Social hate

You see it everywhere, on Insta, under online newspaper articles, websites, X, et cetera. Someone posts or writes something and in no time there are a lot of messages underneath. Often positive, often very negative. Sometimes it seems as if people are just waiting for it and leave a comment without thinking. Whether it's a message about politics, a concert or a football match, sometimes the comments reach a huge number. And then these are usually reactions from people who weren't even there. 

Those negative comments are usually not okay; they're simply writing what someone is feeling or thinking at that moment, while you might be better off counting to ten before posting. And then there's the hate speech. Hate speech goes way too far. A step further than a negative comment. Sometimes things are wished upon people or companies that are simply unacceptable. And you know what's so strange? It turns out that so many people think it shouldn't be allowed. A football player, for example, receives 150 hate messages a month. Messages threatening family members or the person themselves.

But it's not just about "famous" people; you and I can be victims too. For me, it's a reason to never post anything in the comments, out of fear that people will judge you online and you might even receive horrible comments. Sad, but that's how it works. It almost seems like people consider it normal to criticize someone on social media; I always wonder if anyone would dare to express that opinion directly to that person. 

What can you do to make the online world a little more beautiful? 

If you're not really aware of what's in the post (because you're not really interested or simply don't know enough about it), just leave it blank and give it a like or a heart. Think before you respond. You might feel completely differently if you count to ten before responding; you might even realize you no longer feel the need to respond.

A few months ago, Ajax made a nice video, because footballers also regularly get all kinds of things thrown at them online. You can read more about it here. Please check out the video, it's about the message (not everyone supports the same football club) or leave a positive comment below 😉 

Even more recent are Gordon's album promotion and theater tour have been canceled Because of all the hate speech under his posts. I think a lot of people don't realize the impact their comments can have, sometimes unintentionally putting people, organizations, or even politicians in a negative light or unnecessarily hurting them. It actually says more about the person writing the comment. What do you think?