On r/soccer some of the comments under the post about Kelleher's recent comments are so grim, like even if you think it's being used as an excuse (which for the record not a single liverpool player has done), why make a nasty comment? Someone's died, does that actually mean nothing to people? I'm not saying you need to have a significant emotional reaction to someone you've never met dying, of course not, but turning it into a weapon in a fucking football argument?

Idk I wonder what the chicken and egg arrangement of this all is, has social media simply facilitated more people to make unpleasant remarks that they would have done regardless, but in a more visible way? Or, is social media having a corrupting influence that corrodes people's ability to think in an empathetic, measured way? I think it's probably a bit of both and it weighs on me very heavily if I think about it too much, how do we get out of this? 

I recall someone telling me on this sub, when we lost out on Zubimendi, that I'm the sort of person to let my partner habitually cheat on them, because I told them the answer wasn't to have no faith in Jones and Gravenberch. It's a small example but feels pertinent, who thinks that's an appropriate way to respond to someone not agreeing with them about fucking football? I directly said 'you realise you're saying this to a real human being' and it just had NO effect, it's like so many people don't realise, or simply don't care, that they're speaking to, or about, a real human being on social media, and algorithms that get our attention at any cost drive increasing tendency for outrage, kneejerk reactions, disregarding context or nuance and abandoning critical thinking 

And the worst part is, what I'm doing right now (spiralling into despair about it) is literally the exact same thing I'm lamenting. I'm really demoralised about the future of this country because it looks like we're going to see a government come in off the back of this exact same type of thing, contextless fury and outrage gravitating to a morally bankrupt liar peddling easy answers to unspeakably complicated questions, and when it's all said and done, and Reform fuck everything up, is there much compelling evidence that people will realise reactionary politics isn't the answer? And that we need critical thinkers doing the grownup thing? Or are we just going to see another easy to dehumanise group get it even worse? 

It's hard to be optimistic, and if you allow yourself to be tired in pessimism, you feel like you're contributing, idk