Aristotle as soon as noticed that the one surefire approach to keep away from criticism is to do nothing, say nothing and be nothing. Or one thing like that, we weren’t there. But not less than this a lot is definite concerning the Ancient Greek thinker who had a profound impression on Western studying: He had no soccer abilities in anyway, and he by no means despatched a Tweet. Yet, whereas he didn’t have a social media account like so lots of in the present day’s armchair philosophers, his knowledge holds up.
We point out this as a result of final Sunday turned out to be a reasonably tough day for followers of the Baltimore Ravens and its star quarterback, Lamar Jackson. He not solely got here up brief in a really painful 28-27 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, finishing solely half his passes, however the five-year veteran made a rookie mistake on Twitter. After the sport, a Twitter person tagged Jackson in a tweet that instructed that the quarterback — who’s reportedly searching for $250 million in assured wage in his subsequent contract — ought to by no means have let the sport come all the way down to a 67-yard discipline objective try from Justin Tucker within the last seconds that got here up brief. “Let Lamar walk and spend that money on a well-rounded team,” the critic beneficial to the Ravens entrance workplace.
Jackson’s response was, let’s assume, undiplomatic. It included the widespread social media instruction to “STFU” — which on this vacation season might attainable imply “serve the fruitcake, uncle,” however we suspect it possible was meant as “shut the F-word up,” which sports activities writers throughout the nation have helpfully described as “profane.” Jackson’s tweet additionally talked about that the unique poster “never smelt a football field,” and he then threw in some further crudities that we’ll not burden our readers with by repeating.
Jackson’s response was deleted inside just a few hours, however the foolishness of it lingered within the digital world like low cost cologne. Some troll had efficiently baited one of many NFL’s star gamers. Imagine the enjoyment that out-of-towner skilled by doing nothing extra profound that tapping a keyboard, tagging a star, hitting the ship button after which watching all of it go viral. Who says it’s robust to get on the pages of Sports Illustrated?
Fortunately, The Baltimore Sun’s editorial board members have some modest expertise on the planet of trolling. We might not stir passions fairly like a star quarterback, however pointed criticism is type of an everyday companion while you write for a day by day newspaper’s editorial pages. Our recommendation? Don’t have interaction. A heated response solely serves the needs of the troll. Constructive criticism from credible sources is one other matter, however on Twitter, critiques are sometimes much less about build up than tearing down, posting feedback for the aim of inflicting upset or declaring one’s personal supposed superiority. Twitter is about caustic remarks and intelligent comebacks; context and nuance are sometimes lacking. And that’s unlikely to enhance underneath the platform’s new proprietor, Elon Musk. The “quarterback” of Tesla and SpaceX is a grasp troller himself and has proceeded to muck up Twitter even worse since spending $44 billion to amass it.
As for our fellow Baltimoreans, we might simply level out that Lamar Jackson shouldn’t be judged too harshly for his social media outburst, nor trolled on Twitter for his recreation play. He is 25 years outdated, terribly gifted at a sport through which you danger severe damage each minute you play it, and he faces huge pressures the likes of which few of us can totally recognize. Forget “smelling” soccer fields, how would you prefer to know {that a} potential quarter-billion payday rests of your efficiency on any given Sunday? OK, OK, for a few of us wannabes, that might be fairly candy.
Still, it’s higher to place down the screens and, after a tricky afternoon of watching famous person soccer gamers carry out for our leisure, perhaps go for somewhat stroll across the block to clear our heads earlier than weighing in, if we should. You don’t must be a star to put up messages you’ll later remorse on Twitter or elsewhere. And if you’re the recipient of a imply message? Better to heed Aristotle, or just reply with a “Have a nice day!” and let your critics know you may’t be so simply rattled.
Baltimore Sun editorial writers provide opinions and evaluation on information and points related to readers. They function individually from the newsroom.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com