Cover Photo

Mark Dallas
Cover design & post production
Mark Dallas
Layout
Marilia Gomes
Mark Dallas
All images used
are either public domain
or creative commons license

FUTURE PERFECT
Issue #14: October '14
Send comments to futureperfect.editor@gmail.com

Are we all going to die of Ebola?

Felipe Leite Pacheco

Our Generation of Non-Communicative Idiots

Linnea Wietzgraz

Harassment and How not to do it

Marilia Gomes

Is marijuana the root of all evil or the daughter

of God?
Ju Young Jung

12

Does the rising of Tinder mean the fall of irting

Pedro Emanuel Maia

16

Big Bad Dangerous Russia! Or maybe not?

Jan Vielemeier

20

Two Farewells that the UK would prepare

Min Wook Jeon

23

The Dangers of Non-Secular Politics

Elson Silva Junior

26

The Skinny on Skinny-Shaming

Pedro Emanuel Maia

28

Where the money went last time

32

Are we all going to die of Ebola?

By Felipe Pacheco
Ebola virus disease, normally
known as Ebola, is an oftenfatal illness accompanied by
severe hemorrhagic fever.

EVD rst appeared in two

simultaneous outbreaks in
1976. The rst one was in
Sudan and the second in Zaire
(now the Democratic Republic
of Congo), the country in
which ows the Ebola River,
which gives the virus its name.
50% to 90% of cases have
proved fatal.

been isolated because there

are many reported cases, and
the government says that it is
too dicult to control the area.
It doesn't sound fair to put up
a fence and forget about them.

try to combat a virus that kills

multitudes and devastates
communities. In the game, the
virus transforms some people
into zombies, and when they
bite someone, that person

The symptoms start typically

two days after contact.
These are fever, muscle pain
and headaches. These are
then followed by vomiting,
diarrhea and rashes. Death,
if it occurs, between seven to
sixteen days later. Yes, that's
rightyou get infected and
then after sixteen days, you
can die. There is no cure for
Ebola virus disease. Patients
can be treated to alleviate pain
and in some cases, symptoms
do not even occur.

It's a thought that fruit bats

are the natural hosts of the
Ebola virus, but some research
shows that some monkeys in
1989 were infected with the
virus and some chimpanzees
in 1994, according to the World
Health Organization (WHO).

According to the WHO, some

vaccines will be available in
January 2015. The best thing
in the meantime is prevention
and control, reducing the
risk of wildlife-to-human
transmission and human-tohuman transmission.

The virus is acquired by

contact with blood and other
body uids from an infected
human or animal.

In
some
places,
the
government also quarantines.
This year, for example, one
community in Liberia has

It's impossible for a game and

movie fan not to remember
storylines that echo the Ebola
story: a virus that spreads and
destroys families and whole
cities, infecting huge areas.
Resident Evil or The Walking
Dead come to mind. There
several parallels between EVD
and Resident Evil for example.
The rst one, of course, is that
it's a virus. In the game and
in reality side-by-side, people

turns into a zombie, too. In this

way, Ebola is worse because
contact with infected bodily
uids transmits the virus.
Continuing our comparison,
lets
consider
Resident
Evil 5, in which the main
character arrives in Africa in
a quarantined community to
study and combat a strange,
aggressive group of people.
In this version, they aren't like
zombies any more: they are

people with a virus that causes

them to become violent and
want to kill others.
Ok, I'm not telling you that
people with Ebola will start
to walk and try to infect other
people, but communities in
Liberia that are in quarantine
may have reason to become
angry.

In the game, we play to become

a hero with our character, but
in real life, the doctors, health
care workers and researchers
are playing this role.
The big question is: are we all
going to die of Ebola?

"Something
happen,
something in town, oh yeah
the news(...) Ebola in town,
don't touch your friend, no eat
something, it's dangerous, no
kissing(...) it's more than HIV/
AIDS, it can kill you quickquick"
So say the words of a song
by Liberian rappers Shadow
and D-12, but it's dicult to
imagine that we are all going
to die of Ebola.
A lot has been done to prevent
the spread of the virus
worldwide since the outbreak,
and according to WHO,
vaccines will be launched in
January of 2015.
Yes, we have heroes, and
what must be done is not turn
around and forget after this
outbreak has passed.
Now that it's still in the news
headlines, "Ebola in town" has
become an 'infectious' song
about the illness, intended
to alert people in a creative
way, but after the outbreak,
everybody needs to continue
being alert, just like the HIV/
AIDS virus in the 80s.

