A message to students: Say no to self-pity

Dear Merionite,
I was just as interested as anyone about the laptop scandal—“WebcamGate,” as it were—when I first heard about it during my AP Bio lab. I, like everyone else, find that juicy gossip (especially that which is on its merry way to the Supreme Court) makes my routine second-semester-senior days a little more interesting. As such, I took the time to read every article and watch every video I could get my hands on regarding our quaint high school’s alleged crimes. However, I was disgusted, to say the least, when I saw the unfair manner in which so many students represented our school administration in so many of these reports. I recall one student’s quote in an NBC report going a little something like this: “We can’t let the administration get away with this!” Similarly, groups popped up all over Facebook that made unfounded rumor into truth, with names like “I hate it when my school uses macb00ks to spy on me.”
Why is it that a wild number of students are so eager to victimize themselves? I get it—we live in an environment where we’re encouraged to formulate opinions and act as contributing members of every community of which we are a part—but are we so unhappy here that we seek to furiously attack the school in the eyes of the public at every chance we get? Especially the freshman and sophomores, who seemed to volunteer for interviews most frequently—where does this anger come from? I’ve been here for close to four disillusioning years, and I’m giving it at least a little time before I go spew some ignorant rumors at the local NBC camera guy. I hope it’s clear—I’m not trying to sway anyone either way on this case. If and when the time comes that I discover that the little man in the Macbook-observation tower has been watching me undress every night, I’ll gladly join the club, raise my finger and yell a resounding “Ah hah!” But until then, try stepping back and gaining a little perspective—you’re not as much of a victim as you think you are.
Love,
David Zucker
Class of 2010