By Emily Sullivan
Opinion Assignment Editor
I’ve seen some weird things on Facebook throughout the years.
Whether it’s a spam picture of a huge pimple or a friend request from someone I’ve never met, my newsfeed rarely surprises me.
Recently, however, people on Facebook have found a way to surprise and disgust me simultaneously. Several different fan pages and events created by anonymous people were posted on Facebook titled, “Competition for the Most Beautiful Teenager.”
Since when did Facebook turn into a beauty pageant?
Basically, teenagers of both genders are encouraged to post pictures of themselves onto the walls of the competition pages. Then they sit back and wait for people to comment on and like their photo. Whoever gets the most likes wins.
And what’s the grand prize? A few perverted comments and an ego boost.
As I flipped through the pictures, I became increasingly disgusted. There were plenty of people who posted pictures that could be considered beautiful. The comments on the photos, however, showed me that people throughout the world do not share the same idea of beauty as I do. Nor do they have any sense of what is socially acceptable.
It was painful to read some of the comments on the photos. Some of them were vulgar, especially on the pictures of girls who don’t look to be any older than 16. For instance, one young girl with braces posted a picture of herself sitting next to a creek. She wasn’t wearing a lot of makeup and was in a T-shirt and shorts.
Someone commented on it, “Somebody push her in and not let her back out. YIKES,” while another tagged a note in her photo that said, “This was before I raped her in this crick.”
Another girl posted a picture of herself after her chemotherapy treatments, showing off her beautiful smile and her pretty eyes. She didn’t have any hair, but that didn’t make her any less beautiful. It showed she was a survivor.
But one classy person commented on it, saying, “Ew. Kill urself.”
Inappropriate doesn’t even begin to describe some of the other comments on these pictures.
People like that need to grow up. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me” is a complete lie. Words can hurt. They can break people down until they feel like nothing.
Having someone tell you to kill yourself isn’t something that can roll off your back easily.
We’ve all dealt with the annoying pictures on Facebook of girls making the classic “duck face” (the awkward pucker of your lips) and “chucking up the deuces” (a peace sign). Yes, they get obnoxious over time, but being mean and commenting with cruel words is only going to result in people getting hurt and feeling horribly about themselves.
And when people are being bullied like that, the victims tend to be the ones to hurt themselves.
How can cruel words so easily be said, or, in this case, typed? How does a person’s conscience allow him or her to say things they know will hurt other people in a way that can’t be healed easily?
It depresses me to know we live in a world where people can be so callous.
If you don’t have anything nice to say, then just keep your mouth shut and your hands off the keyboard. It’ll prevent a lot of problems.
sullivec10@bonaventure.edu
