By Dylan Hays, Transcript Reporter
Itâs been a few weeks since Iâve been on campus here at Ohio Wesleyan. Let me tell you, my first few weeks at OWU have been amazing.
I love the campus, I love the history, the culture, the diversity, the people … well, most of the people. Before classes started, the studying became priority and before I even found a core group of friends, I was introduced to the Instagram account âowu_macks,â which as of now (Sept. 20, 11:00 p.m.) has 240 posts and 1,291 fol- lowers, and the most recent photo has a respectable 95 likes.
When I first saw this account I thought little of it â just another stupid thing we college kids do. The more I thought about it, the more it enraged me, the more furi- ous I became. It is not the subject matter itself that brings up so many feelings, but merely the fact that no one seems to be bothered by it.
During orientation we were presented were presented with different seminars on college relationships, hook-ups and sexual assault.
I greatly respected the choice to include these sessions and I think they were not only insightful, but necessary. Of course you have the guy who hasnât really gotten out of his high school stage and is yell- ing just a couple of inappropriate jokes, but I seemed to think that these individuals were the minority and most students were more adult than that.
I loved the fact that OWU took the time to talk about this serious topic, one that most other larger universities tend to ignore until itâs much too late. Then days later, I began to really think as to why someone would make this ac- count. The truth, I admit, is I do not know. I do not even understand why someone would think itâs OK.
If you are not familiar with the account, then let me explain that the way it works. One indi- vidual will snap a photo of fellow students making out (usually at a party or other similar situation) and direct message the image to the account where it is posted with a âcleverâ comment.
Why does this inherently anger me? Why should a first- year student care so much? Well, why should I not care? This is my school as well, my pride, the place I hope to graduate from one day.
Should the highlight of our school be the fact that we, as students, are doing great things or the fact that two students once kissed at a party and their photo now resides on the Internet for- ever. I could go into the details of how itâs a part of rape culture and the logistics of these individuals not giving consent to have these photos posted. The thing is, IÂ shouldnât.
That girl you just posted a photo of? She has a family, she has hopes and dreams and one day her potential employer might see that photo. That guy in the picture? His future children might see
that; what would they think? That person you just tagged? They are now forever linked to one moment in their life that they just might not want to remember.
Iâm not shaming anyone (except the individual(s) who manage the account). We all make mistakes, thatâs a part of being human â but the Internet is this false intimacy that we all have become addicted to. Iâm not asking anyone reading this to think twice. I am asking you to think differently