A couple days ago, Saint Xavier sent out an e-mail stating that it would remain open despite the cold weather, and many students (even some of us at The Xavierite) were less than thrilled at the University’s decision. Many posted statuses on Facebook about how unhappy they were with the chance of having to go to classes tomorrow.
All of the social media buzz never went past mild to moderate annoyance, but there are some schools where this was not the case.
According to an article on Buzzfeed.com, students at the University of Illinois were in the same predicament.
However, they reacted in a much different way than the students at SXU. Shortly after the Chancellor of U of I made the announcement, students created a very unsavory hashtag on Twitter.
At first, the tweets were just mean, but soon students started getting angrier and angrier. Not long after that, students started making racist comments and even created a fake twitter account for her, which was filled with more racist, hateful content.
Another hashtag on Twitter has gained popularity: #freebeiber. Justin has been acting like quite a punk lately (see “The Crusader of Sanity: The one and (hopefully only) time I will ever talk about Justin Bieber” for more information). His most recent act of hooliganism resulted in drag racing, drunk driving and an arrest for the singer.
Since their hero was incarcerated, many of Beiber’s fans (called “Beliebers”) have rallied around #freebieber to show their support for the Canadian pop star.
What do these two hashtags have to do with each other? A sense of entitlement. Both the students at U of I and Beiber acted in a destructive manner, and yet none of them thought of the consequences.
You can’t just verbally assault someone over Twitter or drag race and drive drunk without repercussions.
However, it seems as though today more and more people are doing whatever they want and then thinking that they do not have to be held accountable for their actions.
Even at Saint Xavier there are people who think they are entitled to do whatever they want and have whatever they want without fear of repercussion. Recently, someone at SXU threw a fire extinguisher through a window in O’Brien Hall (for more information, read “Missteps in O’Brien”). Seriously though, guys, who throws a fire extinguisher?
Overall, we are a very entitled generation. Thousands of Beliebers think that Justin shouldn’t be in jail for drunk driving. Obviously Justin thought that he was above the rules that society has set in place and that his entertainment is more important than the safety of others.
Students think they can assault people over the Internet and nobody can do anything about it. They think they are invincible, untouchable. They throw fire extinguishers, use hurtful words and endanger others. More importantly, they don’t care.
We at The Xavierite don’t have a solution to this problem. In fact, from time to time, we may even act entitled ourselves (but we don’t throw fire extinguishers).
However, we ask that you keep in mind that you are responsible for your actions and we will try to do the same.
The Xavierite Staff
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