People are just vile

[holymoly56]

Numerous stories about the tragic air India crash all over my socials at the moment. The comments sections are fucking grim. Racist jokes, racist comments, conspiracy theories about the sole survivor, not to mention the gutter press posting photos and names presumably before passengers have been formally identified and families informed.

It’s as though people have become so detached from reality they just don’t care. The fact so many people actually died in such a horrible way seems to be lost on them. No sympathy, not even a respectful silence…they all just want to stick their two penneth in. It’s really bothered me today.

You probably just need to read the newspapers instead, no comments on those, I use PressReader, it's free from the library

Totally agree OP.

I have just deleted the Mail On Line app because of this.

I’m ashamed to say I occasionally have the urge to read trashy, showbiz articles on this app. (Sorry but I have said I’m ashamed).

However, the comment sections are so hateful in all the ways you describe, that my life is enriched now I’ve deleted it. I was getting so upset by people’s comments and now I’m free from it all.

The ‘gutter press’ does generally check that family has been informed before posting names and faces. It’s in the Ethics Code.

It's true that social media makes it so much worse. I remember some pretty sick jokes being made at the time of the bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Tory conference. The only difference was that there was no social media to spread it and to encourage others to do the same.

Slight derail but I was reading an article in the Times today about benefit cuts and the comments were really nasty. I always thought that the Times was a bit more balanced in the comments section but the comments without exception were making incredibly nasty generalisations about people on sickness benefits.

What are the 'right accounts'? And, without wishing to encourage you further, if the left is racist, what does that make the right?

@Jonny234 What is there to discuss? What is there to agree to disagree on? People have died in a terrifying way. There should only be one way to view such a tragedy.

Maybe don't use Facebook

Odfod. These are posts in response to news sites. The algorithm will therefore show that the op watches the news. Stop insinuating something that isn't there.

100% there is only one view.

But unfortunately we live in the world we do and none of us can legislate for other people's vile behaviour. Sometimes in life you just have to accept some people are what they are, ignore them and move on.

YANBU. I've steered well clear of comments sections today for this reason. They disgust me.

People have always been racist but they've been emboldened in recent years. IMO it started with Brexit and it's been gathering pace ever since.

Some people are just abhorrent buts it's not a recent thing.

I visited the war grave of a relative about 15 years ago and the comments in the memorial book were horrible. It was a struggle to read the crap.

Someone on twitter posted facebook 'laughs' on an article about the crash. I hadn't heard about the conflict between India and Pakistan, I don't pay as much attention to international politics as I should but someone posted 3 screenshots of the couple of hundred facebook names that had the 'laugh' emoticon on the story. Most of them were Pakistan accounts. I could not comprehend that. And I existed out of the screenshots pretty quickly because I didn't want to spend too much time thinking about it. It was horrific. So many people can't put themselves in place of these people who died on the plane. One of them who died on that plane was a relative of a friend of mine. It really wasn't good for my health to look at those laugh emoticons too long.

I have not looked at the comments, sadly I know that there will be some vile racist stuff in there. It is an incomprehensible tragedy, so many familes grieving for loved ones and that man who was the sole survivor will be forever traumatised. Why people lack the basic empathy to think "how would I feel if that had happened to my realtive or friend" is a mystery to me

I’ve avoided most of this. I find it hard to contemplate how scared they must have been.

I have only followed this story on specialist aviation forums and it is striking that on every thread Indian posters come on to thank everyone for not making racist comments, as they are seeing them on all other news sources. It really is widespread, and abhorrent.

FFS. Someone just has to shoehorn in stuff about the "woke left" at every opportunity, whether it's related to the thread topic or not.

Ahh yes, Sky which is owned by that well know lefty Rupert Murdoch. FFS the utter crap people spout. 😂

I do think that anonymity means that people can give full rein to their vileness and they feel safe to say things that if spoken aloud in public they would rightly be condemed. I despair for the world sometimes

Just had this exact conversation with my mum. Some of the stuff I’ve read is directly out of Nazi germany and sadly, I’m not exaggerating. Genuinely that calibre of abuse

I've not seen anything and in fact this is the first thread I've seen on MN, I'd assumed they were zapping them all.

It's interesting the Times has mainly kept comments switched off, but maybe that was more to do with compromising any investigation.

What I did think was if it's not your time, it's not your time - the guy who survived and without much in the way of injuries was a miracle although he may not necessarily feel that way as his brother died.

I've just glanced at social media about it and as well as the horrific racism there is also Jurassic Age homophobia about one photo of a married male couple. Entirely predictable .

I feel I need to leave it well alone. I don't know anyone affected and my sorrow for all the lost souls goes without saying. I don't need to make a comment on FB or Insta about it, it's just pointless.

I avoided the Jeremy Vine show yesterday because I knew I would find it too much. And yet, today, again the whole first hour was dedicated to this accident - this time dressed up as a phone-in about individuals who just narrowly missed an event like this. If BBC Radio 2 are happy to milk it for all it's worth, are they really any better than "the socials"? I don't know.

I am on FB only and haven't seen anything like that.

This makes me even more happy I don’t engage with any social media.

It’s not even anonymous, it’s their full names and photos of themselves! Unless some are using burner accounts but that can’t be all.

Musk, Zuck, and the Digger are only after the clickbait, what do you expect