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Refugees arriving in Scotland will get this front page greeting.

Immediately following the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris, refugees from Syria were thrown into the spotlight.

And, in many ways, unfairly so.


Photo by John Moore/Getty Images.

Speculation began swirling that those involved in the Nov. 13, 2015, attacks had crossed into France amongst the wave of Syrian refugees escaping conflict.

This line of thinking prompted harsh anti-refugee rhetoric across Western Europe. In the U.S., presidential hopefuls have said barring entry for refugees — even children under the age of 5 — is the only way to go. Dozens of U.S. governors are refusing to accept refugees into their states (although, it doesn't look like they'll be successful in doing so).

A Scottish newspaper, however, is taking a much different, and more empathetic approach.

And many people are applauding the outlet's message.

The Nov. 17, 2015 edition of The National isn't shying away from its take on refugees on the day the first Syrians are set to arrive in Scotland: You're welcome here.

In an editorial on the subject, the newspaper called out political "bigots" in Scotland who are attempting to "poison minds against the Syrian refugees."

"They will not succeed in doing so," the outlet wrote.

"Their blatant and cynical attempt to capitalize on a tragedy will disgust the vast majority of Scots, who understand that refugees from Syria are fleeing the very same terrorism of which our French neighbors were targets last weekend."

The tweet with The National's front page has spread like wildfire, garnering more than 2,300 retweets in a matter of hours.

As President Obama reminded us, it's vital we remember that refugees are those trying to escape the violence — not perpetuate it.

During a nearly hour-long press conference at the G-20 summit in Turkey on Monday, Obama reiterated that many refugees are, in fact, the victims of terrorism — not terrorist sympathizers.

"The people who are fleeing Syria are the most harmed by terrorism, the most vulnerable as a consequence of civil war and strife."

Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images.

In the wake of the Paris attacks, the Obama administration has remained steadfast in accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees into the U.S. in 2016 — a drastic increase from previous years.

In his G-20 summit statements, the president also made sure to point out that radical extremists — not Muslims — were responsible for the attacks in France. It's vital to differentiate the two.

"When I hear folks say, 'Maybe we should just admit the Christians, but not the Muslims,' when I hear political leaders suggesting that there would be a religious test for which person who's fleeing from a war-torn country is admitted, when some of those folks, themselves, come from families who benefited from protection when they were fleeing political persecution, that's shameful. That's not American. That's not who we are. We don't have religious tests to our compassion."

Terrorism can be a scary and disorienting thing, and it can lead to irrational reactions to what's happening here and abroad.

That's all the more reason why we should all keep The National's front page in mind and make sure to prioritize compassion over fear in the months ahead.

After all, we're all in this together.

A Korean mother and her son

A recently posted story on Reddit shows a mother confidently standing up for her family after being bullied by a teacher for her culture. Reddit user Flowergardens0 posted the story to the AITA forum, where people ask whether they are wrong in a specific situation.

Over 5,600 people commented on the story, and an overwhelming majority thought the mother was right. Here’s what went down:

“I (34F) have a (5M) son who attends preschool. A few hours after I picked him up from school today, I got a phone call from his teacher,” Flowergardens0 wrote. “She made absolutely no effort to sound kind when she, in an extremely rude and annoyed tone, told me to stop packing my son such ‘disgusting and inappropriate’ lunches."

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Photo by Egor Vikhrev on Unsplash

Let's talk about what makes people read articles.

The adage, "If it bleeds, it leads," refers to the media's tendency to headline stories involving death or violence, but it can also be used to point to people's negativity bias. Simply put, people tend to pay more attention to negative news stories than positive ones.

A new study seems to reinforce this idea. And much to our surprise, it's centered on headlines used in Upworthy stories.

Using a public archive of Upworthy headlines and traffic data from 2012 to 2015, two separate teams of researchers analyzed whether people's click tendencies changed with negative or positive words in headlines. In those olden days of Upworthy, a handful of headlines for a single story were tested on the website to see which one would receive the most clicks. The research teams analyzed those results and found that negative words in headlines led to more people clicking on a story (2.3% more), and positive words in headlines led to fewer clicks (1.0% fewer). They also found a preference for headlines that express sadness over those that express joy, fear or anger.

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Woman was mocked online for calling an $80 purse a 'luxury item.' Her response went viral.

"I'm so grateful that my dad was able to get me one. He worked so hard for that money.”

@zohtaco/TikTok

Zoe Gabriel, showing off her new purse from Charles & Keith

Insults of any kind are painful, but jabs towards someone’s financial status are their own breed.

In January 2023, Singapore-based Zoe Gabriel was on the receiving end of this particular flavor of mockery when she posted a TikTok about a purse from local retail brand Charles & Keith—a gift bought for her by her father.

In her excitement, the 17-year-old called the bag, which costs around $80, a “luxury” item as she unwrapped it. Her excitement was sadly cut short by some of the negative comments she received.

One comment seemed to stand out above the rest and prompted Gabriel to post an emotional response video.

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Parenting is the most important job that most people will ever have in life. Your decisions as a parent will be some of the most important determining factors in whether your child becomes a happy and productive adult or not. It's a huge responsibility.

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RuPaul's Drag Race 'Footloose' parody gets high praise from Kevin Bacon himself

When the OG Ren McCormack approves, you know you're in for something good.

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Fans of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” are well acquainted with the “Rusical” segment, but in case this word seems like something out of Dr. Seuss, here’s a brief explainer: A Rusical is a challenge on the show where contestants put on a live parody drag musical. Since debuting in Season 6, the Rusical has become a beloved staple of the series, with some of the most popular titles being “Madonna: The Unauthorized Rusical,” “HERstory of the World” and “Moulin Ru: The Rusical.”

For Episode 12, the queens drew inspiration from the 1984 movie “Footloose” to tell a story about a small town that prohibits drag rather than dancing. The performance got a sweet seal of approval from the OG Ren McCormack himself.
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