The Facebook page Hillsdale Compliments is kind of cheesy. The number of women who apparently embody Christ’s love is maybe a tad over the top. But the site has a clear purpose, and it’s an admirable one — to make people feel good. The mission statement of Hillsdale Unfiltered, a rival Facebook page created shortly after the compliments page, seems to be mocking “fundies,” Greeks, non-Greeks, homeschoolers, the adult residents of our community, and people who aren’t white. Which leaves us to ask, is your purpose to hurt people?
Last week, the anonymous students who run Hillsdale Unfiltered decided to post a picture of a member of this college with a racist slur as the caption. Apparently recognizing its gross blunder, the site removed it quickly, so you won’t find it if you search on Google. But you will find the line “Look at all these Townies!” attached to an album of people (not from Hillsdale) doing ridiculous and even contemptible things. There’s the line “let’s burn down the Vatican.” There’s a swipe at the parents lame enough to visit their kids on Parents’ Weekend. There’s a suggestion that the Mac RAs give the campus men freer access to their girls’ bedrooms, and a note thanking campus women for giving those same guys something to look at (it’s not their faces).
Even worse, Hillsdale Unfiltered doesn’t start being funny, clever, or witty when it stops being offensive. The only real humor on the page is linked from Hillsdale Compliments, our favorite being: “Hillsdale Unfiltered is such a great attempt to do whatever it is that it is trying to do.”
Which brings us back to the question of your purpose. If you really think that chauvinistic, arrogant, stupid irony is the good life, we’ll stick with the fundies. At least they’re sometimes funny.