Our Generation of
Non-communicative Idiots
How social media aects our face-to-face interactions

By Linnea Wietzgraz
I'm totally facebooking this,
like, O-M-G I can't even!
she says while taking photos
of her special and neverbefore-seen Caesar salad
from every imaginable angle.
Maybe you met the love
of your life yesterday, or a
relative of yours died, you
got accepted at Harvard ,
you won $1m, your wife got

pregnant or you just feel the

need to talk to an aliated
person because you relate
to him or her. Whatever,
there are other enrichments
of life that deserve way
more a3ention, like eating
a (non-) exotic burger and
posting a picture of it right
away because it's such a
breakthrough discovery you
just made, or having a virtual,

poetic and deep conversation

with another individual via
social network or hi3ing
like on a picture that says
1 like = 1 rescued child in
Gaza because that could
really make a change over
there. You give up talking
and search for your phone as
a relief to your boredom, as a
self-distraction.
Social media is a common
term to anybody nowadays,
and it happens to occupy a lot
of our time each day, but who
ever thought social media
6 could control and inuence
our
society's
behaviour
and communication (and
so-called intelligence) that
much? So much that you shut
down reality and the world
happening around you?
It is known that social media
is clearly harming peoples
ability to interact in the oine
world. According to studies
it is scientically proven that
7% of our communication
is based on the wri3en or
spoken word and the other
93% consists of non-verbal
body language. That means
93% of our communication

is missing once we log into a

social network and replace
it with smiling or crying
emoticons to show our
feelingswell, maybe even
to hide our feelings. Many
people hide behind the screen
and take on whatever role
they want.
Forbes said in its report,
whether
social
media
is
sabotaging
our
real
communication or not, "[w]
ith all the powerful social
technologies at our ngertips,
we are more connected
and
potentially
more
disconnectedthan
ever
before." Oops! Plot twist.
So the actual intention of
social media is thoroughly
misunderstood?! Instead of
becoming more social, we
are becoming less so. And
unfortunately, people who
spend a lot of time online are
most likely to be insecure in
face-to-face interactions and
can therefore hardly handle
real-life issues in the oine
world.
Another
problem
that
sometimes drives me crazy
is phubbing. Youve never

heard of this? Well, Im sure

youve already experienced
it, as it is the commonest
and
most
ill-mannered
communication-killer of our
time. Basically, phubbing
(pronounced fubbing) is the
act of snubbing someone in a
social se3ing by looking at
your phone instead of paying
that person the a3ention and
respect they deserve. Rudest.
Thing. Ever.
Imagine all the interesting
people you havent met on
the subway, or the person
you bumped into the other
day while you were reading
that senseless text your BFF
sent you. Then there are all
the surroundings that you
no longer consider beautiful
because of your constantly
failing sense of reality.
Additionally,
there
is
scientic evidence to suggest
that pupils who spend
too much of their time on
social media sites get lower
academic grades. A survey
in 2012 suggests it is worth
worrying about the fact that,
instead of communicating
with each other, people

were constantly texting or

checking any kind of social
media even throughout a
family gathering.
But there are not only
negative
aspects
about
social media. In the past
decade, it has actually
increased the number of
criminal prosecutions. We
are able to create new social
connections, and in a few
cases, students have done
be3er in school since half of
them are using social media
to discuss school work. It
can also be used as a source 7
of employment, and how
amazing is it that you can
interact virtually with people
all around the world 24 hours
a day?
Ill be the rst to admit I
might not be completely
innocent. Im availing myself
of the benets social media
has as well. However, faceto-face interactions should
remain the most ecient
and important way to
communicate. It is so much
more pleasing to have a
really good laugh with your
best friend, isnt it?

Harassment and How Not to Do It

By Marlia Gomes
My rst job was at a
restaurant.
I
remember
being so happy that I could
nally get my own money
that I didnt even care about
the low salary. The days
that followed changed from
awesome to total hell. My
boss and some coworkers (all
men) started to play pranks
on me all the time. Sure, I
was the newbie, but I was
subjected to some extremely
8 oensive behaviour, like
playing suggestively with
sausages,
making
jokes
about women in the kitchen
and even administering the
odd slap on the bu3 when I
got a good tip. I worked there
for 2 weeks and then called
in, saying that I could not
go anymore due to family
health problems. Was that a
fair excuse, or should I have
kept working as it didnt
ma3er?
The denition of harassment
covers a wide range of
behaviour of an oensive
nature. It is commonly

