More Wellesley flame wars
So these aren't exactly a new thing. Last year Community experienced a couple flare-ups, notably JPham, and one later on about race and PCness and ignorance and privilege. But this one is slightly different in that 1) it's (mostly) on Wellesley FML, and 2) it targets one very specific person.
The original fml went something like, that girl who is always rude on community finally got called out on it, MLIG. And just from that, I knew who the OP was talking about (which I don't really see a problem with because it was still my assumption, it could actually have been any number of people because lots of us get rude on community sometimes, and no names or other defining characteristics were involved). And I'd agree, this girl is generally nasty with her words; she's at the start of every flame war, loves to bash others for their perceived idiocy, privilege, and cruelty (even when the person she's bashing really didn't do anything objectionable), refuses to consider or take responsibility for her words, refuses to consider any other point of view, has a rude retort for anyone who may dare to question her, and generally is a self-satisfied, conflict-seeking, hypocritical bitch. I don't know her at all off of community, but on it, I prefer to have nothing to do with her. So, I thought this FML was completely valid and really amusing.
But then the comments got *really* nasty. People started quoting her--AKA identifying this 'rude person on community' as undoubtably one particular person, with no room for ambiguity, assumptions, or questioning. People started saying that they hated her and hoped that she read this and knew it was her so she'd know that everyone hated her. People started, basically, being just as much--or more--cruel and rude than she usually is. And when she posted to community objecting to the fact that people were doing this, people responded on community agreeing with her, but people responded on Wellesley FML mocking her for her objections. And my feelings on this FML changed very quickly when I saw all this pop up.
Seriously, that whole thing is incredibly not okay. I don't care how much of a bitch this girl is. I don't care who it is or what they did. No one deserves to have that much anonymous hatred directed right at them. It's cruel, it's rude, it's just gross to do it anonymously rather than at least say it to their face--basically, it reads to me as a case of something very like cyber-bullying. Mocking and bashing someone online, without even letting her know who her accusers are, and without giving her a single chance to defend herself or to let others defend her.
So, yeah, I still don't like this girl much. But I feel so incredibly bad for her right now. Somewhat moderated by the fact that her response has been 'You are all ignorant bitches who don't want to face the reality of the arguments I bring up'--but still, if I were her, that would utterly ruin my spring break. I'd be feeling like a good chunk of my school--a place where I currently feel pretty safe--was out to get me. I'd be wondering, every time I talked to a new person, if that person already hated me. If she really wished that I'd just duct tape over my mouth and lock myself in a closet somewhere with no internet. If she secretly wished I had never come to her school. And that would just so utterly suck that I can't help but feel terrible for this girl.
That being said, I am not an utterly selfless person and I hope she takes this as a hint to be more polite and less cruel about her 'heated discussions'. Because, seriously, there are better ways to respond to a privileged comment than "OMG YOU SUCK AS A PERSON You should never talk again because you're clearly stupid and are trying to hurt so many people, why don't you go READ for a change and teach yourself about all this stuff, how dare you expect that anyone would respond to your statement with anything less than shock and anger and rage????" But. This shouldn't be how we do learning experiences. No one should have to deal with so much dislike targeted at them, out of nowhere and without any clear source. Period.
The original fml went something like, that girl who is always rude on community finally got called out on it, MLIG. And just from that, I knew who the OP was talking about (which I don't really see a problem with because it was still my assumption, it could actually have been any number of people because lots of us get rude on community sometimes, and no names or other defining characteristics were involved). And I'd agree, this girl is generally nasty with her words; she's at the start of every flame war, loves to bash others for their perceived idiocy, privilege, and cruelty (even when the person she's bashing really didn't do anything objectionable), refuses to consider or take responsibility for her words, refuses to consider any other point of view, has a rude retort for anyone who may dare to question her, and generally is a self-satisfied, conflict-seeking, hypocritical bitch. I don't know her at all off of community, but on it, I prefer to have nothing to do with her. So, I thought this FML was completely valid and really amusing.
But then the comments got *really* nasty. People started quoting her--AKA identifying this 'rude person on community' as undoubtably one particular person, with no room for ambiguity, assumptions, or questioning. People started saying that they hated her and hoped that she read this and knew it was her so she'd know that everyone hated her. People started, basically, being just as much--or more--cruel and rude than she usually is. And when she posted to community objecting to the fact that people were doing this, people responded on community agreeing with her, but people responded on Wellesley FML mocking her for her objections. And my feelings on this FML changed very quickly when I saw all this pop up.
Seriously, that whole thing is incredibly not okay. I don't care how much of a bitch this girl is. I don't care who it is or what they did. No one deserves to have that much anonymous hatred directed right at them. It's cruel, it's rude, it's just gross to do it anonymously rather than at least say it to their face--basically, it reads to me as a case of something very like cyber-bullying. Mocking and bashing someone online, without even letting her know who her accusers are, and without giving her a single chance to defend herself or to let others defend her.
So, yeah, I still don't like this girl much. But I feel so incredibly bad for her right now. Somewhat moderated by the fact that her response has been 'You are all ignorant bitches who don't want to face the reality of the arguments I bring up'--but still, if I were her, that would utterly ruin my spring break. I'd be feeling like a good chunk of my school--a place where I currently feel pretty safe--was out to get me. I'd be wondering, every time I talked to a new person, if that person already hated me. If she really wished that I'd just duct tape over my mouth and lock myself in a closet somewhere with no internet. If she secretly wished I had never come to her school. And that would just so utterly suck that I can't help but feel terrible for this girl.
That being said, I am not an utterly selfless person and I hope she takes this as a hint to be more polite and less cruel about her 'heated discussions'. Because, seriously, there are better ways to respond to a privileged comment than "OMG YOU SUCK AS A PERSON You should never talk again because you're clearly stupid and are trying to hurt so many people, why don't you go READ for a change and teach yourself about all this stuff, how dare you expect that anyone would respond to your statement with anything less than shock and anger and rage????" But. This shouldn't be how we do learning experiences. No one should have to deal with so much dislike targeted at them, out of nowhere and without any clear source. Period.