Monday, Dec. 26, 2016 | 2 a.m.
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Joshua Hardin of Northwest CTA during the 60th annual Las Vegas Sun Youth Forum at the Las Vegas Convention Center Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016.
View more of the Sun's opinion section
About 1,000 students from high schools throughout Southern Nevada participated in the 60th annual Sun Youth Forum on Nov. 29. The students were divided into groups to discuss a variety of topics. A representative was chosen from each group to write a column about the students’ findings. This essay addresses the issues covered by the group Potpourri.
Three topics struck a nerve with my group at the Sun Youth Forum: animal testing, religious symbolism in our government and humanity’s dependence on technology.
On animal testing, most of our discussion focused on alternatives such as testing on prison inmates, in vitro testing and a ban on testing living things altogether.
After considering aspects of each, the group consensus was that this issue was just an offshoot of the greater problem of hypocrisy in American culture. An impromptu survey found that the group wanted to protect animal test subjects but would still eat meat produced by cruel methods. With a newfound moral perspective, the group agreed that the current regulations against cruelty were fair, but needed to be enforced.
As for the larger ethical issue involved in testing, the national attitude must become one of compassion and benevolence, instead of selfishness and indifference. Coming from a spiritual point of view, one student said, “Everything you do to others, you, literally, do to yourself. As people come to understand this, they will respect all other life forms as themselves.” It was decided that it was the consumer’s responsibility to use cruelty-free products and make a push to find alternatives if we truly want to stop animals for testing.
In our discussion about religion in politics, we focused less on religion affecting policy and more on how religion is represented in matters of the state. The first question dealt with the president being sworn in on a Bible. Less than 10 minutes later, the group agreed that being sworn in on the New Testament was likely tradition and not about America being strictly Christian. That being said, the entire group thought it would be better to see presidents sworn in on an object of their choosing, as it would mean more to the person being sworn in.
The phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance also was discussed, with some students saying the phrase should be removed. Others suggested we change it to “one nation with love,” “one nation in peace” or “one nation united.” Eventually, the group decided that we should avoid using symbolism specific to any religion in government matters since “under God” is ambiguous and that it should mean what anyone wants it to mean.
Our final issue dealt with humanity’s dependence on computers and social media. As the members of our group ranged from 16-to-18 years old, we were born at the right time to live our formative years of life without a lot of technology, but not soon after, we were met with a surge of technology in everything we do. We quickly agreed that computers and social media were huge advantages for the human race. Nevertheless, we are fully aware of the dangers of not having developed “street smarts.” My generation does interact with people, but we tend to be fully connected online at all times. At this point, however, one cannot really say whether the generation to come will suffer socially from so much exposure to technology.
Overall, each subject came down to right versus wrong. Whether it was animal testing, religion’s role in matters of state or possible overdependence on technology, my generation finds that the moral implications are just as important as all other factors, if not more.
Joshua Hardin is a senior at Northwest Career and Technical Academy.
