Opinion

By Anya Golden

A series of copycat terrorist attacks began in 2018. The first was a shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue, where 11 people were killed and six were injured. In 2019, 51 people were killed and 89 people were injured in the Christchurch mosque shootings which were live-streamed on Facebook. A month later, at the Chabad synagogue one person was killed and three were injured. The shooter's manifesto included numerous disturbing meme references. All three attacks were preemptively posted about by the shooters on far-right social media platforms or forums.

These weren’t isolated acts. They were part of a growing pattern of online radicalization referred to as the ‘alt-right pipeline.’

The term “alt-right” pipeline was first coined in the 2010s with the rise of interconnected online communities, content creators and political commentators. 

The alt-right pipeline describes a pathway into extreme “right” ideology. People are radicalized through consuming most often antifeminist, fascist, antisemetic, homophobic, and racist media. 

If you're unfamiliar with this topic then you may be picturing people like Charlie Kirk or Candace Owens who are prominent in the conservative movement. Shockingly, many alt-right members reject these figures for being too mainstream in their conservatism. “Mainstream conservatives” typically advocate for systematic changes, whereas people who are radicalized often believe in violence. 

The alt-right recruitment demographic may appear random but it has an  overarching pattern. This includes people who feel like outsiders, distrust the government, have contempt for multiculturalism and feminism, reject mainstream institutions, and believe in conspiracy theories. Above all, this demographic consists of primarily white individuals who hold grievances towards what they think is a “white genocide” or feeling of victimhood stemming from a belief that they are losing social and political status.

It’s important to understand that radicalization does not usually start with swastikas or hate speech — it often begins with content that feels harmless, even funny. Platforms like YouTube are full of creators who mix edgy humor with controversial opinions. 

When influential creators repeatedly make hateful jokes claiming it is humor or “free speech” such rhetoric becomes normalized. Normalization of hateful ideas leads to desensitization, bringing viewers to seek out more extreme content. The final stage of indoctrination is individuals adopting dehumanizing rhetoric against targeted groups, which can justify violence and terrorism. As this is happening, online algorithms will suggest creators who are increasingly more radical in their content, furthering the cycle.

An example of seemingly harmless content that becomes a gateway to more extremes is the popular Youtuber PewDiePie. Although PewDiePie claims to have no connection to the alt-right movement, the Youtuber with over 100 million followers has been celebrated among alt-right members after multiple controversies. The Chabad synagogue shooter even included PewDiePie multiple times in his manifesto leading to a plane displaying a banner with the message “Subscribe to PewDiePie” over New York City the following day.

One of the largest PewDiePie controversies was in 2017 when he paid five dollars to people in India to laugh and hold a sign saying ‘Death to all Jews.’ Watching through his response videos he is very insistent about a difference in dark humor and being truly racist or antisemetic, furthering my point of the normalization of hateful rhetoric.

Meme culture also plays a significant role in online spaces where alt-right ideas are discussed. Memes that are popularly used in online forums or even publicly for members to recognize each other are; ‘Yes Chad,’ Pepe the Frog, memes framing physical violence as “real masculinity,” Wojak, Gigachad, and the Groyper depiction of Pepe the Frog, just to name a few. These memes come up a lot on forums like Reddit, 8chan, 4chan, X, Gab, Telegram or TruthScocial which are popular for extremist groups because they offer anonymity and foster a sense of community among like-minded individuals. Community is crucial in extremist online spaces because many who are radicalized are sensing belonging. 

Radicalization does not feel radical — that is the danger. It feels like fitting in, laughing along, clicking the next video or joining the next chat. Take notice when media or creators pass off hateful rhetoric as a joke, make the choice to stop interacting. Use critical thinking in what is being said online. Are ideas being spread with no evidence to back it up? Fact check! Radicalization is accelerated by believing what you see online making you form beliefs that you otherwise would not.

By Denise Mai

Pet stores carry hundreds of cat products; however, some are overlooked and not included in stores. Since current items on shelves have been there for so long, I often don’t see new and improved products, leading feline owners like me to struggle to nurture their beloved pets. 

An example of this lack is my cat, Sesame. I would love to buy these products or similar items for my cat, but often I can’t, since they are rare or never seen at pet stores. Additionally, I'm always looking for healthy, high-protein foods and treats for Sesame that contain little to no fillers, such as corn, wheat, and soy, which can be horrible for cats because they are unnecessary and make the food more carb-heavy. Cats are carnivores–they do not need these fillers. Nonetheless, I can never find these healthy foods. 

Toys and enrichment items will prevent boredom in cats, and will allow them to have an outlet so as not to terrorize your homes or be “bad cats.” 

The first product all pet stores should have on their shelves is The Honesty Kitchen Minced Grain Free Line. This food is a great high-protein food with fiber that helps with cats' sensitive stomachs. This line offers a range of flavors to suit cats with picky eating habits or allergies. The most unique aspect of the food is the texture, which is soupy-like,which my cat loved. This causes the food to run higher in price since it is a higher-quality food. 

The next food I recommend is the FROMM Four-Star Dry Food.  I personally love feeding my cat this dry kibble, especially their Game Bird Recipe and Hasen Duckenpfeffer Recipe; these are the dry kibbles I currently feed my cats. FROMM should be on more shelves because of their high-quality proteins; moreover, they are a family-owned business that makes all their food in-house, which ensures quality control. I believe they are reasonably priced compared to other high-end brands–something I love. 

On the other hand, the dry food contains three filler ingredients: potatoes, peas, and dried tomato pulp. Overall, FROMM has earned my trust even though they have these few filler ingredients, and I think they deserve a spot on the shelf in pet stores. 

