It’s upsetting to see people leave hateful comments and assume things about people they’ve never met and know nothing about, but it’s become increasingly common.
Working as a journalist, specifically an opinion columnist, I was warned about the hate I could receive, but I never had any mean comments. After writing about the rising tuition costs at LSU, this changed.
I woke up with swollen eyes from a panic attack I’d had the night before, but I was feeling a lot better and felt prepared to conquer the day. I noticed The Reveille’s Instagram had posted my article, something that’s happened numerous times before, but only a few minutes later, my account was tagged in a comment.
There were a few comments already, all negative, saying things like, “Who tf has an opinion this ignorant in this economy,” and the comment I was tagged in, which read, “I think [Kate] should pay more in tuition.”
I accepted that many people might be upset by my article, or at least the headline and small blurb they were reading on Instagram, but I tried laughing it off. While I was upset, the worst of the comments were written.
An LSU student commented, “whoever wrote this needs to be sh0t in the head,” using a zero to ensure the comment would be posted and seen.
This is an extreme reaction to disliking someone’s opinion, and for me, someone who has long been paranoid about guns and mass shootings, I wasn’t laughing anymore. It’s shocking that people comment death threats to random people on the Internet, but I think it’s even scarier when you’re talking about someone you attend the same school with.
While I know the likelihood of a student wanting to harm me in real life because of this article is less than 1%, my paranoia and anxiety tell me that I could be attacked or targeted trying to attend class on campus.
As someone who has struggled with mental illnesses throughout my life, these comments made my mind go to some very dark and crazy places, but I am thankful to have a support system that helped me work through my feelings in a healthy way.
The comments continued flowing in, calling me ignorant, classist and saying that I wouldn’t have that opinion unless my parents paid my tuition. I know none of this is true, but it hurt to see anyone think of me in that way.
In high school, I knew that paying for college was my responsibility, and if I hadn’t taken 10 Advanced Placement courses and worked extremely hard to get scholarships and TOPS, I never could have come to LSU.
After seeing the many upset comments, I can’t understand why people choose to stay at LSU if they don’t think it’s worth the money. Many people called it overpriced and said I was “bootlicking” and “glazing,” but I just actually enjoy the university I attend and wouldn’t have gone into debt over a school I didn’t love.
Nevertheless, if the student knew I struggled with depression, anxiety and panic disorder, would she still have said I should get shot? Maybe. Would everyone else have dog-piled on me if they knew I had gotten a death threat that morning? Maybe. That’s sad, though, because many people don’t care about this unless I get killed or commit suicide.
People need to consider that they are saying these things to an actual person —a person they know nothing about and who they don’t know how badly they’re harming. I want to believe people are empathetic, but right now, it feels like people only want to see the bad in me.
I never wanted to offend anyone, but I also didn’t want my life threatened because I understood that LSU was raising its tuition.
Kate Beske is a 22-year-old journalism senior from Destrehan, La.
