If it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes an echo chamber to raise a moron. There were three morons on show over the weekend. A plump bloke in a flat cap punched Aston Villa's Jack Grealish. A gormless Gooner in a hoodie shoved Manchester United's...
Once is appalling. Twice is a terrible coincidence. But three times is a pattern, a clear suggestion that feisty banter between old rivals is tiptoeing towards a darker place - that cesspool of intolerance online.
Rational behaviour is less important than who shouts the loudest or goes the furthest to prove one's loyalty. And he got the response he was looking for. Birmingham supporters cheered his violence. Within seconds, they were doing likewise on social media. The tribes drew their lines in the sand. On the other side, there were calls for life bans, closed stadiums, record fines and points deductions, with fingers pointed at Birmingham's history of anti-social behaviour.
And there were the usual allegations that stewards were too slow to react, which was like blaming the relief teacher for not stopping that dim-witted kid from dropping his shorts and peeing in the sandpit. Modern, online tribalism has merged with traditional, terrace tribalism to create a permanent state of hate and heightened tension. Death threats are an occupational hazard for footballers .
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