By Alleyha Dannett, GHS Class of ’14
Within the course of the regular school day, the anonymous shared texting app “YikYak” brought many to tears, rage, shock, and virtually every emotion in between.
People spent the day anonymously posting disgusting, offensive, degrading, and downright hurtful comments.
Though some were on the more innocent side, which in terms of Yik Yak just means not directed towards anyone/group in specific, most of them were vulgar, lewd, and absolutely hate filled.
“Yikyak is scary and it’s something that we should really be ashamed of, given recent events… though many of the posts were innocent and/or ‘joking,’ the posts that mentioned specific people (especially those that targeted people for their looks) were rude, unwarranted, and indecent,” said GHS senior Patrice Dichristina about Friday’s Yik Yak incident at the high school on Friday.
“It’s humiliating for me to think of pitiful people that I know hiding behind their phone keyboards regurgitating their lame remarks about others’ bodies and personal actions,” Dichristina continued. “This app is just asking to be abused — my only solution to this embarrassing situation is to block the app off of the school wifi and try to prosecute those who posted demeaning messages.”
It spread like wildfire.
By the time I had heard of Yik Yak, about 2:30pm, it had already done its damage and torn the student body to bits. Absolutely no one had been exempt from the pure fire being spit out by these trolls of peers.
A fellow senior, and friend, very passionately posted saying, “ I saw some pretty cruel things written today and whoever posted anything on that stupid app should feel *horrible after what happened with Bart (Palosz) in the beginning of the year you guys still think it’s funny to bully other people online? Or even in general? I know most people were laughing about it today but it should be taken seriously. I don’t know what *there is to laugh about. The first few things I saw yeah, I laughed at. I thought it was harmless fun, but then, things got mean. Someone wrote something about me (which, whoever it was, it’s a low blow to attack somebody’s weight, sorry i’m not a twig) and then things were getting way out of hand which is why the school is getting involved. you should all be avoiding this kind of stuff and I hope whoever wrote in it and thought what they wrote was a joke feels awful. I can’t believe that a sophomore killing himself because of cyber bullying wouldn’t stop you all from doing something like this. It’s messed up and it’s not a joke.”
A wonderful point indeed. After so much tragedy, and pain, and so many resolutions to love and accept and truly care for one another, merely seven months after the tragic suicide of such a gentle soul, for these very reasons; this is what we have come to? As a member of the Names Team Steering Committee, a graduating Senior, and simply someone with a heart, it pains me to see that this is what we have come to.
Indiscriminately attacking one another for our bodies, choices, sexual orientations, and everything else that actually makes us who we are. I am not only disgusted by the behavior and lack of empathy by my classmates (as I myself was also mentioned in the stream), but hurt and truly and disappointed in the pure, unadulterated, anonymous hate that has been spread.
And saddest part is, we will never even know who they were.
Related Story:
Bullying in Greenwich Schools Is it Getting Better?
__________________________________________________________________
Email news tips to Greenwich Free Press editor [email protected]
Like Greenwich Free Press on Facebook.