It’s the self-conscious superiority complex that calls social justice activists over-sensitive or racist-against-white-people, and stigmatizes the term “social justice warrior.” It’s the same pretention that coined the term “feminazi.” It’s the relentless and incendiary wit that misgenders someone “for the sake of grammar.” It’s the same “freedom-o’-speech” that put up those deliberately harmful and misleading posters against the new POC art collective on campus, Renegade, and the same proud stubbornness that calls posing as a group and stealing their voice to speak with prejudiced, offensive, and oh-so-fetchingly-inflammatory statements in the homes of many POC students and members of the collective, “satire.” It’s Nancy Grace, but with less fabulous hair.

I get it. Being a walking satire is in vogue right now. Look at you. You’re so next-level. Just like 2005 Y!A me. But speech comes with the expectation of being held accountable for what you contribute to a space. And it should come with respect for your community, be it Harvard’s campus or Yahoo! Answers. Which is to say: my dad drives a school bus, and every year he posts a sign in the bus that says, “Do not speak unless your speech improves the silence.” My dad is the smartest guy I know, and one of the quietest. So.

I think being genuine is the best way to go, and I think it is forgotten that satire and parody should and are supposed to be used to challenge and push mechanisms of power, and to give a voice to, or at least avoid trampling on, the marginalized.  (i.e. Why’s the person in section bravely “playing the devil’s advocate” always that white boy who’s always talking anyway?) And I know that soon we will all have been raised by the Internet, and my inflammatory phase is already immortalized under a Yahoo! Answers username that I will not tell you—

And I do think, and sincerely hope, that everyone will eventually grow up. Just like I did.

 

Madison E. Johnson ’18 lives in Wigglesworth Hall. Her column appears on alternate Wednesdays.