It’s easy.
You are on your laptop, phone, tablet & etc. You are 100s or 1000s of miles of the person you are communicating with. You are anonymous, unknown and just a blip on the radar. You can say whatever you want with little to no consequence. That is how you become an internet thug or keyboard gangster.
Think of all the thoughts that float around in your head during the day. Now think about how many of those thoughts you actual verbalize to people face to face. There is reason you don’t say 90% of what you are actually thinking because there are consequences for your words and actions. Online you don’t have to worry about that, so you just say whatever no matter how vile, racism or evil it is.
Athletes and entertainers are easy targets. They are in a no win situation, if they react, they just blow the story up and give the troll what they want. If they don’t react they just have to sit and deal with stuff like this.
“Last season, his first as the full-time starter, Gardner spoke about the hate email and Twitter posts he received. This year has been just as bad, if not worse, and he estimated he’s received at least 1,000 negative comments via Twitter and Instagram.
“I’ve been called the N-word so many times this year,” Gardner said. “One guy told me I was the N-word, and said I know N-words can’t play quarterback. And I was like, are we not past this? Say what you want about my skill, but come on.'”
Michigan and Gardner haven’t played well this season, but what does that have to do with his race? Some might argue it just come with the territory of being famous, but I tend to disagree. You can easily critique without racial and ethnic slurs, but that would cause people to actually use their brain.
Take solace in the fact that the invididuals that spit this type of language are normally jealous and miserable human beings who want you to be as miserable as they are.
Don’t give them that satisfaction.
H/T Sporting News
