The Looking Glass

BEN BUFFERY This essay won the 2020-2021 edition of the History of Totalitarianism Essay Competition “The more strictly you will adhere to nothing but the facts, relating them without comments the more valuable it will be” So, I will try… but we were not made of wood.. Not to say of stone.” Witold Pilecki

  NATHAN TRACEY The Democratic primaries in 2019 and 2020 were an interesting spectacle, taking place against the backdrop of the divisive office of Donald Trump, with many candidates trying to position themselves as the ‘anti-Trump’ option. If anything, the process showed that Trump has maintained a tight grip on the media and the Democratic establishment. All networks and debates have featured questions relating to him, his policies, or his election chances. In total 29 major candidates announced their candidacies for the primaries, the largest field of candidates since 1972. Some candidates, such as Andrew Yang, announced their candidacy in November 2017. The front-runners in the race included Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Beto O’Rourke and Pete Buttigieg. One late entrant, Mike Bloomberg, took a controversial stance by not campaigning in the early voting states of New Hampshire and Iowa, instead focusing on states that announce their result on Super Tuesday...

RORY CONBOY Light has been associated with hope for thousands of years; the two habitually intertwining whenever comfort and encouragement are in need of distribution. Hence the old saying, ‘Light at the end of the tunnel’, a metaphorical beacon of hope. Yet the commonality of such a maxim in turn verifies the existence of an ever present darkness, forever germinating in such an ominous fashion. The 27th of January marks Holocaust Memorial Day, this year projecting the theme ‘Be the light in the darkness’. While the words ‘Holocaust’ and ‘light’ seldom meet, and possess drastically different connotations, this ‘call to action’, if you will, should not be interpreted as a naive and distasteful neglect of the ‘darkness’ surrounding genocide. Rather, it is encouragement to actively strive to confront prejudice, whatever form it takes and wherever it is encountered.