“NP Roast” yet another example of cyber-irresponsibility

Time to stand up as a voice against social media insensitivity

Social+media+continues+to+be+a+tool+used+in+insensitive+ways%2C+such+as+a+recent+twitter+account+created+to+besmirch+fellow+students.

Social media continues to be a tool used in insensitive ways, such as a recent twitter account created to besmirch fellow students.

Accountability is becoming few and far between as various social media outlets allow for posting without providing any identity. While some may bask in the element of secrecy, the lack of ownership is allowing for vicious comments to be aired for the eyes of all application users.

About a year ago, Yik Yak, the anonymous commenting app, took the world and North Penn High School by storm. Instead of using it as a fun connection between peers, most teens used it to anonymously degrade other people.

This opened the doors for the student body to collectively trash the reputations of their fellow classmates. Even though the content was usually fabricated or exaggerated, it still caused people to view others in a bad light.

Yik Yak has since died out, but now North Penn is facing its own “who said it” with the creation of The North Penn Roast. This twitter account consists of insulting remarks against various students in the building, accompanied at times with insulting photographs. While the person behind the account remains unknown publicly, posts continue to be uploaded.

This account is beyond ridiculous starting with its name. Each tweet lacks sophistication and humor, so technically the account is inaccurate being titled a “roast”. Roasts are supposed to be public displays of humor created to bring light to the lives of famous people, often celebrities, or politicians, whereby the person being roasted voluntarily puts him or herself on stage for good natured barbs. And, being in the public eye anyway, that person has the thick skin to be able to handle the voluntary humor.

Targeting people with insults about their appearance for all twitter users to see is just wrong, insensitive, and in some cases illegal. No one asked to be “roasted”, and typically, a person agrees to be placed in such a vulnerable position. In this case, they are unknowingly being photographed (often during class) and then bullied on social media. This is borderline illegal for anyone out there thinking this is a good idea.

Even more appalling is the fact that over 500 people have agreed to follow the nonsense within the past week. It’s unbelievable to witness an account gaining such popularity since its sole intent is to put down other people. In fact, even this article is bringing unneeded publicity to this ridiculous twitter page, but the purpose here is a voice for the bullied, not a trumpeter for the insensitive bullying.

More people need to realize that every retweet and like feeds into the account manager’s happiness and makes him believe that the nonsense is acceptable, encouraged, and desired. I think it’s safe to say that for the educated and moral populous, it is not.

Making inappropriate comments towards other students from behind a computer screen is pathetic. This all just goes back to the appropriate technological use phrase “if you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face, do not post it online.”

Arguably the worst part about this anonymous account is that students are unable to defend themselves until after the tweet has gone public.

On top of that, putting someone with special needs under attack (which has already happened) is disgusting, especially when he or she may not even be aware of the post in the first place. These students are the most beautiful people of all and deserve no insensitive things to be said about them when they can’t help their actions in the first place. To stoop so low speaks volumes about the integrity of the person behind this account.

Being a part of the North Penn School District, it’s disappointing seeing fellow members stooping down to such a juvenile level. People need to mature in order to be a part of the solution needed to wrangle in this pressing problem of cyber bullying.

The voice needed to fight a cyber-bully can come from any person whether it is the actual victim or just another bystander.It can be as complex as writing a message to the actual person responsible, but it can also be as simple as clicking unfollow, unretweet, or unlike.

A school of over 3,000 students should have more people trying to stop this account, not following it to see its newest insults. Continuing to report this account will hopefully lead to its demise. Currently it has two usernames: @ThePennDaily and @TheDailyPenn can both be searched and then reported under settings.

As for the coward hiding behind a screen, here’s a basic lesson you must have missed out on as a child. If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all.