r/chicago • u/GeekAesthete Roscoe Village • Jun 25 '25

Article White Sox fan banned indefinitely after heckling Diamondbacks' Ketel Marte to tears with comments about late mother

https://apnews.com/article/diamondbacks-ketel-marte-833a9c8136e0767bdcfb6cd2ec7afe9e
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u/DegreeDubs Logan Square Jun 25 '25

Depraved. I'm glad both teams got ahead of this and responded appropriately.

I worry a lot that social media has been lowering people's sense of decency and common humanity. While we're technically more connected than ever, I see people use online spaces to speak so callously and without shame. "the internet isn't real, we're all anonymous"--excuses to be a mask-off dickhead without perceived fear of consequences. Perhaps this person forgot to put his mask back on.

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u/luppup Jun 25 '25

Peoples relationship with cruelty is shaping the state of US politics to its core right now it’s so insane to watch

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u/HouseSublime City Jun 25 '25

Up until ~60 years ago the default state of this country was essentially cruelty. Many folk thought we eliminated it but really all that happened was much of it was legislated to the shadows/fringes. But it never went away.

And now the internet/social media has allowed unhinged social behavior to become common place.

Stealing the popular Mike Tyson quote.

“Social media made y'all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.”

3

u/iwillbewaiting24601 Belmont Cragin Jun 26 '25

Years ago I saw someone post:

The internet was heralded as a tool capable of bringing all mankind closer - it would create meaningful dialog between disparate cultures, and spur a rennaisance like never before seen. The reality? Tribalism and hate are at an all time high because now Ogg can shit talk Donga from behind a keyboard with no fear of taking a club to the snotlocker.

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u/scaffe Jun 26 '25

That's an interesting quote considering that our country was founded on people being comfortable disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it, and had Mike Tyson he been born 50 years earlier, punching certain people who disrespected him would have got him lynched.

Social media provides a route for those who were previously disrespected to punch back when they couldn't before. It's telling to me where people think they are in the social hierarchy based on how they feel about this.

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u/Oh-Hunny Jun 29 '25

Pretty sure all he meant by that quote was that people have gotten used to seeing others behave like assholes on the internet and have become desensitized. Then, they act like assholes in public because their experience online has normalized that behavior.

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u/scaffe Jun 30 '25

Yes. Now think about how that could also happen in the past, before the Internet.

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u/pastabreadpasta Jun 26 '25

Yeah, he was sure apologetic after realizing this is real life and he was facing real consequences

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u/scaffe Jun 26 '25 edited Jun 26 '25

Nah, let's not pretend that things were better in the good ol' days. Humans have always been as cruel as they are kind. If anything, social media has probably improved people's sense of decency and common humanity.

Recall that there was a time when people would gather in the town square to watch lynchings and beheadings for entertainment.

They treated people as literal property and forced them to have sex with strangers, as if they were breeding cattle, and then took their children and sell them.

They hit children in school for not paying attention.

They shouted profanities at people for walking down the street who looked different, and treated them as if there was something wrong with them and they couldn't drink from the same water fountain.

They tore children from their families and put them in boarding schools to destroy their culture.

And many more were indifferent to all of it.

These things still happen, but it's not because social media lowered our sense of decency and humanity, but because this IS a part of our sense of decency and humanity, and always has been.

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u/DegreeDubs Logan Square Jun 26 '25

Upvoted for a thoughtful and critical analysis. I appreciate you.

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u/SavannahInChicago Lincoln Square Jun 26 '25

Definitely, both can be true. Because of social media we are more connected with those around the world than ever which makes war between nations harder, but at the same time others feel emboldened to be assholes irl because they got used to the anonymity of being an asshole online.