understood as behaviour
intended to disturb or upset,
and its characteristically
repetitive. In the legal sense, it
is intentional and threatening
or disturbing. The Internet
allows anonymous people
to perform various kinds
of
cursing,
threatening,
accusing,
bullying
and
perpetual
damaging
conduct. But what is worse,
not knowing who your
enemy is, or knowing theres
another 2 million people
around the world watching
him do it to you? This is a
rhetorical question but a real
case now in the crazy world
wide web.
The ex-Big Brother contestant
Sam Pepper, 25, who has more
than 2 million subscribers to
videos showing him carrying
out pranks and other types of
entertainment, got himself
entangled in a net of criticism.
After releasing a video in
which he wore a fake hand
to trick girls while he used
his actual hand to grope their

bu3s, the vlogger received

response videos saying that
hed gone too far. According
to BBC Newsbeat, six girls,
some of them underage, told
the site that Pepper had had
inappropriate conversations
with them. A lot of people

Sam says that the previous

videos were staged and
scripted,
and
released
another video saying that he
wanted to raise awareness of
assault against males. How
videos of him harassing
women raises awareness of
sexual assault goes beyond
my knowledge.
Assault against women
isnt a new topic. The
feminist
cultural
critic
Anita Sarkeesian suered
another
death
threat
recently. She was supposed
to give a lecture at the Utah
State University but had to
cancel it due to a le3er the
administration
received,
which said that this will be
the deadliest school shooting
in American History.

started to support the former

reality-show contestant, but
big YouTube stars like Tyler
Oakley, Laci Green and the
producer of VidCon wrote to
him that they will not tolerate
his behaviour and hes not
welcome at VidCon anymore.

According to the StandardExaminer newspaper, the

e-mail author, who claims
to be a student, wrote,
"Feminists
have
ruined
my life and I will have my
revenge, for my sake and the
sake of all the others they've
wronged. Her aggressors
have been following and
threatening her since she

launched a series on YouTube

talking about female roles
and tropes in videogames.
Violence against women
has been happening since
time immemorial. Women
have always been treated
in most cultures as the
weak, sensitive, helpless
sex. Unfortunately, Sam
Pepper still perpetuates this
old concept and spreads it
throughout the world that
its funny to touch women
without their permission,
leading countless potential
10 copycats.
According to the Canadian
Human Rights Commission,
harassment involves any
unwanted physical or verbal
behaviour
that
oends
or humiliates. Generally,
harassment is behaviour that
persists over time. Serious
one-time incidents can also
sometimes be considered
harassment too.
It occurs when someone
makes unwelcome remarks
or jokes about your race,
religion, sex or gender, age,
a disability or any other

grounds for discrimination.

It also includes threats,
intimidation,
unwelcome
physical contact such as
touching, pa3ing, pinching
or punching, which can also
be considered assault.

she will be ordered not to

communicate with you or go
near where you live, work, go
to school or worship. Failure
to follow these conditions
will result in further criminal
charges for the accused.

Most schools or workplaces

have a human resources
counsel
to
deal
with
situations like these.

Years after the incident

in my job, I can see that
my decision was right.
I was young, nave and
was scared of those men. I

If you feel threatened

by someones behaviour
towards you, make it clear
that you dont want this
to happen again and that
you feel uncomfortable
or annoyed by it. In case
of persistence seek help
immediately, and dont try
to take justice into your own
hands. If youre on the street,
look for a police ocer.
A Manitoba Justice Victim
Services document states
that, once the police have
enough evidence against a
person, they will lay criminal
charges and a judge or the
police will decide if the
accused should be released.
Regardless of how or when
the accused is released, he/

know that the harassment

could have been much
worse, but I still don't
think I deserved what I
got. I shouldve talked to
them first and made them
understand that they were
harassing me and made it
clear that I wasnt pleased.
Next time, Ill show anyone
that tries to diminish me
that I am strong, confident
and will not allow this.

11

Is marijuana the root of all evil or the

daughter of God?
By Ju Young Jung
Recently,
the
United
Nations released a report
estimating the number of
marijuana-smokers in the
world. According to this,
over 10% of Americans
15 years old and up are
regularly smoking cannabis.
This situation is not only
happening in the US but
also Canada, Nigeria, and
12 Australia. If this seems high
(no pun intended), then
why are people locked into
the weed and still havent
quit?
Some people who are for the
legalization of marijuana
say that over 90 published
reports and studies have
shown that marijuana has
medical ecacy. However,
those opposed say that if
the government legalizes
now-illegal drugs, crime
rates would increase. So,
what makes people so crazy
about marijuana? Simply
put, what are its real eects?

