"Odyssey is a social content platform that discovers and shares a chorus of millennial voices, amplified organically through social media. The platform empowers its thousands of writers to contribute and share what matters to them, and enables content to find its most relevant audience organically."
Let's just take a moment to evaluate this statement. Odyssey is not a place where college students go to write a piece for a professor, endorse a political campaign, or look for an opportunity to make extra cash. It is indeed a place where we are able to freely write about any topic we choose, whether or not one agrees with it.
One of the biggest criticisms of Odyssey is that articles are written by 20-year-olds who have the same economic, religious, and political standing. Apparently we are all white supremacists as well. This is news to me. I pride myself on being a part of an extremely diverse team of men and women from Lynchburg College. Among this group we have advocates for both sides of the political spectrum, people who promote social equality, and some of the most humble human beings I have ever met. If they are like me, they didn't start writing for this website as an opportunity to make extra cash.
I believe that the biggest misinterpretation most critics have is that writers are automatically paid for the work they publish. This would be false. Although it is indeed possible to make money if you have the most shared article for the week, the sum you are prized with is nothing substantial. We write because we want to, not because there is an economic incentive. Another misunderstanding that many people tend to have is that as writers, we apparently have a coat of armor protecting us from those who troll the website.
Someone once told me that I needed to take responsibility for what I write, and I appreciated that dearly. It made me come to the realization that when I submit touchy articles, I should do a little more research and make sure that my own biases don't engulf my article. However, it also made me realize that other people should also take responsibility for what they post on Odyssey.
As so many have pointed out, we are college students. With that said, we are not going to have perfect grammar and we have many other things going on in our lives, so give us a break. If you do not like a specific article, please do us all a favor and scroll past it. I can guarantee that we have to do the same thing when we see an article we do not agree with. We do not need you trolling our articles because it is a viewpoint you don't agree with. We also don't need you to degrade our intelligence or make assumptions about us when you don't know us on a personal level.
So to everyone who hates Odyssey so much, please remember that we are human beings with feelings as well. If we write about a subject that you do not agree with, I'm sorry it has upset you enough to post about it, but I am not sorry for having a different opinion than yours. I will continue to write for Odyssey because it is my right to do so, and it is something that gives me a creative outlet in this chaos called life.
