Bear’s Growl: UPIKE Confessions Twitter causes controversy
0By: Courtney Lovern
In the blockbuster movie Mean Girls, the most popular girls in school put together a “burn book” which “disses” their fellow classmates. Some are truthful; some are simply rumors, and after a while, the book is revealed to the whole school. The University of Pikeville is facing a similar threat with a recent Twitter account that goes by the name of “UPIKE CONFESSIONS.”
I haven’t appeared on confessions as often as others, and I’m thankful for that, but I’ve noticed that the account has caused quite a stir throughout the UPIKE campus. The posts are uncensored and mostly negative about other students with few positive comments being made. UPIKE Confessions currently has approximately 950 followers. It is run by an unknown person and students are asked to send their “confessions” to a specially-made account on a site called Ask.fm.
Ask.fm is a site where people can ask questions at random and anonymously to others on the site. Whoever runs confessions goes to the account, looks at all the anonymous comments on the Ask.fm site, and posts them onto the Twitter account for the world to see.
I abide by the notion that people can say what they want, but those who really know you, know the truth. Others aren’t as easygoing about this account. Some get on there and tell secrets; others just “diss” people. Some genuine questions appear without any malice to their posts. But, some of the things are hurtful and have caused friction in relationships and friendships around campus.
This brings me to my point. Why are we constantly bringing others down? Has someone done something so hurtful to these people that they feel obligated to tell secrets or lies on this account? And if they do feel this way, why hide behind a keyboard and stay anonymous with their words? If they truly mean them and think they are the truth, why can’t they claim whom they are?
This is why I take everything on the account with a grain of salt. The information on it is just as honest as the people’s identities that post them. The more attention a site such as this gets, the longer it will continue. If you are also fed up with the confessions, then it would be best to stop viewing and reading it.
UPIKE isn’t unique, though, as other schools have also started their own confession sites, such as “WKU Confessions” for Western Kentucky University and even local high school students have made similar sites. Who knows how long this trend will continue? Confession is supposed to be good for the soul, but UPIKE Confessions is quite the opposite.