I spent Sunday night in the same way most people did. I sat on the couch, ate enough chips and dip to probably give me a heart attack, yelled at the TV when Seattle intercepted the ball for the dozenth time. While I was doing all this, though, I was doing one other thing: scrolling through Twitter to see how everyone I follow was reacting to the game.
Clearly, I wasn’t alone in doing so, because last night the twitterverse was abuzz with comments about the game, including thousands upon thousands of references to Peyton Manning and his… less than stellar performance on the field. Once the Seahawks lead reached 35-0, the critics (and fans) turned brutal. Images of Manning from the game, including one of him on the phone on the sidelines, quickly went viral and evolved into memes with captions like “Mom can you come pick me up?” and “No Eli, put Dad on the phone!” Over the course of a few hours, Manning went from one of the most prominent and popular figure in the NFL to a simple joke. Not exactly the biggest confidence booster for the quarterback.
It’s interesting to think about how much Twitter reaction there is to these games; clearly it’s one of the most talked-about events in the beginning of the year. Of course, with that much chatter there’s going to be a lot of backlash connected to something like Manning’s performance. Really, it seems that it would just add insult to injury; the team was already doing poorly in the biggest game of the year, now thousands of fans and critics have taken to the internet to openly criticize them even further. Seems that it’s becoming far too common for this to be the case in the modern, social media driven era.
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I agree with your point that the tweets about Manning are basically adding insult to injury. I noticed the same thing yesterday. It's kind of sad that one social media website can have such an influence on thousands of people; that prominent public figures can go from being revered to hated in literally a matter of hours even for people who didn't watch the game but only logged on to Twitter.
ReplyDeletePeople always seem to feel more compelled to bash and make fun of prominent figures on social media, because there are really no repercussions. When you're not face-to-face with the person it's easy to fling insults, and doing so just attracts more people who may or may not feel the same way, but just end up feeling the same way to fit in. I think it is important for the person, in this case, Peyton Manning, to not take insults on Twitter and other social media seriously, or just not pay attention at all. Maybe the old concept of "ignore, and they'll stop" could work in the future if celebrities realize that words are just words in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI think Collin hit the nail on the head. I wonder if people would make the same jokes about Manning if he were in the same room. I also wonder how they would feel if Manning started criticizing how they're doing their job. "An INTERN could have stopped that salesman. What's your problem??!?!"
ReplyDeleteI saw many posts about Manning. I feel like in a way it's the same thing as online bullying. I know that these big celebrities are used to seeing negative things about them, but I feel like it still hurts their feelings. I think especially after this game it hurt because it was such a brutal game for the Broncos and anyone watching it knew this because the Seahawks were up so many points and the Broncos didn't stand a chance. I think it's easier for people to make these kinds of jokes and insults online instead of face to face because then they don't have to see the hurt that they may cause.
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