Interview with Overheard at Guelph admin
The eight admins on the Overheard at Guelph Facebook page invite between 10 and 20 people to their group per day, says Cory ‘Indiana Justice’ Houghton. A month or two ago the page had around 15,000 members; today the number is well over 16,000 – nearly one member for every undergraduate student at the University of Guelph.
Patrick Gormley is the page’s founder, but these days perhaps no one is more closely associated with the formidable forum than Houghton, who is both a long-time admin and seemingly tireless commenter. The ‘Indiana Justice’ moniker is, incidentally, part reference to a choice to dress up as Indy on the last day of class and part reference to a MegaPizza incident wherein he gave some bullies a lesson in manners – a habit for which Houghton has developed a similarly crusading reputation online.
The Ontarion caught up with the 28-year old U of G psychology and history grad to get his thoughts on Overheard, language and the Internet in general. Here are a few gems from that conversation:
On having ‘too much time on your hands’
“I think the effort people think it takes [to comment] is a lot more than it actually is… The majority of the things I do are written in anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute.”
On being outspoken
“It actually doesn’t bother me. I find it almost fascinating and funny how many people really, really seem to detest me – not just that they’re annoyed: they hate.”
On the meme/debate balance
“That’s what I love about Overheard. As much as it is clearly designed to be funny, amusing things that you see, you end up with a lot of these… debates… I think a lot of good does come out of it because these people aren’t exposed to it anywhere else.”
On (relative) anonymity
“People talk about your offline life as real life, as though what you do online doesn’t have consequences, as though what you do online isn’t an extension of your personality. And it’s very easy for people to say that because it lets them get away with things.”
On political correctness
“If you push people too hard in one direction, whether correctly or not, whether they’re accurately grasping what’s happening or not, they will push back. And the one unfortunate side-effect of all the really, really good things that have been happening in the past 10 or 20 years for equal rights has been that some things do go to far.”
On grammar and language
“Language is how other people view us… People will say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know I had to write an essay.’ But you were just talking about racism. Or you were just talking about women’s equality. You’re going to tell me you don’t think that’s a time when maybe using proper grammar and treating it with the respect it deserves is a good thing?”
On being the face of Overheard
“I think Pat deserves all the acclaim possible for what he has created… I am happy to be misjudged as the face of something I didn’t create or seen as the guy who’s trying to make it more than it is, or sounding self-important. I’m happy for any of that as long as one person has their life changed by anything that happens there, even if it has nothing to do with me.”