Staff Editorial
As this circus of an election mercifully winds it’s way to a close, we as an editorial board have one thing to say to our readers: Don’t vote for Donald Trump.
Though we may not agree on the best alternative candidate, we can say with one voice that we as a board denounce Trump and his demagoguery. This is a man who uses fear and anger as a tool of persuasion. A man who would turn away immigrants on the grounds of religion. A man whose idea of diplomacy is building walls. A man who thinks mental and physical disabilities are things to be laughed at, and who dehumanizes women to the status of toys. For all intents and purposes, Donald J. Trump is the dictionary definition of a demagogue.
If he hasn’t already alienated you as a person, he will, and he’ll attempt to pass it off as “locker room talk.” As you step into the voting booth, we urge you one last time to please mark another name on your ballot, whoever that may be.
This country was started by a diverse population of people and has continued to thrive because of it. In country that is already so heavily divided, we need a leader who will bring unity and not someone who will promote intolerance and fear towards people who are different from us.
“….we can say with ONE voice that we denounce Trump and his demagoguery.”….Can you really use the phrase “with ONE voice?”…. Because I happen to know at least one person on your board who doesn’t agree with that statement. The job of the media is to be impartial and to desemanate information and allow their readers/ listeners/ viewers to make up their own minds based on that information. It is obvious to me that your newspaper is not impartial at all! But that’s okay, you feel you are still disemanating information, all of which seemed to come straight out of a Hillary Clinton Rally script…you want a candidate who is going to unify us….and that’s apparently not Trump…. but a candidate who refers to hispanics as “Tacos” will? Hmmmm…..but I digress…. these are my own thoughts of what I think about your reasonings behind not voting for Trump, which is off topic….Let’s go back to the part where you are still disemanating information. Where you crossed the line is when you made a proclamation, took a side, and through the power of the media, forced your opinion on all those who attend your university!!! Are you so afraid that people are going to think for themselves and vote how they feel will best serve our country and its citizens? Do you not feel that the student body at UVU is intelligent enough to make this decision for themselves? You misrepresented the opinions of your staff by choosing to use the words ONE VOICE in your article! You mocked and hypocricized those of your staff who do not feel the same way, and frankly, discounted their opinions to derive your ONE VOICE conclusion….how convenient! You want to know why our country is divided? It’s because of irresponsible journalists such as yourselves who spew half truths in order to further your agenda.
STUDENTS OF UVU: You have been blessed with a keen mind and a wise heart. You have done your homework and researched the candidates. Now go and vote accordingly! I don’t care who you vote for, but do not discount Trump simply because your newspaper editorial staff told you to do so because they misrepresented themselves, and therefore, have lost all credibility!!!
God bless America and all those who dwell in this free land!
JC
We appreciate your thoughts, and just wanted to make a clarification. The editorial board consists of the editor-in-chief, managing editor, editor-at-large, as well as section editors and assistant section editors. As a group, we came to the above consensus, knowing not everyone would like it.
As for remaining impartial, this article is marked as an editorial, which is meant to be an opinion-oriented piece.
We thank you for your comments.
I also agree, I think telling people how to vote is an abuse of your power. I get on here all the time and enjoy what you write, but I’m pretty disappointed in this, even if it is an “opinion-oriented article”. To clarify, I would feel the same way no matter what name you put in the title, that is far beyond the point. This whole article should be removed.
Funny to see how the review has become very politicly polarized. I find it fascinating how there’s the major loophole that this is an “Opinion”. I’ll respect that, that’s just an opinion. You guys should really try to explore and reports both parties next time instead of picking your favorites.
Reading this staff editorial has me both appalled and saddened. To address the elephant in the room, you undermine your credibility and the political process when you tell someone who they should or should not vote for. This great democratic republic allows me, a regular Joe, to cast my ballot and allows my voice to be heard among a sea of peers. As a student, an employee of this university and a reader of the UVUreview I am in shock that you would tell me not to vote for a certain candidate. Furthermore, continue to denigrate him as if he is the only one to commit a wrong in this election cycle.
To address some of your points:
– “This is a man that uses fear and anger as a tool of persuasion”
Are you kidding me!? This is a tactic straight out of the democratic handbook. Ever heard the phrase “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”? I could go on and on here but I digress.