Wikipedia
states
that
marijuana (also commonly
known
as
cannabis,
weed, pot, ganja, etc.)
is a preparation of the
cannabis plant intended
for use as a psychoactive
drug and as medicine.
Basically,
it
is
dried
hemp buds which contain
tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC),
the
principal
psychoactive
constituent
of
cannabis.
Modern
uses of cannabis are as a
recreational or medicinal
drug, and as part of religious
or spiritual rites; the earliest
recorded uses date from the
3rd millennium BC.
It also says that Cannabis
has
psychoactive
and
physiological
eects
when
consumed.
The
immediate desired eects
from consuming cannabis
include relaxation and mild
euphoria (the "high" or
"stoned" feeling), while some

immediate undesired sideeects include a decrease

in short-term memory, dry
mouth, impaired motor skills
and reddening of the eyes.

In regards to long-term use,

ironically, the side eects
of marijuana have not yet
been discovered and are the
subject of ongoing debate

13

between
scientists.
As
they say, marijuanas side
eects for a man include
impotency,
decreasing
testosterone
level,
and
a reduction in sperm
count. The worst eects
for teenagers are negative
changes in a3ention and
short-term memory.
I surveyed 25 ILSC students
and teachers about what
they know about marijuana,
whether they use it and if
so, how often.
14 As you can see from the

results, some people are

confuses about the law
regarding its use. Before we
argue whether marijuana is
good or bad, the government
has to educate people who
dont know much about the
drug.
Smoking can cause dierent
diseases and some of them
are fatal. As everybody
knows, health aects all the
spheres of our lives. Most
people know that smoking
can destroy. It causes cancer
of the lungs and other
dangerous diseases.

However, there are other

methods of consuming the
drug besides smoking. Some
users bake it into space
cakes, while others invest in
a vaporizer a device that
gently heats the herb instead
of burning it, making more
ecient use of the bud and
saving ones lungs from the
harmful eects of smoke.
Whatever your take is on
marijuana, make sure you
have all the facts before you
get on your high horse.
The legal status of marijuana,
however, is in dispute. 15
Some politicians in Ontario
have repeatedly insisted
that Canadas marijuana
laws be lifted. However, if
a prescription is obtained,
people can buy marijuana.
Furthermore, the cultivation
of the hemp plant of the
genus Cannabis is currently
legal in Canada (if it is
family Cannabaceae.) In
consequence of this law,
police in Canada have
jurisdiction
to
pursue
criminal charges for cannabis
possession. In reality, they
dont really give a damn as
long as its for personal use.

Does the rise of Tinder mean the fall of

irting?
By Pedro Maia
You see a girl (or a boy) at
the bar and she is really cute.
She looks at you, you both
smile at each other. Match!
Now you make a move and
go talk to her. Pre3y normal,
right? Now imagine doing
that with dozens of other
girls without even ge3ing o
of your couch. That's Tinder.
And let's be honest, you
probably know it already.
16

Launched in 2012, the

matchmaking app is based
on a very simple structure.
You see a picture of a
potential match, his/her rst
name, age and your common
friends and interests, all
consensually
extracted
from the person's Facebook
account.
A short bio may be added,
also. Based on that, you get
to choose whether you like
the personand express that
by swiping his/her picture
rightor not, sliding your
nger to the left. If both of

you like each other, the app

will notify you about the new
match and allow you to chat
and give love a trythrough
your mobile 4G connection.
However, it's not always
a bed of roses. Just like
any other social network,
Tinder has come across a
huge amount of criticism
since its release date. Some
of the "conservative daters" 17
might claim that the app
users are merely judging
people based on their
looks, regardless the "real
qualities", triggering some
kind of an online beautyworshiping frenzy.
Added to that, once you're
logged into Tinder, there's
always the solid possibility
of matching with somebody
who's only interested in
nding immediate sexual
intercourse,
commonly
represented by the slang
"dtf", which stands for
"down to f***".

"We had a lot of shared

interests, me and this guy that
I matched with. He seemed
really nice, so I went to him
and said, 'Hey!' to which he
simply answered, 'Hi. dtf?'
What actually made me feel
bad was that he didnt even
want to talk to me or to get to
know me. All he wanted was to
have quick meaningless sex,"
said Marilia, a 22-year-old
student. And this is probably
not an unusual situation.

