People could hurt you anywhere, anytime > Don't let fear stop you from new experiences Cazzy Lewchuk Opinions Editor [eee took a long Greyhound bus trip. Many people made the same tasteless joke: “Don’t get your head cut off!” in reference to the beheading incident that happened on a Greyhound bus in Winnipeg almost 10 years ago. In addition to being unoriginal and not really funny (I mean, a man was murdered), the joke ignores one critical factor. It was not being on a bus that killed Tim McLean. He was murdered as the result of a severe psychotic schizophrenic breakdown from his attacker; they just both happened to be on a bus at the time. Tim could’ve been attacked ona TransLink bus, in a Starbucks, or ona street in broad daylight. If someone is going to hurt a stranger as a result of mental illness or simply due to sheer homicidal rage, they are apt to do it anywhere. There are very few ways to protect ourselves from this sort of thing; all we can hope is that it won't happen to us. Of course, it’s very likely not going to happen. The risk of being assaulted by a stranger is far less than that of being attacked by someone we know. These risks can increase based on factors such as gender, race, and location. Nevertheless, the probability of being attacked ona day-to-day basis is still extremely low. We run the risk of being harmed or killed every day. We could get hit by a truck, have a heart attack or aneurysm, or fall off a building. Being careful, responsible, and alert reduces these risks, but freak accidents do still occur. People who are murdered obviously do not expect that to be a part of their day when they wake up in the morning, and there’s little we can do to detect these horrific acts before they occur. Most terrorist attacks are unpredictable and target victims at random. Many murderers do not spend a lot of time pre-meditating the act. Ultimately, fear of an accident should not deter you from living your life or taking risks. As long as you use common sense and don’t go around doing truly unsafe things, you probably won't be killed. And if you do ina random attack, well, it probably couldn't have been prevented anyway. So that’s a little comforting, at least. Stop shaming people for having “problematic faves” > Art can be separated from the imperfect artist Carlos Bilan Staff Writer “problematic fave” or problematic avourite is an umbrella term that describes people (mostly celebrities), shows, movies, and other form of media which have exhibited behaviour that is considered prejudiced and bigoted in nature. This then links to social issues, since if a figure has been considered “problematic” then they have done something against a marginalized group. Although the dictionary definition of “problematic” does not connote this, the term has now been popularly used in this context. The origin of the term “problematic fave” is not really clear, but most Google results come from a Tumblr blog called yourfaveisproblematic. The blog posts pictures of celebrities that are considered “problematic” and underneath are bullet points documenting all the ignorant things they have done. Many associate the term with Tumblr due to this blog, but it has been so prevalent in social media that other media outlets have used the term in such a context. Although the blog’s purpose is to make fans wary of their favourite celebrities, a toxic way of thinking has developed. I’m in no way attacking the blog—I think it’s good that they are educating fans of ignorant things celebrities have done—but there's a criticism to the delivery of this information and how it has wrongly influenced some of its followers. The blog brings up events that occurred many years ago. You cannot really expect everyone since they were born to be entirely educated about social issues. One example is cultural appropriation, which is something many have been called out for. While it is true that they have to maintain a good public image, youre putting these celebrities on sucha high pedestal or idealizing them as having to be “woke.” You cannot expect that from celebrities who have comfortably been living in a bubble, and whose main purpose is to entertain their audience through their work. I’m definitely not condoning the ignorant and bigoted things these celebrities have done. The right thing to Photo of Cole Sprouse via sprouseland.com do is for them to apologize and educate themselves. But even if they don't apologize, do we really have to shame people for still liking them? It’s narrow-minded, because it makes things very black and white. It implies that the only right thing to do when a celebrity has done something bigoted is to abandon them completely, because if a person continues to be a fan of them, it immediately implies that they support the problematic action or stance. This also exhibits moral superiority, because the person who shames other people for not doing the same thing believes that they are actually doing the morally-right thing. Of course, it is totally up to you if you decide to stop being a fan of a celebrity due to something they did, and that is a completely valid reason for doing so. But at the same time, you should not expect everyone to react the same and consider them all bad people for not doing the same as you are. There are fans who blindly support their favourite celebrities no matter what. That may be wrong to you, and you could definitely try to educate them if they’re not aware of it. If they do not see anything wrong with prejudiced actions, then that is a problem. However, there are also fans who actually acknowledge their favourite celebrity’s detriments, and for you to make that person out to be problematic by association is a short-sighted accusation. The reality is that everybody is “problematic” and that’s because nobody is perfect. The Tumblr blog also mentions that “Tt’s important to remember that our favourites are human and they will make mistakes and do or say bad things. This does not necessarily mean they are bad people, nor does it mean you cannot like them.” If you put your favourite celebrities onto such a high pedestal you would just end up disappointed in the end when it all comes crumbling down. This is not the right way to consume media. The same way it is not right for you to blindly support everything they do. The important thing is that you are critical about your favourite celebrities, movies, books, or other forms of media. However, you should be able to separate the art from the artist.