Rotten Appal Issues An Apology

As should be evident by now, the Rotten Appal has issued a formal apology on their website. We here at The Daily Wit would be remiss if we did not acknowledge it. You can read the apology here. 

The apology seems sincere and I commend the Rotten Appal for pledging to remove all objectionable content concerning weight from their website and social media. There are, however, a few points that I take issue with. Allow me to first clarify that I am not pursuing this further with the intention of garnering hatred for the Rotten Appal. We all make mistakes from time to time and the internet is, quite unfortunately for us writers, written in ink. If I had a nickel for every time I wished I could take back something I wrote, I would be far too rich to be concern myself with matters such as these. But, luckily for you, my wealth has not yet reached that point. I digress.

The first thing I would like to respond to is the claim that there are no funds received from Appalachian State University. 

We would like to clarify that we have not received any amount of money from Appalachian State University in regards to funding for our website. As an organization, we decided that funds taken from student tuition should not directly support humor that students might not enjoy or appreciate. All funds procured to maintain our domain name were donated by our staff writers and editor board.

I have no way of clarifying this, but if they say that it is so, then I will be the first to admit that I was wrong in that department. That being said, it is worth noting that the Rotten Appal is still an official university organization and, because of that, still a representative of Appalachian.

As far as Greek life mockery goes, the apology was iffy. As in, there doesn't seem to be an apology.

One of our editors is involved in Greek life and has either produced or agreed with the content of the humor which we have chosen to publish.

I understand the sentiment in this statement, but it seems far too akin to "I have a black friend so I can make those jokes." Of course, equating the status of African Americans and people in Greek life is, for the most part, ridiculous, but the analogy is drawn far less for the severity and far more for the concept.

Finally, the apology itself, while sincere, lacked the one thing that could have made this all better.

Lastly, we would like to formally apologize to all who have felt personally attacked by our comments regarding physical stature.  

It failed to address Phi Mu directly. I understand that the apology to the sorority was implied by the statement, but without an actual direct reference, it just seems lacking and hollow. I have no knowledge of whether they have decided to issue a more private apology to the women of Phi Mu, but it would be nice if there was some public acknowledgement concerning this as it was, after all, the crux of the problem.

Like I said, it was good to see an apology as opposed to silence, but saying "Sorry bout it" is only the first step towards reparations. I will continue to closely watch the Rotten Appal in the hopes that this is the last time the line is crossed. I do want to thank everyone who shared the article for helping spread awareness and taking care of this issue swiftly. I would like to ask one more thing of you: Keep your eyes out for content like this and don't be afraid to speak up when you see it. It is, after all, our duty to foster an environment of openness and discussion. Thank you for engaging in that with me today.