Ed Sheeran and the kids are fine – let people enjoy things

There are so many tweets from fans who absolutely loved last night’s concert, but you still have those expressing their dislike of him online. Sheeran left Twitter in 2017, citing troll abuse as the reason. “The head f*** for me was trying to figure out why people don’t like me so much,” he told The Sun. A quick search for his name on Twitter will bring up some of these tweets, but I can leave the worst out for your imagination.

“I’d rather die of thirst than see that direcrow baiting his guitar.”

“Socializing would be something he would do well. He wouldn’t know a day’s work if it kicked him in his big British hole.”

“I just can’t believe so many people wanted to visit Ed Sheeran.”

“He’s not even mediocre. It’s even below average – but perfect for a generation that lacks substance and quality.”

“Steve Earle’s Galway Girl is the only song with that title that deserves to exist.

Sheeran’s thing was supposed to be launched into space.”

“He is also a boy and outdated”

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It can be easy to reinforce your ideas of contempt when you post them in a room that you have curated and that has been curated for you due to the many algorithms in the game.

However, get out of the online world and into the real world and the numbers don’t lie. Over 80,000 fans flocked to Croke Park to see Ed Sheeran perform on Saturday night, with 400,000 people expected to attend his concerts on the island of Ireland this week.

Of the 80,000 who came to Croker, many teenage girls seemed to be flocking with their friends or families, with children excited to be at a concert for the first time in two years, if not their very first concert. Why would anyone resent either of these groups of people looking to have a good time, or the artist who provides fun and entertainment? I went to the concert myself when my friend offered me a replacement ticket and had fun. I’m not a huge Ed fan, but it was out of this world for the sheer quality of performance and raw vocal ability. When I see the sheer joy of the people around me and Ed’s face himself, it’s hard to imagine masses of people online would be so implacably begrudge a man and his guitar.

Mocking artists who have gone mainstream is by no means a new phenomenon, and we’ve seen it before with musicians who went to Croker. The infamous Garthgate, involving Garth Brooks and his concerts, sparked a flurry of discussion on the aforementioned Twitter, with apparently hordes of people angrily dismissing his popularity and many claiming to “hate” his music.

Am I a Garth Brooks fan? Not particularly, I don’t like country music. Do I go online at the first opportunity to rant about it? No, I’m not that weird. This doesn’t only apply to music. James Corden, once loved by people as Smithy on Gavin and Stacey, is now being discussed online with Gift. Again, do I find James Corden hilarious or even funny? Not really. Do I despise the man for that? Again no. Unless Corden or Sheeran are suddenly exposed as racists or randomly attack my family, I have absolutely no reason to hate them.

Not liking things doesn’t mean venting your disgust on Twitter and feverishly waiting for likes and comments. We are all entitled to our opinions, but that doesn’t mean we always have to voice them in any way we find acceptable. If I angrily entered every negative thought I had on social media platforms, I would achieve nothing. Laundry piled up, work emails went unanswered, and friends started suggesting anger management classes — or maybe a journal, which I might as well let go of my thoughts without potentially thousands of people peering into it.

There is always a risk of being criticized for going public. Sometimes criticism can be good and encourage us to do better, but it is criticism made to want to criticize that benefits absolutely no one, least of all the person spewing the hate.