7 opinions that caught your attention in 2022
Looking back on our most-read opinions of the year: the Oz-Fetterman debate, the war in Ukraine, trans athlete Lia Thomas, access to abortion, and more.
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At The Inquirer Opinion section, arguments are what we do. As 2022 comes to a close, here are the seven opinions that most caught your attention in the last year, measured by online page views.
On Oct. 25, the two candidates to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate — Republican Mehmet Oz and Democrat John Fetterman — faced off in Harrisburg for the first and last time. In this special feature, published the night of the debate, Inquirer Opinion writers ranked the candidates: 1 meant the candidate performed worse than the 2015 Phillies; 10 was a decisive win.
2. At Texas rally, Trump all but promised a racially charged civil war if he’s indicted | Will Bunch
On a Saturday in January, Donald Trump “delivered one of the most incendiary and most dangerous speeches in America’s 246-year history,” wrote columnist Will Bunch.
3. Why Putin’s Ukraine aggression will change the world: An explainer on how we got here | Trudy Rubin
Why does Vladimir Putin want to invade Ukraine? Why is it important to the United States? As the world reacted to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of eastern Ukraine in February, columnist Trudy Rubin — just back from two weeks reporting in Ukraine and Lithuania — unpacked the crisis for readers, providing background that helps untangle the complexity.
4. What trans athlete Lia Thomas teaches us about fairness | Howard Gensler
University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, a trans woman, broke records at the Ivy League swim meet in February. Her story interested sports fans on both sides of the political spectrum and raised issues of science, gender, sports, and fairness. Howard Gensler, a Penn alum and a former writer and editor at The Inquirer, argued that Thomas’ times don’t change anyone else’s times, and a personal best is still a personal best.
“Lia Thomas is following the rules set up by her league. The mere fact that she’s better than everyone else may anger the women she’s beating, and their parents, but she’s not cheating.”
A 2020 study estimated about 5% of the University of California’s 285,000 students — which would be nearly 15,000 — experience homelessness, often sleeping in their cars in Walmart parking lots. Black and brown youth make up a disproportionate share of students without housing. “What are we doing here, America?” Will Bunch asked.
6. Cigarette nicotine levels to make ‘monumental’ shift, and Pa. needs to prepare | Teresa DeAtley
Smoking rates in Philadelphia are higher than the national average. In June, the Food and Drug Administration released a new proposal to reduce the maximum level of nicotine — a highly addictive substance — in cigarettes. This policy, which could go into effect as early as May 2023, would mean that commercially sold cigarettes would contain approximately 95% less nicotine. This would make cigarettes “minimally addictive.”
“Philly will need to help resident smokers adjust to this major change,” wrote Teresa DeAtley, a postdoctoral fellow in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
7. The sexual abuse I suffered as a child made access to abortion a necessity | Debbie Millman
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, Debbie Millman, the host of the podcast Design Matters, wrote a deeply personal essay about the sexual abuse she suffered as a child, and how access to abortion made her feel like she didn’t have to end her life if she got pregnant. “When pregnant people were given the right to bodily autonomy, all the kids like me were granted that salvation, too. And now, we might lose even that.”