On the other hand, though,

those who say that real
irtation should stand up
against the li3le red ame
symbol may be focusing
on the characteristics
that
at set Tinder
and
d
"oldfashioned
shioned

we had small computers in

our hands.
Actually, according to cofounder
Justin
Mateen,
Tinder is nothing but
a new way to
do what we
have been
bee
doing
f o r

When using Tinder you might

constantly come across users
18 that see the application as
a living human menu or a
showcase.
It's important to state that it's
not necessarily wrong for a
guy or a girl to seek one-night(or afternoon-, or morning-)
stands on the internet. What
some may really wonder is
how futile Tinder is as a dating
app when its users only get
to judge one another based
on a few detailssometimes
on only one or two pictures
when you're too tired to open
people's proles to check
what theyve wri3en about
themselves.

romance"
mance"
a p a r t ,
instead
stead
of
those
ose that bring
them together. It is true: all
forms of meeting and dating
people are a shot in the dark,
but when compared to other
dating apps like OkCupid or
Grindr, Tinder seems much
closer to the way we used to
meet and date people before

centuries
centur
in clubs aand
bars: lookin
looking,
smiling, match
matching
and cha3ing. In his words,
his creation is "not a dating
application. It's a real life
experience."
And it goes further. The
app will add its own
characteristics to thisin his

words, real-life experience,

which is probably what made
it so viral in such a short time.
Tinder is able to combine
both the dating websites
proposal of introducing
you to people outside of
your previously-established
friend
connections
and
the regular social network
possibility of only interacting
with people you want to
talk tono messages from
strange people who saw
your picture and decided
it was a good idea to catcall
you. Unless, of course, you
19
like them back.
At the end of the day,
Tinder is only as eective
or harmfulas you make
it. The tool is available to
everyone, but the outcomes
depend entirely on what
your intentions are and what
you decide to look for with it.
One true thing must be said
about it, thoughand this
may or may not be coming
from a user: detachment is
required if you want to be on
Tinder, but the empowering
and exhilarating "It's a
match!" screen most certainly
will bring a grin to your face.

Big Bad Dangerous Russia!

Or maybe not?
An example of and how the modern media
inuences us

By Jan Vielemeier

Nowadays our modern

media have a lot of power.
They can report from
anywhere in the world so
that our society is able to
be well informed about the
20
things which are happening.
But media power can also be
abused.
The current Russia-Ukraine
conict is a perfect example.
European media are reporting
constantly about this war,
and in their reports Russia is
usually depicted as the only
aggressor.
But is this conict really so
easy to explain? Is Russia
a3acking Ukraine just for
territory, and is Ukraine the
victim?
There are a lot of interests

involved, which try to fulll

dierent goals. Russia doesnt
have the sole responsibility
for this conict; they are not
the only aggressor and not
the only country that sends
troops to Ukraine.
But why are the reports
from the European media
so biased? Not only are
the politicians of Europe
inuenced by American
foreign policy, but so are
the media. Some people
say that Russia is still
the enemy of modern
Western
civilization.
Most media reports reect
this antiquarian western
ideology.
For some Americans Russia
is still an enemy, and they
want to have the European
countries and people on
their side. Thats why they
spy on whole countries and
inuence a lot of journalists

by giving them money or

good job opportunities.
In my opinion, this is
wrong. The media should be
objective instead of biased,
and Europe should have its
own opinion with a critical
view on Russia and the USA.
But there are more things
going on. It is true that Russia
sent troops and weapons
to Ukraine and that they
broke international laws, but
Russia is not the only country
that sent troops to Ukrainian
territory. Actually, there are
American Special Forces
ghting on the Ukrainian
side. However, sending
more soldiers will not stop
the war. The complete
opposite will happen: they
will escalate the situation.
Unfortunately, the USA
and Europe are not the
only ones who will heat the
ght up. Some Russian and
Ukrainian oligarchs send
their own private soldiers to
ght for their personal goals
and interests. It is possible
that a lot of the mercenaries
ghting on the side of the

separatists were sent by

oligarchs and not by the
Russian government.
Fighting for territory is not
the sole reason for what is
happening. Some actions
echo the Cold War. Both
superpowers of the era
Russia and the USAstill
do not like each other very
much. After the Cold War,
the USA and Europe thought
that Russia would not be
a strong country in the
future, so they ignored them
politically in most cases and
signed more contracts with 21
each other. Russia is still not
happy about this. Moreover,
Russia lost more and more
neighbouring countries to
NATO, which stopped really
close contact with Russia.
Before the current conict
in Ukraine, NATO tried
to convince the Ukrainian
government to join them and
work together with Russia
less than previously. There
are not only many people in
Ukraine who want to have
closer contact with Russia,
but the Russian government
do not want to lose another

ally to NATO.
A
military
interaction
is
obviously
the
wrong
choice
by
Russia,
but
maybe
the
western
c o u n t r i e s
should try to
understand the
Russians point
of view and
work
more
closely
with
them
instead
of
isolating
22 them more and
countera3acking
them.
I think every
E u r o p e a n
citizen should
form his own
opinion about
this conict, but
in order to do
this, a critically
objective media
is necessary.

