“I find it interesting that most of the responses were made by accounts set to ‘private.’”

People tend to speak their mind, it’s human nature. However when animosity is involved, so is another wave of confidence. We all know someone who will speak their mind on social media and won’t hold an argument when face to face with the person they were just talking with on social media. 

Arguments are everywhere, comments saying things about others on their private stories, making dedicated posts, direct messaging someone, or arguing in a comment of a post. Arguments like this tend to get more serious when the post is from a community. It’s easy to go under a celebrity’s post and say something, but what about when it’s our own school board?

August 9, 2021, the official Bullitt County School Board’s Instagram posted that we would be back in masks during school. Disregarding your own opinion on masks you could see a difference in accounts that were posting more controversial opinions. 

People with longer, more drawled-out aggressive, hurtful messages or people who actively participated in arguments had their accounts private or nearly anonymous. Most private accounts also had usernames that lacked the user’s real name, giving them protection from someone looking to report them. Students especially took advantage of this, the school board removed some of the harsher comments however those who still wrote derogatory comments most likely weren’t punished because of the school board’s inability to track them down. 

How does that look in a school setting when students and parents hiding behind their screens decide to disrespect their assistant principal when there is no way for them to get in trouble for it. “I find it interesting that most of the responses were made by accounts set to ‘private’.   While I respect the right (and need) for privacy, it also allows people to hide. It’s easy to post unkind things while maintaining anonymity,” said Assistant Principal Kari Stewart. 

When Stewart showed her support to the school board, she was faced with rude comments. “I didn’t know educators could be so uneducated,” said an anonymous parent. 

Anonymous arguments, especially in a community like this, have no place, if you’re confident enough to share your opinion online to the community you should directly complain to the school board, or bring it up in person. In a community the size of Mount Washington, sharing your opinion openly helps our community grow. Providing hollow statements while hiding before a fake username and stock photo does nothing for us.