By: Mae Skold

Editor’s Note: The Plaid Line publishes editorials that contain opinions that are those of the student authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the the Plaid Line, HPSH, or its staff.

Scientology has a bigger presence in St. Paul, Minnesota than you may notice in other cities. They own a big beautiful building in downtown St. Paul that you’d never expect would have a cult behind closed doors. Through the friendly behavior and appeal of the grand building, Scientologists you may find in downtown St. Paul and in general may easily deceive you.

When entering the large building a greeter or receptionist will be there ready to welcome you and educate you on themselves and the building. The building has a nice cafe, library, work spaces, and more that add to the deceiving appeal. Though it may not seem like it, while you are talking they will gather any information about you to further try and lure you into the cult. Things like first and last names, addresses, occupations and more can just add to your trace where they will try to find you to put in further efforts to convert you.

Now why is their cult something to stay away from with all of these nice people and things? The cult uses brainwashing and criticism on its members to try and make them live their way of life. By degrading people they can convince them of needing repentance and salvation just further bringing them into the cult. The members are forbidden from using the internet, reading magazines, outside books, and more to keep them further secluded from the real world.

The Scientologists in St. Paul certainly use their big building as a luring strategy as it brings in curious people. They make sure to make people feel as though they are a part of something and have this initial sense of pure bliss before the vicious cycle of brainwashing begins. When in St. Paul make sure you admire this beautiful building from afar and spare yourself the Scientology rabbit hole.

By: Jasmine Williams

According to ‘Rolling Stone,’ the NAACP had issued a travel advisory warning Black Americans who were thinking about going to Florida. The NAACP has said, “[Florida is] openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.” This is surprising because of how many people actually would or would have gone to Florida.

About 34.6 million domestic people went to Florida from January 1st to March 31st for vacation. The NAACP had stated, “Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color.”

Ron DeSantis, the Florida Republican governor, is against diversity and inclusion. In 2022, he signed a bill that executed a ban on race topics being taught in schools. AP African American studies are inaccessible to students because he thinks it’s a political agenda. DeSantis said, “[T]he country is rotten and that our institutions are illegitimate.”

DeSantis had tried to cover up the truth of discrimination of Black Americans now and in the past. DeSantis neglects Black Americans struggles and their history, showing how inconsiderate he is about Black people. Since they would ban AP African American studies, others would not be able to learn about the history behind African Americans and their struggles and be able to help them.

The president and CEO of the NAACP, Derrick Johnson, had said, “Let me be clear — failing to teach an accurate representation of the horrors and inequalities that Black Americans have faced and continue to face is a disservice to students and a dereliction of duty to all.”

Just before this advisory for Black Americans came, the LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens, had announced an advisory to Latinos. DeSantis had put into place cruel penalties for undocumented people. It may be better to book your next flight to another place next vacation.

For more information, please go to:

● https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/21/us/naacp-florida-travel-advisory/index.html

● https://naacp.org/articles/naacp-issues-travel-advisory-florida

By: Charlie Boone

Wisconsin Senator, Joseph McCarthy’s corrupt and unfounded attacks on communism during the 40s and 50s, portraying the ideology as a vague, amorphous enemy have both directly and indirectly halted societal progress within the United States and influenced the right wing’s focus on culture war issues.

While a majority of McCarthy’s attacks were rooted in white supremacy, homophobia, and anti-semitism, many modern anti-communists lead with a different approach, depicting all socialization as tyrannical; typically citing nations with downfalls directly related to U.S. imperialism and intervention i.e. coups, sanctions, banana republics, etc. and blaming it all on the bogeyman of socialism. This depiction has done arguably the most damage, as it’s a very regular talking point to say that free healthcare and education are too radical, from both the left and the right. This is an intentional move from establishment capitalists, as well as the corporations in their pockets because, for example, if you explained to the average person that the LAPD was just given an extra $3.2 billion, as reported by the LA Times, and there are over 420,000 homeless people in the United States, and 37.9 million people live below the poverty line, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, I think they would agree that there’s a problem.

According to the right, America is a meritocracy, and your material conditions are exclusively a product of how hard you work, rather than an amalgamation of systemic, historical, and personal circumstances. This characterization is very obviously not true, as a person born into a wealthy family will experience distinct advantages, both economically and socially, despite not working any harder than someone born into poverty or homelessness.

It’s also important to mention that in our current economic state, upward-class mobility is nearly impossible, despite the exceptions that are often highlighted to try to dismiss the problem. Obviously, hard work is important but if you looked at two people born in completely different economic situations, both working as hard as one another, their outcome is likely going to be drastically different, which again, most people would agree is a problem. With all of the barriers set up to avoid hiring people in poverty, as well as it being pretty much impossible to find a job if you are homeless, the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality simply does not work, especially in the United States where just under 900,000 Americans die in poverty, as cited by the University of Columbia in 2010, and 45,000 Americans die as a direct result of lack of access to healthcare each year according to a 2009 report by the Harvard Medical School.

The fundamental idea of capitalism is the maximization of profit for the corporation while spending the least amount of money on labor. This is important because the capitalist does not necessarily hate the worker, they simply view them as disposable, and a means to make a profit. This inevitably leads to an insane gap of wealth between the working class and the CEOs, where the workers are barely making a fraction’s worth of their labor.

