Last Saturday’s loss to Manchester United was not an easy one to take. For all the fight in the dog, Arsenal made enough defensive mistakes to find a way to lose again to Jose Mourinho.

As we all know, it is probably not the best time to be on social media after a defeat like this.

Someone says something stupid, another responds with something even more stupid, as others pile on with their own irate opinions. Then, everyone’s got their underwear in a twist and it becomes a flame war for the ages.

There is no better example than what happened in the aftermath of Arsenal’s defeat to United. One Canadian fan unfortunately decided to use the result as an opportunity to make a sarcastic remark, which has since been deleted.

Then this happened:

https://twitter.com/IanWright0/status/937149062553440256

The original poster, forgetting he was being sarcastic, then fights back:

Another fan typically joins in taking pot shots:

And we’re off to the races with a full-on trashing of Ian Wright from foreign fans because of a tweet taken completely out of context.

Wrighty is no stranger to such Twitter controversies, and has been caught up in these kinds of things in the past. He, like the rest of us, can be provoked in the heat of the moment and has a tendency to speak his mind.

Although he’s since apologised for this (and he usually does), it raises some important points:

First of all, why has it becomes so utterly important that we automatically exhibit our outrage at the opinion of others instead of respecting them like intelligent people?

Twitter has denigrated so far down the ‘abuse everybody’ style of debating tactics with anyone and everyone that it’s hardly worth engaging any more.

Ian Wright
Ian Wright wasn’t happy that refereeing decisions went against Arsenal in Saturday’s meeting with Manchester United.

Secondly, why should this affect me, personally?

From my perspective, my support of Arsenal is a personal thing to be exercised in a manner I am capable of.

What anyone else thinks of that is irrelevant to me and shouldn’t change the way I approach it. Besides, at what point did level of fandom become a competition?

Third, why is it so horrible that it came from an Arsenal Legend?

If you look at the whole thing holistically: It was a sarcastic response to a sarcastic comment taken completely out of context in the heat of the moment.

I find it more amazing that people can take such a thing so seriously given the circumstances.

Fourth, why are people so petty about slip-ups on social media?

Everyone makes mistakes now and then. Just because Ian Wright is in the public eye, it  doesn’t make him immune to such things, either. I mean, it’s not like he’s constantly trolling people like Piers Morgan or Donald Trump.

The strange ‘life imitates art’ part in all of this is how people didn’t even accept Wrighty’s apology. It’s as if we’re all extras on Curb Your Enthusiasm watching how the apology somehow wasn’t commensurate with the severity of the offence.

Bottom line: Folks, lighten up a little.

We all support Arsenal in different ways and none are more important than the next. This fanbase has enough problems. Let’s not add to it by finding yet another way to fight amongst ourselves.