How far will people go to get attention?

Shippensburg Area Senior High School’s spirit rocks were vandalized with orange Swastikas by an unknown source on Feb. 17. To many students who attend Shippensburg Area High School, these rocks symbolize a sign of pride and joy in fulfillment of soon-to-be graduates. On the other hand, the rocks are painted to signify, perhaps, the sorrow of a student who passed. But this instance of vandalism is a disgrace not only to the Shippensburg family, but also to society as a whole.

Although this doesn’t exactly qualify as earth-shattering news, vandalism of this kind is definitely a topic worth discussing because of its controversy. It’s little acts of unsettling violence like painting Swastikas on school grounds that set the premise for something even more terrifying. For instance, there was the recent tragedy of a Jewish cemetery that was defaced in St. Louis. These gravestones of these Jewish people trace back to the late 1800s. Trump has called the anti-Semitic violence “horrible and painful,” and further said, it’s a very sad reminder of all the evil that’s still in the world.

Another shocking and disturbing report from the Anti-Defamation League discovered bomb threats made to Jewish community centers in many states. Luckily, the threats were no more than threats, and it was all an act to deceive and scare. Today, people of the Jewish faith still live in fear because of the hate crimes that are targeted towards them.

Anti-Semitic acts are not exclusive to the United States, though. It is sad to say there’s so much disrespect that happens worldwide. This ultimately puts a downer on the perception we have of our society. Even symbols as small as the swastika painted on school property can go a long way. The swastika is emblematic to the Holocaust, a time when millions of Jews constantly wondered where their families were, if they were going to be safe and why Nazi soldiers were systematically killing them.

So, was the Shippensburg swastika dilemma overdramatized? No, because it has a domino effect on all of the other anti-Semitic related incidents mentioned. This issue is problematic because it once again renders the message that it’s acceptable to discriminatebased on religious belief. Don’t dish it out if you can’t take it. 

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer and are not representative of The Slate or its staff as a whole.

Share