Two Farew
Farewells
wells th
that
hat the UK wou
would Prepare
By Min Wook Jeon
At the lastt minute
minu
mi
nute of voting
nu
ng
for the independence
inde
in
depe
de
pendence o
pe
of
Scotland ffro
from
rom
ro
m the UK
UK,,
someone
some
meon
me
onee mi
on
migh
might
ghtt im
gh
imagine that
at
the
the distinctive
distin
inct
in
ctivee red, white and
ct
blue
bl
ue of the
the Union
Unio
Un
ion
io
n Ja
Jack
ck would
w
pass
iint
into
nto
nt
o
vexi
vexillological
xill
xi
llological
ll
history. When it all
all came
c
down to whether Scotland
Scot
Sc
otland
ot
would remain
rema
main
in iin th
the UK,
almost half of the
he people
peo
p
eople of
eo
Scotland revealed
revea
ealed a cordial
ea
dislike of tthe
he result, and
it barel
barely
ely
el
y meant that ame
of independence
indep
epen
ep
ende
en
dence had been
de
extinguished. An exit
e
from
the UK b
by
y Scotland
Scot
Sc
otla
ot
land
la
nd is still a
possibility
possib
ibil
ib
ilit
il
ity in the
it
he near future,
futu
ture,
tu
however.
howe
ho
weve
we
ver.
ve
r.
Now the tension is about
to lead to a bigger breakup.
While Scotland and Britain
have time to recover their
relationship, one thing the
UK faces is an exit from the
Eurozone. The UK is one of
the members of the European
Union but has insisted on
using its original currency
in place of the Euro since
joining. This causes other

members to think that the

UK never got involved in the
crisis derived from the Euro
and takes advantage
ad
of only
trading and political areas.
However, it also has a long
list of comp
complaints for being
in EU,
E so no
now it has a casting
vote
te for their destiny.
Sco3
o3iish Nat
Nationalists might
think
k they can
c
boost a new
economy
econ
onom
on
omy
om
y wi
with their own oil
23
reserves, bu
but nobody knows
what the Sco3
S
ish will do
when those
ttho
hose resources are
ho
exhausted.
exha
haus
ha
usted. According
us
A
to the
economic
ic ind
index of Scotland,
GDP
GD
P per person
pe
in the UK
is 22336 including oil and
gas revenues, while that of
Scotland is 26424, which
is about 4000 higher. This
is a comparable gure that
shows why many in Scotland
hope to be free. Besides, even
when excluding oil and gas
revenues, which have taken
a key role in the Sco3ish
economy, they can produce
as much GDP per capita as
that of the UK.

This means that Scotland has

increased their own economic
power well by relying on
natural resources, especially
oil, enough to leave the UK.
In the short run, they would
enjoy the situation with much
more share of the oil than
before. The important thing,
however, it has to recognize is
that nothing lasts forever.
The oil revenues have
decreased sharply, estimated
to be at 120 billion. With
this in mind, the Sco3ish
24 government has no choice but
to curb spending. It would
result in cutbacks to national
welfare, seeing a reverse to
the national model that most
modern countries aim for.
Besides, what they would
gain more of is not only oil,
but the UKs debt. As of
2007, the national debt has
increased rapidly, and in
2013, it came close to 70%. At
this rate, it is going to go over
80% within 5 years. Whether
the scal health of a nation is
ne or not is determined by
its debt, and it used to get the
red light for a negative grade

when it crossed the 30% mark.

Countries whose net debt of
GDP is way over 30% are, for
example, Japan (over 200%)
and the United States (90%).
With a population share,
estimated debt of GDP that
Sco3ish has to bring into its
land would be a maximum of
62%. At this point, its economic
freedom would go through a
worse time. However, there
is a way that Scotland would
be able to avoid its inherited
burdens. If it changed its
currency ocially to the Euro
or adopted its own currency
instead of using the pound
sterling, it could refuse to
share the UKs debt.
The Sco3ish independence
referendum will rise again.
Since the gap between YES
and NO was quite small,
nobody is bound to know for
sure what the result would
be. The rst step in solving a
problem is to recognize it. The
rest of the UK doesnt want
only 8.3% of population to
decide its future.
The next UK general election
in 2017 has a key for an exit
from the EU. David Cameron

has promised a referendum

to stay or leave when the
Conservatives win. It seems
like many people in the
UK have already decided
to escape the EU. But what
makes Britons think that they
would be be3er o if they
left?
What many are most
concerned about is the
economy. The UK would
strengthen
its
economic
freedom and gain benet
from being out of the Euro.
For example, it could create a
large number of jobs in smalland middle-sized industries,
which
have
not
been
customized by regulation.
These regulations are to make
all members economic status
equivalent to those of the
EU, not only in the political
community but also the
economic one.
However, the burdens taken
on and divided are huge for
developed countries which
need an economic revolution
to keep their nations scally
healthy even when a nancial
crisis rears its ugly head.
In 2012, for instance, the