Lastly, treats: Whole Life is a great one-ingredient treat brand that excludes extra fillers. Whole Life's freeze-dried cat treats are cooked, ensuring disease and parasites will not be in your cats' treats, something that stands out compared to other raw brands. Some examples of disease being in raw cat food are recalls of brands due to bird flu, those brands being Northwest Naturals, RAWR Raw Cat Food, and Savage Pet.  

Lots of people focus on food, but that is not all cats need to thrive. They require toys and enrichment, which stores should prioritize as well. 

A product I think should be in stores is interactive food maze puzzles. I really want these in pet stores because they can be hard to find in-person, and they are great for cats that are bored and frustrated; they give cats a way to ‘hunt” or work for their food. 

While puzzles are a great mental stimulation, cats also need physical stimulation from items such as toys. Stores should sell electric hide-and-seek toys, great for cats who love biting toes under the sheets or scratching table legs. 

Moreover, I would love to see more products on the pet stores' shelves like the ones I mentioned above, especially for my cat, Sesame. I know Sesame loves these products, so there might be cat owners who also struggle with finding similar products.  If there were an expansion on products, it would make it easier for fellow cat owners to spoil their fur babies.

By Leo Le

Imagine an 18-year-old student-athlete eating the exact same portion as an 11-year-old middle schooler for lunch. That is right, in SFUSD, high schoolers are consuming around the same portion as middle schoolers, which raises concerns about whether these high schoolers are meeting their nutritional needs. This does not just affect a few students; instead, this affects the thousands of high school students across SFUSD who rely on school lunches.

According to the SFUSD nutrition report for lunches in September, the average calorie count per meal for SFUSD high schools was approximately 612, while the average for middle schools was around 607. These averages come from the school lunch that includes an entreé, a carton/cup of milk, and a fruit or vegetable.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a typical high school student should be consuming around 800 calories for lunch. This means SFUSD lunches on average provide almost 200 fewer calories than the recommended amount.

Although the lunches are considered healthy, they fail to truly satisfy students’ stomachs with the small portions the school provides.

Michael Lai, a junior at Lincoln High School who relies on school lunches, states, “School lunches seem very nutrient dense, but even though they might fill us up with the right nutrients, I still feel very empty.”

Lai even guiltily admits, “I use other people’s meal pins in order to get myself more portions.”

His act highlights how some desperate students feel that they need to get more than one portion to satisfy themselves.

While the quality of food may be good, the portion size definitely is not. For students who may stay late after school for sports, clubs, or extracurricular activities, lunch is often their only real meal until dinner, which makes lunch portions very important.

The consequences of not eating enough and not meeting calorie needs go beyond just hunger. Studies such as the one conducted by the No Kid Hungry Organization have demonstrated a correlation between hunger during the school day and many problems that may impede a student from achieving their full academic potential, such as a decrease in focus levels.

Gordon Huynh, a junior at Lincoln High School, notices, “Usually the school lunch doesn’t fill me up, and it makes it harder for me to concentrate in classes throughout the afternoon portion of the day.”

In SFUSD High Schools, a lot of students strive to do more than just get good grades in school. SFUSD could improve its lunch program  by increasing portion sizes and ensuring meals meet the caloric needs. Until changes are made, students will continue their school days hungry, which is a problem too big for SFUSD to ignore, because it not only affects students’ health, but also their ability to learn, focus, and reach their full potential.

By Angela Gin

At the start of the 2025-2026 school year, Lincoln gained all new administrators, Marisol Arkin, Jen Fried, Laura Rashidi, and Joseph Eckstrom, following the departure of its former principals. And with this new administration came stricter policies that cracked down on hall wandering, club organization, and the ever-tenuous issue of clubs selling homemade food on campus. 

It is district policy to prohibit the selling of homemade food on school grounds, however in the past couple of years, clubs have not been practicing this, which is mainly because of the past administration’s lack of enforcement around it. But our new administrators decided to put an end to it.

“After COVID, we weren't allowed to have homemade food, right? Everything had to be packaged or catered when we did like Fall Fest or something like that…I was at Galileo for seven years and so those were the rules,” says Arkin. 

This policy put clubs in a tough situation for Fall Fest, one of the biggest schoolwide fundraisers. Instead of making their own food like they have been for the past couple years, clubs had to resort to the counterintuitive practice of buying food to sell and hope that they can make profit. 

“We spent a lot more money and stress trying to find something to sell,” says Anabella Ramirez, the captain of ALDC, “[We made] a lot less than last year so now we have to consider outside fundraising now because we haven’t been able to make enough money.” 

Arkin had been in contact with the nutrition services about the rule because students had formally complained to administration about it. A couple days prior to Fall Fest, she was told that homemade food was back on the table since the policy was made during the COVID pandemic to prevent spreading the virus.

But it wasn’t until the morning before Fall Fest began when it was announced that the policy was considered null and void and clubs could sell homemade food for future events.  

But instead of the anticipated sigh of relief from club leaders, this change was met with confusion and outrage because they had unnecessarily spent their hard earned money. 

Ramirez says, “It was really messy, it wasn’t clear. It felt like a whole ‘he said, she said’ thing, a game of telephone.” 

Arkin speaks on the matter saying that, “It wasn’t a miscommunication, it was an update.”

While this may seem like nothing more than a speed bump in the road, I feel that they are more like potholes in the student-admin relationship. Miscommunications like this only deteriorate the trust students put in their administrators to inform them of events and changes. I do understand that being brand new administrators to a school comes with its challenges, but this was a very preventable confusion. Going forward, administrators could practice better communication by sending schoolwide emails and making schoolwide announcements to ensure that people are informed of any policy changes.