Outrage spreads too fast these days. Everything from politics to sports — starting at the local level here in Beaufort County and going all the way to national and international happenings — seems to almost always incite some kind of kneejerk reaction.

That’s the price of having access to a public forum that can reach anyone in the world sitting in one’s pocket. Anyone can hear a piece of news and weigh in on it by logging onto Facebook or Twitter from his smartphone.

What’s been happening with the University of Tennessee’s football program is the perfect example. The Volunteers had all but made it official that Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano would be the team’s next head coach.

Schiano had been loosely tied to the Penn State child sex abuse scandal last year. He served as a graduate assistant and defensive-backs coach in the 1990s. A Philadelphia court released documents related to the case. Schiano was alleged to have known what was taking place.

However, that allegation — made scarcely in nearly 400 pages of documents — was based on hearsay, and Schiano denied it.

Nevertheless, that became the premise of people from Tennessee fans to state representatives expressing their outrage via social media. The online campaign resulted in the university distancing itself from Schiano within a day.

Of course, many of those expressing their disgust — especially fans — also argued that Tennessee should be pursuing a coach with more of a winning pedigree than Schiano, but that’s an entirely different story.

The point is that many people today are too quick to react. That can come in the form of being rash in passing judgment on a stranger walking down the street, or it can be perpetuating one-sided beliefs through social media.

It’s become one of the downfalls of today’s culture. If everyone could just take more time and give these matters due diligence, the world would be a better, and fairer, place.