Online bullying prevalent at USD
USD Confessions is a popular Facebook page where students can post anonymous confessions essentially about anything. I’ve never posted anything on there, but sometimes it’s simply fun to see what other people have to say.
On Oct. 7, I saw one post that basically recalled the anonymous poster’s trip to Walmart and how they had overheard a man making fun of a woman in front of him for being overweight. Upon the woman confronting the rude man, he had made another remark to the woman’s face, and the anon felt it was really funny.
The comments underneath, however, thought otherwise, and claimed that, no, it wasn’t funny and no, someone should not blatantly make fun of someone whom they probably do not know about their weight.
This particular confession has been deleted since then, but there are numerous other posts on the page regarding fat shaming:
Seeing posts like this got me thinking there are so many things people are judged for and so many things people say that makes others feel uncomfortable, belittled, ashamed or simply down. People think they have the right to tell someone they should not be this way, but instead of showing real concern they are just being rude and inconsiderate.
When people hear these things being said about them, whatever the case may be, there are those who are braver than others and are able to brush it off without a care and simply ignore them.
But there are also those who don’t take criticism lightly.
It’s a two-way street. If someone does not want to be judged for being themselves, then it is also not OK to make fun of someone else.
Stating that because someone dresses a certain way, acts a certain way or is a particular body size and they are not good enough is wrong on many levels. I want to know why people feel they have the audacity to just say things like that. Based on the deleted confession, I can only assume the woman being made fun of was simply minding her own business, and that alone should trigger the guy to back off.
No one realizes that what they say could really have a harsh effect on the victim. People have heard of people starving themselves, committing suicide and doing terrible things because they were being bullied.
What is even worse about this is the fact is that we are in college — a liberal arts college — where we are supposed to be the example of acceptance and tolerance. While it’s seemingly obvious that bullying will be present in any setting, this is still wrong.
I like to think bullying in the open was something young children did, but to see it happening in college is actually pretty upsetting. If college students are supposed to be adults, then why do they still feel like they can make fun of people like this?
I don’t understand what the guy essentially believed he would accomplish by doing this. Cliche or not, no one is perfect, which is why it is so, so upsetting that people think they can say things to make others feel bad about themselves.
Fat shaming, or really, shaming people for any reason, needs to be addressed, because words really do have an impact on people.
