Ron: WWU threats are reflective of a generational problem

The student who allegedly made anonymous online threats at Western Washington University isn’t an anomaly, and is reflective of a generational problem, according to KIRO Radio’s Ron Upshaw.

Western Washington University announced Monday that police arrested Tysen Campbell, 19, a sophomore who lived on campus. The charge recommended to the prosecutor is felony malicious harassment.

Campbell is a pole-vaulter on the university’s track team.

Related: Police arrest teen in relation to WWU threats

Detectives are pointing the finger at Campbell after controversial comments made on the social media app Yik Yak. Yik Yak allows users within a 5-mile radius to engage in anonymous conversations. It has become popular on college campuses.

“The dark side of Yik Yak is that you can also just post something quasi anonymously, but I guess they added in their user agreement that they will reveal your name if you break a law &#8212 that’s what’s going on here,” Ron said.

The Bellingham Racial Justice Coalition published an account of the social media posts. It is unclear if their presentation contains all the posts from the controversy. As WWU engaged in another conversation about whether its Viking Mascot is racist, Campbell is accused of posting racist messages on Yik Yak that amounted to threats.

In the wake of his arrest, Campbell’s mother told the press that her son is funny and sarcastic and that he only meant the comments in jest; not to be taken seriously.

But detectives have taken them seriously. The posts, if they are Campbell’s, use racial epithets to reference the student body president. A post also states “losers need to be strung up to trees and killed.” There are also references to wearing white cloaks and hanging black students. Finally, a photo of a handgun being loaded was posted. All the posts were anonymous, but detectives claim to have worked with the FBI and Yik Yak to determine who posted them.

Campbell has been suspended from school and banned from campus. And that’s exactly what should happen, Don notes. If Campbell was just joking around as his mother suggests, then he had ample opportunity to set the record straight.

Don: Well, when they shut down the campus he should have come out … he should have said ‘You guys shouldn’t be shutting down the campus, this is an overreaction. I want to let you know, I’m the guy.’ He should have revealed that. If he would have have done that, I would have bought that story from the mother. He didn’t do that … as a result I think he’s culpable in this situation. He should get his butt kicked out of campus. He can come out and represent himself. But he doesn’t. He has his mommy come out and represent him and go, ‘he’s just goofing off. It’s not a big deal.’ And she doesn’t get that it’s a big deal to a lot of those young people on campus.

But the problem doesn’t lay just with Campbell or WWU, Ron Argues. As a young, sheltered generation learns that life isn’t easy, they are likely picking easy targets to bully and make themselves feel better.

Ron: This is going to accelerate nationwide. Here’s why. You have a lot of kids that get to college. And I think it’s been proven in this generation that everybody gets a participation ribbon, and everybody is above average; the self-esteem movement that’s been in effect for about 25 years now. It’s produced a generation of kids that when they get to college and mom and dad aren’t there to swoop in whenever they get a C … I think you have more disillusioned kids, more angry kids, more kids that are 18, 19, or 20 years old saying, ‘wait a minute, I thought I was something special. Everyone always told me that I was unique and special.’ So they go out and feel like they are going to lash out at somebody.

The 18, 19, 20 year old kids that are very immature, and they are feeling disillusioned in college and they want to find somebody to push down to make themselves feel better. So they pick a minority &#8212 someone they deem as different, or someone who is standing up on their campus [for themselves].

Don: So you’re making a different point then. It’s not the protesters that are disillusioned. It’s the protesters that are standing up for themselves. It’s the ones that are anonymously trying to pick on people on that college campus. Those are the ones that are disillusioned. I have heard the other argument that it’s the protesters that are disillusioned.

Ron: Why would the protesters be disillusioned?

Don: I heard someone on our radio station today saying that these protesters should not be protesting and they should grow a thicker skin because this is the way life is. And the reaction to this is darn ridiculous.

Ron: No. That is just absurd.

The thing that I’ll give to the protesters, and even the Black Lives Matter movement which I don’t agree with everything that they do, at least they get up in person, go out and say, ‘this is me, and this is what I believe. Take my picture, I’m not hiding. I believe that Back Lives Matter and I’m here in person.’ What these Yik Yak guys are doing are hiding in their basement, or out with friends drinking beers, saying their going to threaten somebody. And that’s cowardly. They don’t stand up in person. They hide behind this app. I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Because I think there are a lot of college kids that are disillusioned and finding out that life is a lot harder than they thought it was going to be. And they need someone to be their victims.