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Tuesday, March 31, 2026
The Observer

Opinion


The Observer

The state of being

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In support of the chain of messages from Ms. Mason and Mr. Nawrocki, I think it is necessary to point out a fatal flaw with the entire structure of the upcoming "God Debate." Our modern culture is mistaken in believing that if we think hard and long enough, everything can be supported by human reason, even the nonexistence or existence of God. However, it is ironic that I have come to understand the contrary from one of the greatest contributors to modern philosophy.



The Observer

Project Salt

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CommUniversity day is coming up this Saturday. For your sake, I hope you've signed up. The day is a fantastic opportunity to interact with the South Bend community, make visible improvements in the community and have a really great time with really great people.


The Observer

Coming to terms with life and death

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Nietzsche warns in his "Ecce Homo," against a sentimental misreading of his Overman: "this word ‘Overman' is understood almost everywhere with complete innocence to mean values that are the opposite from the ones appearing in the figure of Zarathustra, which is to say the ‘idealistic' type of the higher sort of humanity, half ‘saint,' half ‘genius.'" Nietzsche does not hesitate to offer an alternative model: "If I whisper to people that this type would look more like a Cesare Borgia than a Parsifal, they do not believe their ears."

The Observer

Coming to terms with life and death

·

Nietzsche warns, in his Ecce Homo, against a sentimental misreading of his Overman: "this word ‘Overman' is understood almost everywhere with complete innocence to mean values that are the opposite from the ones appearing in the figure of Zarathustra, which is to say the ‘idealistic' type of the higher sort of humanity, half ‘saint', half ‘genius.'" Nietzsche does not hesitate to offer an alternative model: "if I whisper to people that this type would look more like a Cesare Borgia than a Parsifal, they do not believe their ears."


The Observer

Crisis of education

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If there is one person I swore to myself I would never become, it was the person who writes Viewpoint articles while abroad. And while I have been agonizing over the lack of spoons in the dining hall, the hook-up culture and the existence of Saint Mary's these past few months, it is for something altogether different that I feel compelled to write.


The Observer

The state of being

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In support of the chain of messages from Ms. Mason and Mr. Nawrocki, I think it is necessary to point out a fatal flaw withthe entire structure of the upcoming "God Debate." Our modern culture is mistaken in believing that if we think hard and long enough, everything can be supported by human reason, even the nonexistence or existence of God. However, it is ironic that I have come to understand the contrary from one of the greatest contributors to modern philosophy.


The Observer

Gluten-Free ND?

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I am not overly concerned whether or not the dining halls serve meat on Fridays during Lent. I don't eat it, but I won't force my beliefs on you. What concerns me more is the lack of gluten free foods on these days. As I was diagnosed as being a non-Celiac gluten intolerant over Christmas break, this is my first Lent dealing with this problem. I had never before given much thought to all of the meatless options: mac and cheese, cheese pizza, potato pancakes, and various vegetable casseroles. Even the fish option last week was breaded.


The Observer

Gluten-Free ND?

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I am not overly concerned whether or not the dining halls serve meat on Fridays during Lent. I don't eat it, but I won't force my beliefs on you. What concerns me more is the lack of gluten-free foods on these days. As I was diagnosed as being a non-Celiac gluten intolerant over Christmas break, this is my first Lent dealing with this problem. I had never before given much thought to all of the meatless options: mac and cheese, cheese pizza, potato pancakes and various vegetable casseroles. Even the fish option last week was breaded.


The Observer

I hate Notre Dame

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Notre Dame is a school steeped in tradition and praised by alumni, students and faculty alike. I hate it.



The Observer

Labor lessons

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Two months ago, Aaron Rogers received the snap from center Scott Wells, took a knee and the Packers were world champions. Pandemonium ensued, as grown men were moved to tears and confetti filled the air.


The Observer

Concert contentions

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In "Spring Concert," (Mar. 29), you voiced your disappointment in SUB's selection of bands for the 2011 spring concert. It seems to me that your argument rested on two points: the ability of other universities, such as IU, to attract better acts, and the lack of talent of O.A.R. and Chiddy Bang. Indiana University Bloomington has over 42,000 students. With this amount of students they can fill arenas that so called "better acts" expect, and more importantly they have more money to work with which allows them to put on more concerts. We have about 11,000 students here. That's roughly four times less than IU, so it makes sense that we only have the money to put on one concert instead of four.





The Observer

Are you on a mission?

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Raise your hand if you would have liked to be in the Lady Vols' locker room facing Coach Pat Summit's wrath at halftime of the Notre Dame-Tennessee women's game Monday night. Coach Summit, known to be, um, blunt when she's unhappy, found her group in unfamiliar territory: behind to a team they'd beaten 20 times, in every single previous meeting. Down by five points at halftime with two key players already in foul trouble, she attributed much of Tennessee's difficulties to the Notre Dame women, saying, "They are on a mission."


The Observer

Lent in the dining hall

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With yet another season of Lent upon us, we at Notre Dame are once again beset by those intriguing peculiarities which are unique to this particular time of year — including the numerous entreaties from campus ministry urging us to use the season to finally change our rotten ways, the subtle bragging from overzealous Catholics about just how many things they are giving up for Lent and how difficult it has been for them and, of course, the conspicuous absence of meat from the menu of the dining hall each Friday. This last practice seems excessively draconian to me, and so during a recent meatless Friday lunch I tried to consider all the possible reasons why the University would feel justified in instituting such a policy.


The Observer

One-day 'sacrifice'

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I am shocked by the selfishness expressed in Mr. Baker's Letter to the Editor "Where's the Meat?" (March 28). As a vegetarian, I find it appalling that someone would be so clearly opposed to abstaining from meat for one mere day! Plenty of people — myself included — refrain from meat every single day of the year as an act of protest against the cruelty implicit in the practices of the American meat industry. There are over 925 million people who do not get enough to eat in this world. One acre of land used to grow cow-feed produces around 165 pounds of edible cow flesh when that same plot of land could grow 20,000 pounds of potatoes. On top of that, the standard treatment of animals in the American food system induces needless amounts of suffering to God's own creatures. No one should complain about one day without meat. Especially not someone with the education and opportunity that Mr. Baker has as a student of Notre Dame.