‘Yik Yak’ forum hosts racial slurs, sexism and ‘Step Brothers’ quotes
The latest social media app to stir up controversy on college campuses, Yik Yak, has made its way to USC and other schools across the Southeast.
The free smartphone app is essentially a mobile incarnation of Campus Anonymous, providing a forum for users to post messages without a trace of who they are.
Yakkers can shoot out 200-character posts to 500 recipients in the immediate area (the size of the audience can be increased for a few bucks), making it ideal for a community of young people in close quarters with touchscreens and itchy thumbs — this is, every school in the country.It hit 100,000 users nationwide in February, just three months after its launch.
And like every online forum that hides users under the veil of anonymity, Yik Yak has become a breeding ground for racism, sexism, religious arguments and trash talk between Greek organizations.
The negative messages usually fall along the lines of “[Insert fraternity here] pees sitting down” or “[Insert fraternity here] can’t finish their beer,” but sometimes Yik Yak goes from playful jab to ugly hatred.
“Let’s enslave all the black children and have them pick cotton,” one reads.
Misogyny also rounds out the more hurtful of the comments.
“People usually say funny things that have no victim involved, but some things that guys say about girls is kind of messed up. People make fun of my sorority sometimes and call us fat,” said Sonora Hartzog, a first-year business student and member of Phi Mu. “People are mean; they just say terrible things about people that should be kept to themselves.”
Yakkers with conflicting religious beliefs also use the app as a ring to duke it out in the name of their god.
“Sometimes it gets pushed too far. Making fun of other people’s beliefs or forcing your own beliefs on other people — I don’t like that kind of stuff,” said first-year civil engineering student Chris Collins. “I think [Yik Yak] is a terrible thing. It gives people too much power that they don’t deserve.”
But Yik Yak isn’t all hate.
USC’s users seem to show contempt for the trains in Columbia more than any group of people. “This intersection looks like a nice place to park,” read one of Monday’s most popular, or “hot,” Yaks posted under the name “Train.”
Users also start lots of comment chains by posting a quote from a popular movie or TV show. Referencing the film “Step Brothers,” one user’s question — “DID WE JUST BECOME BEST FRIENDS??” — was followed by, “YUPP! DO YOU WANNA DO KARATE IN THE GARAGE??” “YUPP!”
Even some of the seemingly mean comments are actually just back and forth between friends poking fun at one another, Collins says.
“I don’t mind the insults because most of the time it’s just friends making fun of other friends,” he said.
While some users dirty the app with posts that cross the line, Yik Yak is still largely about harmless fun. Even amidst the hate and conflict between cliques, the “All-Time Greatest Yak” on USC’s campus says it all about the underlying bond USC students share and can’t help but revel in.
“[Like] this if you go to USC. F—- Clemson,” it said. “Let’s get more (likes) than them just so we beat them in one more thing. Need over 700. Leh go.”
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