Laura Zweiner addressed an anonymously written blog in her column, "Duke High School" (Feb. 17). In the wake of her article, many students, greek and non-greek alike, felt inspired to read and respond to the livejournal.
Reading what DukeObsrvr had to say about the sororities wasn't what shocked me. He/she basically described what we all know to be stereotypes. While those stereotypes are unsettling, they are just stereotypes and nothing more. But this "amazing insight" generated frightening responses.
Among the threads on the website, there is abundant name-calling, group-bashing and even suggestions for certain respondents to commit suicide. The most horrible aspect of these strings of invectives is that most of the posts are anonymous. How could the respondents harbor such harsh feelings toward one another and why do Duke students feel such a desire to berate each other? They don't even care who they are hurting.
Duke is competitive, to say the least. I do not claim to think that, among the array of groups on this campus, there will ever be a time free from resentment between groups or individuals. But this public bashing reflects poorly on everyone in this institution. By calling one another "sluts" and "fags," we are reinforcing the harmful power of these words and validating their use for a time when someone can use them against us. I'm not sure why we are so intent verbally abusing each other, but maybe we need to revisit Sandbox 101. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.
Lauren Wessel
Pratt '09
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