Pride is a good thing to have. Dogma tells us pride is sin, but I’m all for it, as it uplifts the spirit and extends beyond the proud to inspire and uplift others within their social and private lives. I’m proud of Madison College: proud of what this college offers and of the people who attend and work here to make it what it is.

Then, one unfortunate day, I came across the Facebook page called MATC-Madison College Confessions, and I cannot help but feel a sinful sort of shame. Proceed with caution, dear reader, if you feel the need to look it up, as it’s rife with explicit, derogatory language even a seasoned Internet troll would find impressive.

The confessions page allows Facebook users to post anonymously by following a link in the page’s “about” section, but the administrator ultimately decides what to post. We know how anonymity affects the behavior of people on the internet. Hiding behind that virtual cloak of invisibility, many see an outlet from which to spew their innermost aggressions and affronts unto the world. Most notable of the pages concerning characteristics (and I’m uncertain which is the worst) is that in the span of three to five posts, the majority of them take the form of:

(A) Racist comments or slurs aimed at students.

(B) Slut-shaming or sexually and emotionally abusive statements aimed at (mostly female) students.

And,

(C) What can only be described as poor attempts at humor involving feces, prostitutes and/or disgusting and too often violent sexual acts.

In the real world, however, saying such things out loud and in a public space would have most looking down their noses at such an individual, or worse, which goes to show how cowardly trolling is. Together, (a), (b) and (c) make up the majority of the content, with only a mere spattering of posts from students that are positive in nature or which offer comments that could lead to productive changes for our school. Unfortunately, they are lost when posted on a page that no official school administrator is ever going see or take seriously.

It is unclear what can or should be done about MATC-Madison College Confessions, but what is clear is that it is being used as an outlet for people with little else to do other than harass and incite malice towards others at this school. The question is: How far will people go?