After today’s discussion about Yik Yak it really got me thinking if it should be considered a freedom of speech. I agree people should be able to say and want, but they need to also be able to own up to what they say. People post on this site because they don’t actually want to represent what they say. If you are going to say such harsh and hurtful things these people need to own up to what they are saying. I think Yik Yak can be funny when posts are hurtful to others, but overall it has grown to be a place where people post things they don’t want their name tagged to.
A lot of people posting these distasteful comments may just be doing so to get a reaction out people or to just try to be funny without really thinking about how hurtful the comment is. I think people who are posting won’t own up to what they are saying because they know that it is not socially acceptable to say how they feel and people will hate them for their comments. Instead they leak it through an anonymous source. The crazy thing is that a lot of these comments can be from people that you see everyday and you would never know.
Personally, I have always wondered why Yik Yak has developed into such a controversy, as it was made as an outlet to post controversial topics. Yes, many of the things that are posted are widely offensive, however, you have the choice to look at those posts or not. When posts are anonymous, it’s easy to post whatever pops into our minds without filtering the language, even if we don’t believe in what we are putting up there. Although I do not own the app, I would expect that half the posts are actually made solely to shock viewers and that they do not actually reflect the author’s beliefs. None the less, I do agree that many of the comments that I hear about being posted are widely offensive, and unnecessary for any environment.