My point here in explaining the exploitation and inherent inequality of capitalism is to say that without McCarthy and the general right’s demonization of communism and socialism, a much larger number of Americans would agree that the current system at the very least needs serious reform. I also believe that there would be a much larger number of prominent socialist politicians that aren’t constantly bogged down by the Democratic party without McCarthy’s direct career-ruining actions toward anyone who presented views anywhere close to anti-capitalist.

McCarthy’s accusatory and defamatory tactics have also proven to be incredibly influential in shaping the right wing’s focus on the “culture war’”. If you’re not familiar, the term culture war is used to describe a general polarization and stark divide between societal values, typically to distract voters from the fact that a majority of their frustrations are a direct result of capitalism. One of Joseph McCarthy’s commonly used tactics was to accuse his ideological enemies of not only being communists but also homosexuals, expanding the evil, amorphous fog sent out to destroy your family and attack your children.

Over time, the fog continued to grow, collecting more marginalized groups to scapegoat issues onto, as is always the case with fascism. In 2023 alone, the republican party has passed 75 anti-trans bills with 555 proposed in total, some being as egregious as making providing gender-affirming care to someone under 26 years old a felony for healthcare providers (OK SB129). Most Americans see this as ridiculous and fascistic, the same way they looked at Joseph McCarthy, but the rapid influence of far-right legislators and echo chambers continues to push culture war issues to the point of genocidal rhetoric.

Fascism is still very much alive and well in the United States, and the lack of action from the Democratic party is worrying. It’s becoming more and more apparent that many establishment Democrats would rather have a fascist in office than a progressive, and the continued push for “business as usual” neoliberal politics is going to swing that door wide open.

For more information, please visit:

• https://invisiblepeople.tv/capitalism-kills-nearly-1-million-americans-per-year/
• https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2022/demo/p60-277.html
• https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2010.300086
• https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-18/mayor-karen-bass-spending-plan-for-cops-and-homelessness-wins-council-approval
• https://translegislation.com/
• https://translegislation.com/bills/2023/OK/SB129
• https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness/
• https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/07/americans-healthcare-medical-costs

By: Lauren Kottke & Ella Sutherland

Gun control is a big issue in the United States. It is an issue that has begun to get worse by the years. We are seeing the number of school shootings and mass shootings rise.

There are many statistics that prove the rise of gun violence. We found statistics that show that over the past couple decades, gun production, ownership and mass shootings have increased. NBC put out an article stating, from 1988 to 1992, the production of guns was at 3-4 million annually. But in 2009, that increased to 5 million. And then in 2016 it peaked to 11 million guns sold. They also stated that, in 2021 there were 61 active shooter incidents – “which the FBI describes as events in which someone is engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area”. But the previous year, there were 40 active shooter incidents.

To us and students, this issue is very important and personal to us. We see the school shootings happening around us and wonder if it would ever be us. Realistically, it is very unlikely but the fear is still there. Kids go to school everyday scared. And it seems like every time there is a school shooting, kids are the ones to fight. They are the ones to have protests and call for change. But nothing does change.

And that is because students and kids don’t have the power to change the laws. The people who control the laws and regulations on guns are congress and the states. Congress can change the laws through commerce and taxing laws. But they only have power that is enumerated in the US Constitution. So it is limited.

But the states can make regulations on guns to make them less accessible. For example, Minnesota has strict regulations on guns. If you want to buy a gun, you have to get a permit to carry a firearm, a background check, mental health screening and much more. If you have served time in jail, you cannot purchase a gun. But other states like Alabama, have less regulations on guns. There you can buy a gun without a background check or a permit. So it is up to the states what regulations should be on guns.

It’s hard to change gun control when you have no power. And most people don’t have the power to change it. The only people that can change the laws and regulations are people in the government. But people can still push for change by voicing their ideas, which could push the government to make changes. So here are some of our solutions that you can do to help support gun control.

Our first solution is to contact St. Paul’s elected representative and ask them to support and advocate for change. Demand that they advocate for effective gun violence prevention legislation. Although it might not seem like this solution can change much, it’s important to make our voices heard. So we would get our families and friends to also contact our representative. And our hope is that more people would join in and contact their representatives, starting a movement. We also hope that once enough people have contacted the representatives, change will be made. They will announce their support for effective gun control legislation, and announce a way they are willing to make change. For example by introducing a bill they could present to the governor (Note, in the recent session, Minnesota did pass more gun control laws).

Our second solution to this issue would be to write to our local paper and ask them to publish an article we wrote about gun violence. We will write an article that talks about how the legislation on guns is not enough, the number of school shootings rising, and active shooter incidents in general rising. We would also talk about how the companies that sell guns are benefiting from the rise in gun sales and how we can fix this issue. Like we said earlier, we don’t have much power to change the laws on guns, but we still have enough power to voice our opinions. And by publishing our article it would allow for more people to see our point of view. It could change the way people think about gun control. We think that because it would be students speaking, people would listen. We have our own experiences going to school during gun violence’s peak.

We hope that you take away some useful information from this article and help enact change. Whether that be talking about gun control to your friends and family, donating to gun violence organizations or contacting your local representative.

For more information you can visit:

• “6 Charts That Show the Rise of Guns in the U.S. — and People Dying from Them.” http://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/6-charts-show-rise-guns-us-people-dying-rcna30537.
• “Federal Powers.” Giffords, giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/policy-areas/other-laws-policies/federal-powers/#:~:text=Congre ss%20can%20regulate%20firearms%20through
• “Gun Ownership by State 2020.” worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/gun-ownership-by-state