When did “being human” become a bad thing?

I’ve been despairing of certain elements of the population for a while – we all know that social media gives the scourge of society a platform to peddle their sub-human beliefs – but lately things seem worse than ever, if that’s possible?

Marcus Rashford, Jordan Sancho and Bukayo Saka receiving such vile and racist abuse for missing a penalty in the Euro 2020 final. Yes, I know football is everything to some people, but they’d do well to remember that it’s just a game. And, more importantly, the colour of someone’s skin has no impact on their ability to score a goal. Be disappointed, be angry even, but don’t be a knuckle dragging racist who doesn’t have the vocabulary to articulate thoughts and feelings and instead reverts to the lowest common denominator of race and colour. They’re young, they feel pressure, they were on the world stage. THEY’RE HUMAN.

Simone Biles, who has been through SO MUCH in her life (I didn’t know until I read her back story, my god she has overcome it all and then some) receiving negative press for recognising her own mental health capacity and withdrawing from Olympic events for her own wellbeing. The suggestion that she has let down her team mates, or is being a diva because she wasn’t performing as well as she usually does is disgusting. We should be holding her up as an inspiration to young people – all people – around the world that it’s ok to step back and look after yourself. As a tweet I saw said very well, you wouldn’t expect her to perform with a broken leg, so why is a broken mind any different? SHE’S HUMAN.

The RNLI – heroes by default for the fact it’s manned by volunteers; people who have others jobs and lives and priorities – having to defend themselves for rescuing immigrants who would otherwise drown. Just because these people aren’t of British origin doesn’t mean they should be ignored. What kind of life saving volunteer would you be if you chose to play God and decide who was worthy of being pulled from the water and who wasn’t? They do the role because they care about people. You know why they care about people? Because THEY’RE HUMAN.

Not even surprised

The worst part is, nothing surprises me any more. How awful is that? I’m not surprised that there are people thinking babies and children should be left to die in the cold British seas. At the end of the Euros final one of the last things I said before I went to sleep was that there would be a hugely racist response to the result, so I woke up being not surprised. I’m not surprised that there are people who are so ignorant of mental health issues that they think you can just brush it off and carry on.

I’m angry, disappointed and sometimes even shocked.

But I’m not surprised.

Thanks, as always, for reading.