– “A man that would turn away immigrants on the grounds of religion”
Why is it that vetting refugees to know for sure that they have no ties with any terrorist organization makes you an automatic hater of people, their race and their religion? This is not an issue that we can afford to act first and ask questions later on.
– “A man whose idea of diplomacy is building walls.”
First and foremost this is a country founded on principles and rule of law. In order to maintain rule of law we cannot have people coming and going illegally. This not only undermines our national security but it also undermines the process that we have in place that allows people the opportunity to become a citizen of this great country. Trump has said repeatedly that we must secure our boarders first and then work to make it easier to become a citizen. That is sound logic to me.
Donald Trump is real, not a lifetime polished politician. With that you see he can be crass, rude and very controversial. Conventional politics has been turned upside down and for that I thank Mr. Trump. We have been subject to stale politics and in the meantime we have been moving backwards in this country. We cannot continue in the direction that we are headed, that is indisputable.
As a reader I am unsure of your motivations here as you state not to vote for Mr. Trump and later urge us to vote for anyone else on the ballot. You do mention “alternative candidate” in this piece, so am I to assume you are urging us not vote for, and denouncing, Hillary Clinton as well? If so, why no mention of her and her plethora of disqualifications to be president?
As an informed individual I am frankly disappointed, at best, with both candidates of this majorly two party system. We could do better. With that said I urge everyone to be informed always, vote your conscience and be at peace with your vote. All votes are welcome, don’t let anyone sway your vote. YOU be the steward of your vote; gather as much knowledge as possible, think critically, ponder or pray about it and vote with great courage. That is all we can do.
God bless America, long live this great Republic!
Our reasoning in leaving Hillary Clinton out of it was that we could not reach a consensus on who people should vote for. Some of our board sided with Clinton, and others were closer to your own point of view on her, and some decided to go third-party. The only thing we could agree on as a board was who not to vote for.
This article should be taken down, it’s an embarrassment to the school. It should not be the first thing I see when I get on uvureview.com, the “editorial board” should not be telling anyone how to vote and using their titles as some sort of authority. Their job is to inform and show two sides of a story, not just one biased review. If this was a true “opinion-oriented piece” it wouldn’t be on the front page. My opinion of this whole organization just went down and I can promise you that plenty of others feel the same way. Congrats on achieving whatever it was you wanted to achieve by making this front and center.
This country was not started by a diverse population of people. It was started by a population that was over 85% British with the remaining being mostly German. Majority Protestant, minority Catholic.
This incoherent talking down to people is pretty funny stuff. Seems like the UVU Review hasn’t changed much.
Many in the comments are concerned that a newspaper would write an opinion piece denouncing a particular candidate. While it is a rather bold stance to take, it is not without precedence.
In this election cycle, several news outlets have published similar pieces:
New York Times
Deseret News
Salt Lake Tribune
I checked these three links and while it is apparent that these columnists despise Donald Trump not one of them used the words “Don’t vote for Trump”. No mention of how to or how not to cast your vote. There is a difference between persuasion and dictation. You did not try to persuade your audience, you chose to dictate to them. You are missing the point if you think people in the comment section are only concerned with you guys denouncing a candidate.
So you’re saying that it’s ok to write these sort of articles because everybody else is doing it? The problem (and we all recognize this) is that the media is unable to separate their opinion from actual news. Opinion articles are a huge disappointment, I’m no Trump supporter but I will respect those who sincerely believe that Trump will be a good president. Don’t tell us what to do and balance out your opinions to show both perspectives instead of your own. This isn’t the first time you guys did this, I remember you guys wrote an article to promote Weinhotlz but nothing about the other people who are running. I dont expect much from the UVU Review, I understand that you’re all just students and you’re learning.
Sean, it’s one thing to write an opinionated post talking about why someone isn’t qualified, but it’s another to tell someone what to do and especially to have that be your title of the paper?? Again why would you use your positions in the newspaper as some sort of support for why we shouldn’t have voted for Trump, do you really think your opinion actually reflects the views of your readers? You are one of the reasons why Trump won. I am a proud UVU alum and am out representing UVU as I obtain even higher education, you as the “UVU review” represent more than your narrow minded opinions and shouldn’t forget that. How on earth are a group of people in charge of the editorial board at all qualified to tell anyone what to do and to use the school newspaper to try and do it? I just don’t understand your logic, I would ask for an apology because this is unprofessional and an abuse of power, but from your responses so far you don’t sound the least sympathetic for misrepresenting the school.