It was late at night on Thursday, January 23rd. Many students were procrastinating on homework, or relaxing after a long day at school, by scrolling through Instagram. 

That Friday would be an important one for the men’s basketball team; it was the Monarch versus Fairview game. Students on Instagram that Thursday night would see all sorts of posts promoting it. Student Council representatives and team members posted stories, trying to spread attention about the game.

However, there was one post about the game that split the school’s community along a deep divide, a post from the school’s “official” meme page, skoknights.

“People, one, would go to the event and, two, have a holistic reason to laugh at Monarch.”

“I need[ed] to make a meme about [the game], so people, one, would go to the event and, two, have a holistic reason to laugh at Monarch,” said the current owner of skoknights.

Skoknights is a student-run account, which is independent from the school. The account has more than 2,000 followers and the owners have posted anonymously since its inception.

The skoknights post read, “MoHi Boy’s Basketball worried about the wrong type of man on man action.” It was also given the caption, “Game tomorrow. Socks stay on Fairview.”

Many, including myself, challenged the post, calling it homophobic, because of its comedic references to homosexuality.

However, the owner of the account disagrees with those who criticized the post.

“It doesn’t negatively connotate gay people… it implicates a gay relationship, but it’s a basketball joke. It’s basketball terminology,” they said.

As multiple students objected to the post in comments, the owner said they found the backlash “entertaining.”

“You always want a response to something… the endgame is to get a response, whether that be online or in real life: when you pass people in the hallway and they quote what you wrote.”

However, the owner says that after multiple students, again including myself, posted external stories about the rate of LGBTQ youth suicide due to online harassment, they got angry.

“For me, [those posts] felt like they were under the guise of saviorism, which always, always, always, makes me mad. It always feels impersonal. It’s very patronizing.”

They also said that they felt this backlash was because of most followers’ impressions that the owner of the account was different than who actually runs it.

“In the early stages of this school year, when the account is being run, the person that [followers] have in mind [was] a popular, white, straight boy. ”

However, when pressed, they admitted that the post did use gay people as a punchline.

“You can’t say, ‘no it doesn’t not make fun of gay people.’ Yes. That is the punchline; I understand that is the punchline.”

“You can’t say, ‘no it doesn’t not make fun of gay people.’ Yes. That is the punchline; I understand that is the punchline.”

They also mentioned that this language appears in everyday life.

“That is constantly happening every day. A school meme page cannot run with censorship in mind.”

They said that, when given the choice to omit language like that in the post, or to make a joke, they would choose to make a joke.

But, many wonder, is it worth prioritizing a meme like this over the impact of that kind of humor?

According to the Anti-Defamation League, “biased and belittling jokes” are considered to be an Act of Bias on the ADL’s “Pyramid of Hate.”

The Pyramid is a structure which establishes that, “each genocide has been built on the acceptance of attitudes and actions described at the lower levels of the pyramid.” It’s been widely accepted by many social scientists and universities.

This isn’t the first time memes relating to Fairview have caused controversy. Last November, Monarch and Boulder meme pages mocked Senior Aidan Atkinson’s arrest.

Fairview students, including skoknights, were quick to protest the memes. They said the impact of those memes had consequences beyond what the posting accounts expected.

“Those memes don’t take into account that you’re singling out the victims of the perpetrator and that’s actually hurtful to communities.”

“That’s an actual, serious, tangible, issue. Whereas the basketball meme, it’s not about anyone in particular,” they said. “Those memes don’t take into account that you’re singling out the victims of the perpetrator and that’s actually hurtful to communities.”

Despite the similarities between the two incidents, they remained confident that the response to the Monarch basketball meme was overblown.

As our conversation neared its close, the owner of skoknights expressed concern about their anonymity because of the audience this piece would reach.

“People read the Royal Banner… teachers don’t see what I say, teachers do see what you say.”