Harambe, Save Us

Harambe. Our lord and savior who was nothing but loving and kind to this world. Subjectively thinking that is, as some people don't think this, just as some people don't find the humor in this funny either. That is exactly what two RA's from the University of Massachusetts thought when Harambe memes started surfacing around their dormitory. But not only did they find them unfunny, they go so far as to say that these jokes "are not only derogatory but also micro-aggressions to some UMass students.''

           As it turns out, Harambe is actually the name of UMass's residential community for students of African heritage, and this is so concerning to these RA's that they say "any negative remarks regarding 'Harambe' will be seen as a direct attack to our campus's African American community." Anyone reading this can see just how ridiculous it is. These RA's need to look up the definition of "direct attack" if they think that jokes about a now famous gorilla will have any reference to a small campus community that almost nobody knows about.

 But it doesn't end there. What better way to follow that statement by saying that these phrases also infringe upon the infamous Title IX. This, of course, is in reference to the ever so popular hashtag #****soutforharambe. The RA's further explain by saying that phrases such as the one stated previously "encourage the exposition of body parts." Therefore it "runs the risk of being reported as a Title IX incident."

Let's take a pause here. These two people say that it "runs the risk" of violating Title IX. However, if you actually read Title IX it states "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." Sure, the hashtag may have a sexually vulgar word in it, but that's it. It is not specifically referring to anyone. It is just a neutral statement made to get some laughs, and it has definitely worked. Yet to go so far as to say that this phrase is potentially sexually assaulting and categorized as a racist micro-aggression is just ridiculous, and only adds to the confusion and controversy that is already behind Title IX.

If these two RA's find this such a problem, maybe they should try to begin a Kickstarter campaign to start funding cyber police, but to be honest, the only problem in all of this is the fact that someone thought telling the internet to stop something would do anything other than make the problem worse. One could argue that that alone is more outrageous than thinking an internet fad about a gorilla was something of concern.