As much as I love Clark, and as strongly as I feel for all of the people that make up the Clark community, I see no reason for us to keep using these confession pages, as they always, no matter what, become harbingers of some of the worst, foulest thoughts that could possibly be voiced on campus. It is one thing to admit having streaked around campus and in various buildings, but it is another thing entirely to use it to anonymously shit-talk this or that group on campus that you don’t agree with.

There is a reason the old Clark Compliments page is no longer in use. There’s a reason that the admins of the new page had to make clear that people can’t be as liberal with their words and profusions as they apparently were being. Sure, I am sarcastic and sassy, but the only people I have lashed out at where the couple people blanketing all Clark feminists as mentally-disabled and politically uninformed. Isn’t it enough of an issue that a lot of the first years at Clark are feeling alone, despite being surrounded by a couple thousand people that claim to be interested in changing their world?

There was a person who posted on the site a few days ago who wanted to thank the tour guide they had because she helped to sell our school to them. OUR school. Yet what have most of the other posts on that page been about? All athletes are meat heads and full of themselves, all guys at Clark care about is skinny girls who can’t dance, I’m sick of being a nice guy, no one hear seems to actually want to challenge conventions of change their world, etc. The same bullshit over and over again. Yet not one of those people has the balls to go public and actually defend what they’re saying any more than a number.

I thought the whole point of the programs we do during orientation were supposed to remind us that labeling people like this is incredibly dehumanizing. I thought as a society and as a community we could be above all of these vicious anonymous bouts of hatred toward each other. And I honestly thought that everyone was more mature than this. That’s all those assumptions are, though, it seems: thoughts.

Just to be clear, I am in no way trying to distance myself from the Clark community; if anything, I am trying to delve deeper into it, because I know that we can be better. But in order for that to happen, we have got to be able to accept that this “Confession” page is doing our community no good, as it is. I think the idea in theory is genius, and it allows people to be able to voice concerns for our community on a large scale. What I aim to speak out against, however, is the animosity that naturally arises from these kinds of submissions.

If I piss you off on Clark Confessions, tell me. Message me. I’m all ears to talk to someone who wants to tell me off for saying something that annoyed them. But I don’t make grand claims or stereotype people just to get a “point” across. I have no patience for that kind of mentality.

Again, there has been more than one post about people eating alone, or having trouble making friends at Clark. Why. Hasn’t. Anyone. Offered. To. Talk. To. Them? How difficult is it to reach out and make sure a member of your community is comfortable? Seriously? I’m studying in Scotland right now, so I’m sure there’ll be people that call me out for it, but in doing so, would be completely sidestepping the question still at hand. You don’t have to cure cancer or develop a way to breathe in space to change your world. If you can make someone smile, at the very least, that should be enough to fulfill your passions for change. Have that be a daily ritual. Then all the people complaining about the way people act on campus will be able to see that they were wrong.

If Clark Confessions stays around, then so will I, as I see no point in continuing to do my duty as a member of this community, and to make sure that things aren’t always as awful as they may seem at first.