still proceed to dart in front of other cars just so they make it to the window maybe a whole minute sooner. Not only is this rude, but it puts this car and the cars around them at risk of receiving the wrong food because they are now out of order. We catch these instances more often than not, but it still adds stress and makes the other guests upset. Perhaps these guests feel like their wait is also unfair or unexplained, but if they look at the situation from the outside or from the restaurant's perspective, they would understand why they need to follow the blue Toyota.

The truth of the matter is that your perceived wait time is always going to be longer than your actual wait time if you can't take a minute to focus on something other than yourself. We all want instant gratification, I get it. But in reality, we have to wait for some things. It takes time to prepare a meal. It takes time to experience a ride at a theme park that everyone else wants to go on. It takes time to ring up groceries. It takes patience to live in this world.

So next time you find yourself waiting, take a minute to remember the difference between perceived and actual wait times. Think about the eight aspects of waiting that affect your perceived wait. Do what you can to realize why you are waiting or keep yourself occupied in this wait. Don't be impatient. That's no way to live your life.

Cover Image Credit:

Aranxa Esteve

Lauren Alice Margheim
Lauren Alice Margheim Jul 9, 2018
At Orlando, Florida

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The Mystical Tail Of Mermaids: 10 Reasons Why They Just HAVE To Exist

Who says mermaids and mythology have to go together?

Francesca DiPisa
Francesca DiPisa Jul 27, 2018
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The tales of mermaids have been around for centuries and some people believe in their magic still today. From a young age, we are taught that there is the fact and the fiction, and mermaids are deemed to not be real. However, what if these creatures really do exist, and our teachers and parents were just deceived? As a firm believer in the existence in mermaids myself (I may think I was one in a past life, after all), here are the top reasons as to why and how they have to live among us in 2018.

1. Fairytales, duh.

The most obvious source that fuels the minds of many comes from the most organic (or what we think is the start of everything in our lives) thing from childhood: fairytales. "The Little Mermaid" in particular has made generations of little girls and boys believe in a half-human/half-fish creature; and depending on the version you read or watched as a kid, mermaids can seem like a good or scary kind of people, er, merpeople. Whatever it is, though, if stories dating back centuries tell the tale of this kind of creature the masses have to at least consider its existence.

2. Some people feel a sort of "connection" to the ocean.

This may not be the case for everyone, but I know this is definitely something real for me. The beach has always been a special place for me- not because of tanning or having fun in the sun- but just being by the ocean always gave me a sort of reassurance and homey feel. My astrology sign is Cancer, which is a water sign after all, as well as my sign ruler being the Moon which also controls the tides of the sea, so maybe this is ultimately why I feel such a connection to it. But even pirates and fisherman also have this strange bond with the seven seas that make them want to devote their career to the salty waves- I guess it's safe to say that maybe we were all merpeople in the past life.

3. Those "beachy waves" have GOT to come from somewhere.

Okay, so the salty air of the seashore can make anyone's hair wavy and imperfect — but what if this doesn't have to do with the geographic location but through genetics? It sounds crazy at first, but if merpeople existed all those ages ago, their luscious locks that always swept with the tide could've been interwoven in the human genetic code and passed down forever since. This one may be a long shot, but there has to be an explanation for why our hair gets a certain way at the beach.

4. "Unexplainable" things happen out at sea.

So those pirate stories of women at sea luring them into their lovely traps, or those weird sighting people report on after they go out into uncharted waters you always hear about cannot just be all hubbub. These tales have to originate from somewhere, and some of these stories are too detailed and outlandish that they must've actually included a real kind of creature. Deny in believing all you want, but if these things happened to you, do you wanna be "the boy who cried mermaid"?

5. The constant song among the waves.

Speaking of stories from the sea, there are also tales of sailors hearing beautiful sounds and melodies on their ships where there is literally nothing else around them. Mermaids have a trademark of beholding the most beautiful singing voices, so there can't be any other explanation for this one. It might as well be the sailor's insanity settling in by hearing strange things in the middle of the ocean, but where else would mermaids want to belt their songs?

6. The countless colors of the deep blue sea may hide them.

Although the oceans are generally made up of one color, it also simultaneously is the home to the most colorful things below its surface. From the array of fish alone to the coral reefs, as well as the vast amount of different aquatic species that call the ocean home, there are literally hundreds of thousands of colors in the saltwater. So due to their different colored scaly tails and luscious locks, they could easily be blending in among them (or better yet, living in the pitch-black darker depths of the ocean in hiding).

7. Some people HAVE to have the ability to breathe underwater.

It is a known fact that humans cannot breathe underwater on their own, but there has to be some type of human specimen that does. I mean, our bodies are made up of at least 60% of water (more than half!) and although it is freshwater, it had to originate from somewhere. Salt, after all, is necessary to maintain the body's overall fluid balance... just some food (or water) for thought.

8. The ocean is too big for just aquatic animals.

The ocean takes up 2/3 of Earth's surface- this fact alone should tell you that there are thousands of unknown species living in these waters. Mermaids may be a mythical being (for now), but who's to say that they just haven't been found yet?

9. After all, ocean's were here first.

According to most beliefs, the first thing to exist on Earth was water — AKA the ocean. Animals originated and evolved from their aquatic homeland, so why would it be any different for humans? Of course, this can go against your own beliefs or religion, but with this whole article coming from a religious woman, I am saying that I do believe that humans possibly originated from something- or somewhere- else.

10. "The Mystery of the Unknown" still exists in today's world.

Even in today's seemingly small world, what with technology and all, there are still countless possibilities and things to still discover within this entire universe. Just like people believe aliens just have to exist on other planets, they should be thinking the same about mermaids too. But even if they do exist, maybe it is just better off not knowing because it may benefit both them in a world like today.

Francesca DiPisa
Francesca DiPisa Jul 27, 2018
At Montclair State University

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