Eurozone crisis occurred, and

countries whose debt ratio
per GDP was around 60%
were dubbed PIIGS (Portugal,
Italy, Ireland, Greece, and
Spain). This was the essential
problem of the EU because
it consists of countries with
only geography in common
rather than economic or
other specialties. But it has
put most emphasis on the
economy. In order to be part
of a community, wealthy
countries should sacrice
their share to lower level ones.
We can nd out why the UK
refused to adopt the euro as 25
a currency as its foremost
role was to forge an economic
union.
The UK, as itself, has powerful
political
and
economic
impact on global society.
It was the country that
dominated nearly one third
of the world once and where
the Industrial Revolution
started. Presumably, based
on its history, it would have
enough legitimacy to speak
out and take an important
role. However, not to remain
a lonely kingdom, it ought
to keep its eye on domestic

The Dangers of Non-Secular Politics

By Elson Silva Junior

26

Religion can be a lifestyle for

a lot of people who defend it
as a way to be a be!er person,
giving to charity or propagating
good actions. However, some
people say that dogma should
inuence
state
decisions,
especially in countries where
there is a dominant religious
group.
Although
creeds
could inuence good acts, the
adoption of non-secular politics
would be more dangerous than
it looks.
In the United States, religion
is present everywhere: on the
money (In God we Trust),
on the Constitution, on
tribunals and at parliament,
for example. Every morning,
parliamentarians pray before
they start a session. The word
God was also in President
Barack Obamas speech and
is also used by candidates to
a!ract the vote of the electorate.
In some American states,
Christian dogma also permeates
public education, disrespecting
the choice of almost 25% of
the population who are either
atheist or practice religions
other than Christianity. In

2005, The Church of the Flying

Spaghe!i Monster became a
web phenomenon as a protest
against creationism being
taught in public schools in
Dover, Pennsylvania. On that
occasion, the Church of FSMs
founder, Bobby Henderson,
sent a le!er to the Kansas State
Board of Education protesting
the intention to teach Intelligent
Design. In it, he sarcastically
defended that the universe was
created by a Flying Spaghe!i
Monster and used awed
arguments similar to those
the authorities put forward in
defense of creationism.
In Latin America, though, nonsecular politics interfere with
government decisions about
human rights and the combat
against
hate-crimes
like
homophobia, for example.
In Brazil, a homosexual
is
murdered
on
average every 28
hours, according
Gay Group of
Bahia, but
Proposition
122which

criminalizes this type of

discriminationwas stopped
in Brazilian parliament by
the eorts of protestant
parliamentarians.
The relationship between
religion and state in other
Latin
American
countries
is deeper than in Brazil. In
Argentina, for example, every
president had to be Catholic
until the constitutional reform
in 1994. Currently, nine of
20 countries of the region
has adopted a regime that
gives power or privilege to
the Catholic Church, even
though the continent has a lot
of other religious groups, like
protestants, and African and
indigenous religions.
In some parts of the Muslim
world though, the conicts are
more intense. Women occupy
a secondary level in society,
and in some cases are not
able to study, having
a weak participation
in local politics. In
addition,
cases
of
physical
and
moral
aggression,
rape
and
murder are
constantly

reported with the connivance

of local states. The young
Pakistani Malala Yousafzai
received the Nobel Peace
Prize because of her ght for
freedom and education for all
children, including girls. In
2013, Malala was shot in the
head by a Taliban group that
does not agree with education
for women.
In the past months, ISIS (Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria) has
scarred the entire region and
the international community.
The paramilitary group wants
to impose a caliphate guided
exclusively by the laws of 27
Sharia, vigorously pursuing its
opponents. Currently, ISIS is
responsible for a lot of human
rights violations against Shia
Muslims and other religious
minorities, including women
and children.
Although they represent the
important choices of citizens,
politics and religion should
not be mixed. Some people
say that the government must
obey the opinion of most of the
population, but the facts show
that a fair state and society are
only possible when everyone
has their own individuality
and choices respected.

