Grahn, Shelby2023-02-062023-02-062022Grahn, S. (2022). The entanglement of the 21st century. Crossing Borders: Student Reflections on Global Social Issues, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.31542/cb.v4i1.2482https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14078/2956Oft forgotten poet and playwright Sir Walter Scott once wrote, “O, what a tangled web we weave…” (Marmion, 1808, 17). While Scott spoke of a tragic romance, in 2018, journalist Al Fonzi echoed these words in an incendiary New Times article accusing The Sierra Club, an “influential grassroots environmental organization”, of being influenced by Russia. Fonzi went on to endorse fracking as a cleaner way of obtaining fossil fuels, appealing to those concerned about climate change by remarking how America had reduced its carbon emissions more than any other nation (Fonzi, 2018). He praised the industry’s benefit to the economy and its high starting wages. The article closes with a suggestion that those who would turn away from oil and gas are just being influenced to damage the American energy sector. Fonzi is assertive in his beliefs, even in the face of commenters who passionately disagree with his opinions and despite the available research concluding otherwise. How can someone, let alone a journalist, be so willfully ignorant? Does the sharing of these attitudes have any real effect on society? Subjectivism states that there is always a myriad of factors at play as to why anything is the way that it is. Fonzi is a product of all the things he has experienced and has been influenced by all of the labels he has worn. According to the brief biography following the article, Fonzi is a veteran, having served in both Vietnam and Iraq, with 35 years of military intelligence under his belt. From the comments, it is suggested that he is an advocate of Donald Trump. He is also a journalist, one of the most popular tools used in the sharing of dominant moral codes (Philipzig, 2022). The comments accompanying Fonzi’s article serve as a small example of the constant conflict occurring in society due to a sophisticated interplay of many different factors, which this paper will aim to explore as they apply to the current state of our world.enAttribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)societal issuesconflictStudent Articlehttps://doi.org/10.31542/cb.v4i1.2482