Getting the blood up
One thing that I always do when reading a unique online sports article is to check its comments. If there were only a single or double digit comments, I usually disregard the comments. But if the online comments were unusually high, I would then read the comments to understand why people got so worked up. For unique sports article, I am referring to articles that no famous club, player or even relevant topic was raised.
Let me give an example. Recently a footballer who had plied his trade in England was deemed to have an unacceptable haircut while playing in the Middle East. The player was not breaking any common law like drunk driving. He was not having a haircut that could be deemed offensive by most culture. (Odd, perhaps but not offensive) If you look at the volume of comments, you did think that the player committed some unpardonable crime or that there was some grave injustice done to the player. Sadly, most of the comments were rather xenophobic both to the Middle East country or to the player (Who clear was not white). I doubt most of the commentators even knew the player when he was playing in England (He played in Sunderland AFC for the pedantic).
Some people will say that there is a backlash against the Muslim world. For those people of the view, I will give you another example. A Russian politician suggested that football hooliganism should be channelled into an unarmed team combat sport. This is a dangerous suggestion since it is sanctioning tribal violence as a legitimate sport. From the comments, you did assume that Russia had cheated in the World Cup or something of that sort. This is an extremely outlandish idea and it stands a low chance of being adopted. Secondly, Russia is known to have a laissez-faire approach to violent sports. They are sanctioning the first armed combat The British fans were "insulted" in the article but the volume of comments appeared not to be related to the insult.
The issue is are we getting worked up over nothing? Or has the world figured out how to press our hot buttons?
"Monsters are real. Ghosts are real, too. They live inside us and sometimes, they win." Stephen King
Let me give an example. Recently a footballer who had plied his trade in England was deemed to have an unacceptable haircut while playing in the Middle East. The player was not breaking any common law like drunk driving. He was not having a haircut that could be deemed offensive by most culture. (Odd, perhaps but not offensive) If you look at the volume of comments, you did think that the player committed some unpardonable crime or that there was some grave injustice done to the player. Sadly, most of the comments were rather xenophobic both to the Middle East country or to the player (Who clear was not white). I doubt most of the commentators even knew the player when he was playing in England (He played in Sunderland AFC for the pedantic).
Some people will say that there is a backlash against the Muslim world. For those people of the view, I will give you another example. A Russian politician suggested that football hooliganism should be channelled into an unarmed team combat sport. This is a dangerous suggestion since it is sanctioning tribal violence as a legitimate sport. From the comments, you did assume that Russia had cheated in the World Cup or something of that sort. This is an extremely outlandish idea and it stands a low chance of being adopted. Secondly, Russia is known to have a laissez-faire approach to violent sports. They are sanctioning the first armed combat The British fans were "insulted" in the article but the volume of comments appeared not to be related to the insult.
The issue is are we getting worked up over nothing? Or has the world figured out how to press our hot buttons?
"Monsters are real. Ghosts are real, too. They live inside us and sometimes, they win." Stephen King
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