EDITOR #37
In today’s society, people are obsessed with posting as many things on social networking sites as possible. Our generation loves to see how many “likes” we can get for every post and every photograph. Unfortunately, many individuals, are not mature enough to ensure that what they post will not harm or offend someone else. Therefore, when a heated response is created to something posted, people often take offense.
However, instead of solving the issue by clarifying a misconception, apologizing for any offenses or removing the post altogether, many decide to make the situation worse by responding with a personal attack. This then becomes a public fight where friends, (if you can even call them that) encourage violence and push the people involved to a level of anger and hatred that they probably would never have reached if they were not encouraged. Many think it is funny to read spats and verbal abuse online; in fact, they even enjoy watching it escalate into physical violence. As long as they are not personally harmed or involved in it, people enjoy it. They live for it, wait for it and even plant the seeds of conflict hoping for it to happen. In my opinion, this is the ultimate sign of selfishness and is extremely unethical. It is not funny to watch two individuals, blinded by rage, beating each other while an obnoxious and ignorant hoard of behemoths jump up and down with arms flailing, cameras flashing and shouts roaring.
I am not proud of the image these people give my generation and do not appreciate that a few selfish and immature people can ruin the reputations of many. My generation needs to learn that just because you are not personally being harmed by something does not mean that it is funny. The pain of someone else should never be associated with humor and entertainment. This only makes matters worse and puts people in situations they never would have found themselves in if they were not encouraged by others. In fact, regarding the fights that occurred at Poly in the past week, I strongly believe that the people involved would not have confronted each other with such violence and hatred had they not been encouraged and egged on by their “friends.”
Like I stated before, this is very unfortunate and I agree with you that people need to grow up and solve their problems like mature adults. I mean seriously, some of our student body is old enough to vote, yet they still cannot solve a simple disagreement without pulling each other’s hair out and trying to send the other to the emergency room! Situations like this remind me of the movie Mean Girls and make me wonder, “Why can’t we all just get along and bake a cake full of rainbows and smiles and we’d all just eat it and be happy!”