Subheader
Black Holes and Revelations
confessions were pranks rather than actual missives from the besotted and lovesick, we’ ll go out on a limb and say that most of them were in jest. A choice morsel for your delectation:
Hands off KJY please. I’ ll be bearing his children, not you.
Rafflesian Times
36
A common complaint shared by quite a number of confessions is that Raffles breeds a toxic, elitist attitude.
1
A Latin expression meaning‘ the voice of the people is the voice of God’
It is the new form of confession: the anonymity of the confessional booth replaced by that of the Internet, and fellow Facebook users collectively donning the robe of the priest. As they say, vox populi, vox dei1.
We refer, of course, to the rise of Facebook confessions pages— originally conceived by varsity students in the US as a place where the normally unsayable could be broadcast to the world( or at least some fraction of it) under the guise of anonymity. The trend spread, and in February this year some enterprising Rafflesians took it upon themselves to set up the RJ Confessions page on Facebook.
At its inception, RJ Confessions was dominated by two kinds of confessions: the ardent declaration of love, and its ne’ er do well cousin, the ardent declaration of love on behalf of a friend. While it is unknown exactly what proportion of the early
It seemed at the time that RJ Confessions( and sister pages like Raffles Confessions, a combined forum for both the Year 1 – 4 cohort and their future schoolmates from RGS) would simply be the latest in teenage infatuation and inanity on social media— hardly worthy of an entire article on the trend. Yet, standing as testament to the fluid nature of social media, RJ Confessions has become a place for people to share light-hearted moments from their lives, offer valuable advice to juniors, polemicize on controversial issues, vent their frustrations, give voice to their misery, or, as many do, profess their affection.
From a sociological point of view, the Confessions page offers insight into current topics of interest among Rafflesians. It is perhaps analogous to someone who dedicates their time to moving about the corridors of the school listening in on conversations and broadcasting choice morsels to everyone else. Interesting issues have surfaced as a result; we examine some in greater detail below.