On April 1st, what I thought was a joke or a gag or maybe even a technical malfunction became a stunning and frustrating threat to our personal liberties as students, and more so as people.
Abington Senior High School Administration had decided to take away the ability for students to customize their profile pictures. As of now, the reason is unknown. However, this small action has stripped us of our liberties. It is an abrasive display of power by the administration that has suppressed us students. And it is depressing, totalitarian, and unequivocally outrageous.
A customizable profile picture is more than just an image. It’s a first impression, an identity, a livelihood, compressed into a circular cutout and placed next to your name. Most of the time, it means more than what it seems. It is never merely a picture, and it was TAKEN from us. And without explanation nor apology.
In the world of social media, riddle me this: could you imagine a world without profile pictures? They serve as digital faces. Identifiers in the endless sea of digital users. Not having one would be like walking around without a face. How would anyone know who you are? How would you be remembered? You would simply be forgotten as all individuality is stripped.
Anyone who knows me, is in film club, or has been in a class with me would be quite familiar with my recently extirpated profile picture. I had taken a picture of myself in third grade on a Chromebook in the Highland elementary school library. Since then, it had never changed, and I always thought that it reflected my innocence and child-like spontaneity. When Abington decided to take that away, I had lost a part of me I could never get back, and for what? A minimalist “J” to an orange backdrop? Pathetic. How dehumanizing and demoralizing.
“Give me liberty or give me death” exclaimed Patrick Henry in response to a growingly oppressive, aggressive, and gluttonous British empire. It is interesting how history does indeed repeat itself. And in response to Abington’s imperialistic administration, I say the same. Give us the liberty to have a profile picture, or give us death altogether.
Your move, Abington.