The Skinny on Skinny-Shaming

By Pedro Emanuel Maia
North America has found
itself one new cultural
obsession, and one doesn't
have to look deeply in order
to gure out what it is: curvy
girls and their big (big!)
booties. Just by skimming
through the top 40's of the
last few months you can
nd Jennifer Lopez and
Iggy Azalea's "Booty", Major
Lazer's catchy Bubble Bu3,
Meghan Trainor's smash
28
hit "All About That Bass"
and Nicki Minaj's overexplicit
ass-empowering
Anaconda.

skinny bitches in the club!"

-- Anaconda, lyrics by
Anthony Ray / Onika Maraj
/ Jamal Jones / Jonathan
Myve3 / Ernest Clark /
Marcos Palacios
"You know I won't be no
stick-gure, silicone Barbie
doll [] I'm bringing booty
back / Go ahead and tell
them skinny bitches."
-- All About That Bass, lyrics
by Meghan Trainor and
Kevin Kadish.

Trainor and Minaj have

something else in common,
though. Both have been
accused of making use
of
embarassing
and/or
degrading lyrics about thin
girlsin order to arm some
kind of a "booty-pride" that
has been named by many
people as "skinny-shaming".

The accusations towards

the two singers are pretty
clear: the diminishing of
thin girls presented in their
top hits is just as degrading
as any other kind of bodyshaming and, because of
that, must be avoided.
After
all,
no
person
should be shamed by their
appearance, regardless of
their size.

"I said, where my fat ass big

bitches in the club? / F***
the skinny bitches! / F*** the

However, in order to
discuss this matter as a
whole, it's really important

29

to analyze those lyricsand

skinny-shaming
itself
within a context. There
are three concepts that
must help one understand
this phenomenonnot as
acceptablebut, at least,
from another perspective.
Even though skinny-shaming
is to be considered something
bad, really bad, it can never be
levelled to fat-shamingas
some may be trying to do
because of the social power,
privilege and oppression
involved.

Oppression can be dened

as "subjugation of a group
of people by another group
of people who have access
to social power, the result of
which benets one group over
the other". That brings us to a
context in which it is already
impossible to take skinnyshaming as oppression: a
group with social power cannot
be oppressedpre3y much
because this social power sets
a series of privileges that won't
be given to the other group, the
oppressed.

It might sound a li3le

entangling, at rst, but
lets clarify it with a few
examples.
Thin
people
(especially those thin by
nature) have social power
because society has dened
that their natural bodies
are the ideal. Their shape is
what's socially acceptable
and what should be sought
by every other human being.
Because of that, they're
entitled to privilegesand
that includes having more
clothing
options,
being
considered beautiful by the
30 majority, and so on. On the
other hand, the oppressed
group has to face a series of
disadvantages simply by not
3ing the standards.
However, oppression is a
cultural and social issue,
and those privileged by it
are usually not aware of it
which is why thin girls are
entitled to feel personally
oended by skinny-shaming.
The point is: this "a3ack" on
thin bodies is a rupture of
the oppressive system since
fat girls "often believe the
messages and internalize the
oppression," but Trainor and

Minaj are trying to do things

dierently.
Thats the important thing
to be noticed about skinnyshaming. It isnt exactly
about
shaming
skinny
girls, but aboutfor once
empowering the curvyshaped ones, giving them a
place under the spotlights.
The ma3er here is it's
about justice, not
equality.
They may be
opposing
and
unlevelling
fat
and thin women, but
they do so in an a3empt
to correct a standard that was
already unlevelled. It has
happened before with what
people call reverse racism,
and also with the concepts
of cis-scum or breeders (in
opposition to transphobia
or homophobia). Those
are never going to be huge
problemsmostly because
theyre not problems at all.
If we tend to skepticism,
its possible that those
composers didnt even mean
to bring up skinny-shaming
in an oensive way, but its

not up
to
the
alleged
oenders to
dene that.
Skinny-

31

shaming is
not something
good and, once
again, no kind
of
body-shaming
should be encouraged.
However,
Anaconda
and All About That Bass
are not to be judged by the
"skinny-bitches" content,
but to be celebrated as a
huge-butt-encourager
(and, of course, as
amazing
bootyshaking tunes for a
Friday night).

Where the money went last

time...

The July/August 2014 Journalism Class raised a record $285

for the Wilderness Commi3ee.

Future Perfect Editor Mark Dallas and Issue #13 Journalists handing over a
cheque to Daniel Jacobs and Shaine Macleod (far right) of Wilderness Committee
Photo Credit: Harry Pilfold

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