Why We’ve Been MIA
Some of you may be wondering why Parallel hasn’t posted anything since March 14th (and for those of you who never noticed, yes, it’s true, we haven’t posted in 5 months). Thankfully, the explanation is very clear, reasonable, and straightforward: Parallel’s hiatus was due to a variety of celebrations/events that we’ve been taking part in, for example:
April: Confederate History Month
In hindsight April 2015 might’ve been the last Confederate History Month. Thankfully, Parallel magazine was out with the rest of America’s rednecks celebrating heritage! Parallel was out for all of April partying down in the Confederate states, or in better terms, we were out commemorating a history of racism, slavery, and discrimination that is alive and kicking in the USA today.
I think everyone needs to just take a step back and examine the facts surrounding the Confederate Flag. I mean, sure the Confederate flag did represent the South during the Civil War — a group of states who literally went to war over the right to own slaves — but it also represents a lot of men who died fighting in the bloodiest war in American history.
The event that really triggered the controversy over the Confederate flag was the Charleston shooting. Firstly, when Dylan Storm Roof, a young racist, intolerant, white teen has access to a weapon (because gun control only works in Australia, the UK, Japan, and Canada) and decides to shoot up a church full of black people, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the murder was driven by race! The vitriolic racist rant/manifesto online doesn’t necessarily mean anything. In fact, one could say that the shooting was NOT racially motivated. Moreover, when the shooter admits it was driven by race, claiming that blacks “rape our women” and are “taking over our country”, media shouldn’t report the shooting was racially motivated (because then they would be misleading viewers).
A white shooter is obviously mentally troubled and shouldn’t be condemned.
But when a Muslim man shoots 4 marines? Terrorists. All of them. Home grown terrorism. ISIS has gained a foothold in the United States. Islam will destroy America.
Tomi Lahren, a news anchor with On Point America, delivered an incredibly poignant and amazing statement on air, calling out President Obama for his clear inadequacies. Her quote “Do I care that he [Mohammed Abdulazeez, the shooter who killed 4 American marines] seemed like an all-American young man? Do I care that he was good at mixed martial arts or a smart quiet guy? Do I care that his high school friends would not classify him as ‘overly religious’? No, I don’t give a flying you-know-what about any of that” perfectly captures the evidence that the American public needs to be ignoring in this turbulent time period. More importantly, they need to focus on the fact that he was Muslim. With a name like Mohammed Abdulazeez, he’s obviously a terrorist and radical Islam has pervaded into the United States.
May: the Month of Movie Mourning
Inspired by May the Fourth, Parallel entered a period of devout mourning for originally excellent movies which were then butchered by horrible reboots, edits, or sequels.
June: Ramadan
Writing a follow up article on food waste would just be insensitive. People can’t eat or drink during the day and reading about food online would just irritate them. Sensitivity to other people’s needs is critical.
However, that’s not the full explanation.
In reality, Parallel was undergoing rigorous change. Back in February when we launched Parallel, we originally decided to publish on Medium and write satirical articles on any topics that we saw fit to write upon. We had decided on a certain structure and system for the writers and editors of our magazine. We wanted to test out our ideas and experiment with different types of publications, ranging from editorials to poetry.
Much of that has now changed.
Taking into consideration what we have learned from our two month trial period, we began working on a brand new Parallel Magazine. These past few months, we’ve been updating, improving, and tweaking all aspects of our publication. We are now ready to present the finished product: a full blown, new and improved Parallel.
With the new theme of connections, or parallels between subjects, this will be the last article on Medium. Parallel promises to consistently deliver high quality editorials, features, columns, and everything else you would expect from an online publication. Check out our very own brand new website at www.parallelmagazine.ca.
