The Yik Yak post that was spread across social media was not the truth. Although the post used his words, it was altered to leave out a portion of the post and then misattributed as Matthew Schutz’s original words and intentions. This led to Schultz’s expulsion. With the culture we live in, there is a fine line between who is responsible for what. A cultural theory concept known as articulation shows that there are hundreds of connections between everyday things that we rarely recognize. The Yik Yak post was not a product of Matthew Schultz or the person(s) who altered it. Rather, it was a product of the school, social media, Schultz, software developers and the school, just to name a few. With such a complex web of people, it can be hard to point fingers at any one person. That being said, it is also unfair to point fingers at just one person. In this particular situation, it would be justified to accuse the person(s) who altered the post of either tampering with evidence or causing harm. The person(s) who altered it did have a role in creating a false post that then created unrest and harm.
We should recognize and blame the media for spreading and misattributing false information. Finally, there should be some blame placed on investigators for not thoroughly investigating the situation before coming to a conclusion. This isn’t something we see just in this case. Often one person is blamed for the actions of many. Most of the time, stories are reported very one-sided. In order to accurately hold people accountable for their actions, all sides of a story must be thoroughly examined. We can see numerous examples of misplaced, or disproportionately placed, blame in history. For example, do you blame the scientists behind the atomic bomb or the pilots following their orders for the destruction of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Most people forget that the scientists were involved and don’t assign them blame. Unfortunately holding people accountable for their actions, both intentional and unintentional, can get a little difficult. Because so many people can easily get involved in a situation or event, it can be hard to determine how responsible each person is for the result. I don’t believe that there will ever be a way to accurately hold someone accountable for their actions. That being said, I do believe that in some situations, it’s obvious that someone should be responsible for the outcome due to their actions and contributions.
With this Yik Yak post, there is evidence that the post was edited. That makes them just as responsible as Schultz and they should be held accountable for their actions as well.
