The most recent episode of the popular college comedy, Community, featured a few similarities to events that took place at Utah State earlier this year. In the episode, released today on Yahoo.com, the study group must deal with several incidents surrounding a group of hackers. You can watch the episode by clicking this link.
Here are the coincidences and the events they may have been based on. You decide for yourself.
1. A group of hackers takes over the school websites.
Anyone that tried to log on to Aggie Radio’s website over Thanksgiving break (yeah, all two of you) will remember that it and several other university websites were hacked by a group called AnonGhost. While the hack was quickly dealt with, it did affect several sites.
Community‘s “Basic Email Security” episode opens with a similar situation. Instead of the university websites, a large skull with a political message is displayed.
2. Threats try to cancel a high-profile speech.
Community‘s hackers demand one thing, the cancellation of a comedy show by someone named “Gupta Goopi Gupta.” Gupta is supposedly famous for his inflammatory content.
This plot line seems similar to the events surrounding the Anita Sarkeesian Common Hour talk. Sarkeesian recieved several threats before her speech, including one that threatened students if the speech was held.
3. Emails and other personal information is released to the public.
The drama of this episode of Community revolves around the release of personal emails of the members of the Save Greendale Committee (and apparently the “hot” lunch lady too). The release of the personal information causes mass discontent in the school.
Similarly, Utah State accidentally released the personal information of 347 people earlier this year. Those affected by the leak were outraged. One of the lunch lady’s emails even states “Leonard’s social security number,” which may even reference this specific event.
4. Only one person came to the Common Hour speech.
Perhaps the most striking similarity between Greendale and USU is the apathy on the part of the students when the speech actually does occur.
Common hour is getting cancelled, one of the reasons is that attendance is really low. In Greendale, only one person shows up for Gupta’s speech.
Let us know what you think. Are these mere coincidences, or is Greendale meant to be some quasi-USU? Post in the comments below and let us know what you think.
