Agreed. It's like asking girls not to dress provocatively to avoid being sexually assaulted. Society is messed up these days. Fair enough - people are allowed to have an opinion but just don't go out and directly abuse the person. Cowards. The worst and most idiotic argument is that 'I'll take that abuse for £120k a week'.
I was getting more at the hypocrisy we constantly see nowadays. I realise there are millions of people in the world, each with a different opinion on each and every aspect of life. It's not the same people saying the same things. Just amusing that you'll get one group seeing A whilst another group says B. It is impossible to satisfy everyone so why bother trying?
Personal abuse is unpleasant and unnecessary under any circumstances. Well, possibly understandable if it's aimed at a criminal or someone who has done you some harm, maybe- but he's a bloody footballer ffs and doesn't deserve stuff like that. To hide behind social media to do it says more about the offender than the victim, and people really shouldn't take it to heart, but he's only human. So is Benteke, btw.
I'm assuming the abuse..i.e..the racial, family threatening etc etc type stuff has come from accounts largely in the UK. If he feels that strongly about it, and as he's supposedly a role model for kids many of whom are suffering the same type of abuse through the same media on a daily basis why doesn't he act? Plenty of laws to prohibit that type of assault. Promote an anti bullying charity...make it a positive. Rather than wallow in self pity. Other than that if its just a reaction to Any negativity....he is in the wrong profession.
I must admit than when I read this stuff I think more of the offenders than the victim. I think people who dish out anonymous personal abuse are pathetic individuals who really need to grow up a bit. Well- a lot, actually. I do think Sturridge could do with having a thicker skin, but I think it's a bit unfair to dismiss it all by saying he's "in the wrong profession". Under what circumstances is any young lad going to think "I love football and I'm pretty good at it, but I better not go into it in case I get some stick"? He would benefit from being less sensitive, but you can't demand it of him. He has a right to live his life without abuse regardless of how high-profile he is. If he was given racial abuse, we wouldn't dismiss that as "going with the territory" would we? Why would we allow other kinds which can be just as hurtful?
All true..except the job he does gives him extra positive priveledges that ordinary jobs do not. And it's a job that as far as I am aware if he went through a fairly modern academy he would have been prepared for all aspects of the job, negative as well. He can "connect with fans" in many other and more productive i might add ways if that was his intention by joining social media. If, Like me it was largely to connect with aquantances then set the privacy accordingly. I then joined the likes of twitter and 606 with different goals and a different expectation of how friendly or unfriendly it eould be. I think your point on the abusers is a given. I don't think anyone hurling abuse at another person is acceptable but it's a modern day fact of life that shows no signs of going away while people are given anonyimity on social media. As I said if the abuse contravenes a law, Sturridge or anyone else should pursue the person legally. It is their right. I've been abused in my workplace by members of the public..in person and by telephone..while I'm told i dont have to take it the expectation is that it will happen. I'm not sure I would get much sympathy if I quit my job because of it. I still think he is in a position where he could do good because of it and help teach the next generation it is not acceptable but it is also not identity defining either.
If Sturridge or any footballer wants to connect with fans social media is the last place they should be doing it. Instead they should put their efforts into outreach, community and charity work, y'know stuff that actually impacts positively on peoples' real lives and prospects, rather than sitting at a keyboard and screen or smartphone all day
I made that argument and it's 100% correct. I would....many would. Why would I care if I look at a screen and see some fickwit is writing abusive things....I was born with two thumbs (because I'm not from Manchester), I can use them to press block or scroll up or down If it's serious by all means report it. If it's not then stop moaning. I pay to play football....I get abuse on here for free so Studge gets £120 thousand PER WEEK to play and moans about a few bellends on twatter calling him lazy. The lad wants to do a few saturday nights shifts in the Royal and then he'll know what unnecessary abuse is. We all accept it's not right that anyone gets it, full stop. However, IF he left Liverpool with the excuse "the fans weren't very nice to me" it would be the biggest pile of horse **** since Diouf blaming "cultural differences" for spitting in someone's face.
