You may have heard about our infamous section entitled ‘We Observed You’ by now.

People have been talking about it, people have been speaking against it (some more harshly than others), but the fact is that this controversial topic is now out there for the whole campus to hear/read about. This is merely my own, personal take on this matter.

Looking at both sides of this subject, we can all see that on one side, the public is outraged that these photos were taken of oblivious people who had small, yet in-depth tidbits written about them.

On the other side of the spectrum, we see that the reporters had the idea of writing about things or people that seemed more “out there” than what we are used to seeing on a day-to-day basis. I can sympathize with reporters on the idea that they were trying to catch what they thought the public and students would find interesting to read about.

I do not believe that the intent of this section was to cause any sort of bullying or harm towards any individuals, but merely to point out who the interesting people were on campus and to bring them to the attention of fellow students.

However, putting myself into the shoes of those who were photographed, I also believe that this section had not been as well thought-out as the editors may have originally thought.

There truly is a big difference between what the reporters and editors see as being a fun and interesting idea and what the readers and those being photographed are seeing and experiencing- and that difference was made known through this section in the recent student paper that was released.

Would you or I have wanted our photos taken without our consent and having them plastered in the papers? If your answer is yes, then you and I have a completely different way of thinking. Hell, you probably have a completely different way of thinking than the majority of folks here on campus or in the community.

The bottom line is, even if this section was not meant to be a ridiculing or degrading piece (which I strongly believe the intent was not for it to be), most people are not going to like the idea of having their picture taken due to the fact that that can be very uncomfortable.

Some (or many) may not have liked this new addition to the paper, but those who made the section have come out with a full apology and have seen that this sort of idea just might not work for this kind of paper.

No matter how you feel about this subject, bear in mind that these reporters are all students who will go through trial and error periods. This idea may have been on the more error-side of the spectrum, but that adds to the learning experience. At least now, we know what will and won’t work with the Observer.