The Loud Mind Of A Quiet Person

Chapter IX- Online era

     Nowadays, thanks to the internet, anybody can present their opinions. Technically, this sounds good. This should enhance the communication: more ideas, more feedback and more cooperation. Sadly, several people do not think about internet like this and they decide just to project hate. The problem is that somehow they learned that being hateful or sarcastic no matter the situation makes them cool. Their confidence is increased by the fact that their comments get reactions and are appreciated. I have seen so many times this type of comments being in the top. Let's get into some examples. The football fans, especially the older ones, might remember Gheroghe Hagi- a brilliant football player. After he retired, he formed a football academy. His son, Ianis, played there too. Ianis played a bit for A.C Fiorentina in Italy and came back in to the academy. People were saying in Facebook news about him that he plays in the academy just because he was the son of the one in charge and that he stole the place of other players with potential, not to mention all the laughter because he did not succeed in Seria A. He then went to Genk. He started well, produced some assists and even goals. Meanwhile, along with his teammates reached the semifinals of U21 at the European Tournament in 2019. All team was praised. Because he played good, he was given number 10 (the same number his father had) for the senior national team squad. In a game for EURO 2020 qualifiers we (Romania) faced Norway. We were down 2-0. Ianis entered in the second half and he played well. In the end, the score finished 2-2. People were praising him. Things were not that bright for him in Belgium. He played lesser and lesser. Again, with news about his situation there came waves of jokes and sarcasm about how bad he is. In this year, 2020, he was transferred to Glasgow Rangers in Scotland. This was a perfect occasion for people to make another round of jokes about him and how he would root on the substitute bench. Things did not turn out like this though. On the contrary, he scored and assisted regularly. In the Europa League's first knock-out stage, his team came back from 0-2 against Braga to 3-2. Ianis scored a brace. Steven Gerard, the Liverpool's legend, who is now the couch of Glasgow Rangers, praised Ianis' game. The fans adore him too. Where he is from though, things are not quite the same. Now that people cannot attack his present because he is successful, they talk about his imminent downfall. (A downfall based on no evidence, but his downfall would be a reason for happiness for them). Either this or jokes about how he will win Ballon d'or. There are many talented young football players who play at the highest level. The most known of this type is Kylian Mbappe from PSG. Recently, a new star is in the headlights of the football world. His name is Erling Braut Haland, the 19 years old striker of Borussia Dortmund. How does this connect with Ianis Hagi? It is simple. Every time Haland scores (he does it pretty often), there are people with sarcastic comments about Ianis: "Yeah, he scored a hat-trick, but he is still far away from our legend, Ianis" or "Does he have Germany at his feet as Ianis have Scotland? ". Luckily, football players are too busy minding their own business to read all this free negativity. I do not get how they think that writing such sentences makes them smart or interesting. If these comments were ignored, they would be discouraged but it is exactly the opposite. People feed this snowball of hate and make them bigger.

Let's stay in the world of sport. The next example is Simona Halep, the number two tennis player of WTA. Every time she loses, even though because she is the number two she does not do it often, people say she has not the mindset of a winner or that she is just contempt with the money won. Behind a screen it is extremely easy to judge. I have never played tennis but I can imagine it is very complex. It is not just: Attack left! Then attack right! Then attack left again! Of course, even when she wins, "she got lucky" or when news present that an important player lost or retired from the tournament there is always this comment" only like this can Halep win the tournament".

I remember watching the last Women's handball World Championship in 2019. Our national team defeated in a very close game Hungary by a goal in the last second. Because of that, we qualified in one of the two main groups. That meant we were in the best twelve teams of the world. We did not play too well in the groups and lost every game. That was an excellent opportunity for people to show their hate speech. The internet was filled with comments about how bad our team plays. There was no sign of positive critique whatsoever. Some of our women even said during interviews that they received private messaged with curses. I was never a professional sport player but I can only imagine how devastating a defeat in sport can be. On top of that, to receive from your own kin tough words in private must be extremely difficult.