You're right. There are ways of dealing with it. I think we might have made more of this than the substance warrants- I've definitely gone off on one here. But it's the principle, and it's something that I think of now and again whenever it gets highlighted. I make it a point never to speak to anyone on the internet any differently than I would to their face- it's just cowardly and childish to hide behind the relative anonymity. Why it bothers me is that it shows the depths people will sink to if they believe there's no control over them. I'd like to believe that it's just spotty yoofs with sad lives and that one day they'll grow up, but when you see the thuggish behaviour of some old enough to know better it makes you wonder. Anyway, this is all getting a bit heavy- let's go back to talking about fluffy kittens.
I agree in some senses. You'd think that footballers would laugh off criticism- and they could just wave their pay packets in our direction. But they live in a hermetically sealed world where they all think they're worth it- so the money they're paid becomes accepted and they move their frailties to other areas.
I think most if not everyone thinks he should have a thicker skin and understand that all true fans want him out on the pitch as much as he wants to be there. The quotes about him being hurt by the comments probably don't draw much sympathy. My rant was triggered by the possibility of us losing a very good player to these nothing comments, the people are idiots and the player a soft touch who should be shrugging them off. I'm annoyed more by the abusers because of the way that they have crept into our society and taken hold, it's become a virus that remains largely unchecked. What to do about it is anyones guess, we can't go locking people up for calling a person names and we can't police everyone on the internet who goes that step further and should be locked up. The solution seems to lie with the websites in my opinion, they need to put the software in place so that there are more choices for people to block comments, use swear filters add certificates for content and so on, the freedom of speech fighter will soon find a place without these filters so that they can rant away. Problem with that solution as always in todays society is that the websites won't earn as much money by censoring and stopping certain people from using their site therfore they do nothing until there is a lot of pressure for them to act.
Footballers and public social media accounts is and has always been a really stupid idea. There is "abuse" and there is fair criticism. Saying "I'm going to kill player X the f'ing Batard" is abuse. Saying "player Y is a lightweight made of glass" is an opinion and fair criticism. Threatening or obsessively targeting a player is abuse. Commenting on a player's flaws is not. I'm not sure which Sturridge is complaining about. If the former he has a legitimate gripe. If the latter he needs to understand he is in public domain and needs to grow thicker skin. I think the problem with most footballers these days is that they've grown up in the "victim-generation" people in their teens and 20s are so easily offended (as a group- obviously not everyone) and like painting themselves as perpetual victims.
Abuse on social media happens to many thousands of people. Blocking the perpetrator usually does the job like. If it's abuse that crosses the line between opinion and what is socially and legally unacceptable i.e racism etc Then it becomes a matter for the authorities. What we're talking about here is people basically calling him out as a sick note, tough **** if that offends him. If he has the complete lack of perspective to fail to understand why people might think that then he's a tit. And the £120k a week is completely relevant, as again, if he can't understand why people who probably earn about 20% of his weekly wage in 12 months, think his absences might show a lack of commitment, as opposed to just a fragile body, then he's completely out of touch with reality. He's even ****ed up moaning about it. As if he had an ounce of common, instead of whining about the 'abuse' he'd come out and say something like, he can understand why people have doubted him, and his injury record isn't the best, but I intend to prove the doubters wrong and do my talking on the pitch.
Way more crap and hurtful stuff was said about Lucas than Sturridge. He took inspiration from it and it made him more determined to improve his flaws. I like Studge; our best player and seems a genuinely nice guy but if he's wanting to leave because of a few insults then that is showing a rather defeatist attitude and probably why he has so many "injuries".
Being a bit old and confused, I perhaps need clarification on this. Where does it say our fans have been abusing him, let alone the racial abuse alluded to on this thread? Several ex players have dissed his attitude (fairly ?), but, as someone who doesn't use social media apart from this site and texting, I don't know what all this fuss is about - which is not to say it isn't happening, just that I don't see that in this report or any of the attached links. And Tobes has a point - how ****ing vain must you be to have a Twitter account and then go all Steven Fry when lowlifes upset you? Not that I'm saying this has happened, as I can't see any evidence of it). But, in general, it's like putting bread, dripping, nuts, cold cuts and God knows what else out in your back garden for the dicky birds and squirrels, then getting pissed off that the rats turn up too.
