Moral responsibility lacking at school

Eliana Gutierrez, In-Depth Editor

Three weeks ago half of the students in the cafeteria were in a frenzy — an immoral, unjust frenzy.

Over 50 students, assumingly human beings, made a spectacle of a heinous act against a fellow student – a young woman who no longer attends Akins brutally and continuously hit someone who was defenseless.

Meanwhile, students cheered and began recording the incident on their phones. As if it was a memorable entertainment experience for them.

After this assault anyone who opened their social media account couldn’t help but encounter the video if you wanted to or not. It was on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.

The violence hungry mentality on display among those who witnessed the incident is horrifying. Instead of helping the victim who was a fellow student, they watched with gleaming eyes. They didn’t put themselves in the victim’s shoes or imagine that she was a loved one.

It took too long for a student to alert administrators but at least someone did. Students decided that the highlight of their day was the misfortune of another instead of the education they’re receiving.

The incident and the way it was shared on social media as if it was just another piece of entertainment to consume is a sad reminder of the dark side of modern life.

While it’s natural for people to be curious about horrific events and for video to be shared among friends, a line is crossed when people make light of the people in the videos and what they experienced.

Cyber bullying and disrespectful behavior online is emerging as one of the most pernicious problems of our generation. News stories about similar events captured and shared on social media are becoming more common with the emergence of mobile live streaming technologies like Periscope.

Last month Periscope, a webcasting service, was used to broadcast a 10-minute video of a high school girl being raped and this month a woman committed suicide on the live streaming site.

What would you have done if people were sharing videos and pictures of someone close to you being hurt? How would you feel? No one deserves that to happen to them and don’t deserve for it to be encouraged.