Manchester United or Arsenal: This Needs to Stop, People

As it is already well-known to everybody—it has been all over the media—Arsenal was defeated at Manchester United’s Old Trafford on Saturday.

A lot of controversy surrounded the game. Arsene Wenger was sent off, an Arsenal goal was disallowed, a penalty was not given, and players supposedly dove. Some said Arsenal should have won easily, while others said that it was Manchester United that should have won.

Subsequently, instead of the game being forgotten and moving on, it seems the match has sparked a war of some kind on Bleacher Report between the Manchester United fans and the Arsenal fans.

A lot of comments were written, some insulting, to both people and teams. Articles with an obvious note of mockery and barely-hidden aggression have started to appear.

Well, it’s gotten out of hand. This needs to stop.

Bleacher Report has not been created for that reason. It has not been created for people to express their hostility, but for substituting it with meaningful conversations. It also was not created created as an opportunity to mock people for their favourite team’s misfortunes.

It has never been about that, and I’m surprised to see such things now.

The specific goal of Bleacher Report—and I’m sure many of the people that have been on this site longer will agree—has never been to encourage verbal exchange of extremely low quality between users.

On the contrary, it has been created to build bridges between people and to give a chance for sports fans, like you and me, to express a valid opinion. And I cannot emphasize the word valid enough.  

How can an insult, a mocking remark, or acts of aggression be a valid opinion?

Why disrespect a fellow writer and a sports fan? Why disrespect yourself? Because he or she is a fan of the team you hate? This could be a two-way street.

But when does it end? Does it end with an insult? You will feel better, maybe? I doubt it.

My fellow bleachers, please do not forget that you are here, on this site, to enjoy yourselves, to write articles, and to become better in one way or another. There are thousand of reasons for everyone to be a part of this forum, and I really doubt if the reasons for some to be here are genuinely ill-intended.

Even if you stumble upon such cases, I would ask that you, fellow writers and sports fans, ignore them.

Do not encourage such articles or comments. Do not cast fuel into the fire. Let it burn out. Do not comment on articles of such quality, and do not vote for them.

The hate can only spread, but what’s its use?

It has none, except for causing your own and everyone else’s discomfort.

Let’s stop hateful barking.

Manchester United or Arsenal? It does not matter. They will continue to play, and they will continue to show respect towards each other.

So should we.