I would hope no one would suggest that any kind of racial abuse toward anyone is justified, regardless of their feeling toward the player, but I simply don't see what that remotely has to do with the booing Sterling gets at Anfield. Torres and Owen seem to be just as badly disliked among the fan base as he is, having done far more for this club and making far more of an effort to build bridges while having been far less disruptive.
I think a few years on, people forget just what Sterling did in 2014-15. The club had offered him a 300% pay rise, given him time off to go on holiday earlier in the season, and they were repaid by him effectively going on strike, giving unsolicited interviews on TV and getting his agent to slag off our manager, later stating in public that Sterling would have considered staying if we'd got rid of him - something that even at the time was a transparent lie intended only to damage the club. It only takes a cursory look at the timing of the contract drama alongside the results to see the direct effect it had on the team. That isn't remotely comparable to anything Alonso, Suarez or even Coutinho did. None of them went to domestic rivals and none had youth team links with the club either, which is why I find it bizarre they're being compared.
As for the booing, I say long may it continue - it gets to Sterling because he's mentally weak, the same as he's always been. I remember when we went out of Europe to Beşiktaş that season when, at the end of the penalty shootout, after doing nothing for 120 minutes and being the only forward apart from Lambert on the pitch, he didn't take a penalty, letting Lovren sky the last of the main five and leaving him to get the dog's abuse instead.
And while there's no doubt he's had it bad from the Mail, I'd argue that a) it's typical of the treatment they've given to any other high-profile international who's seen to be underproductive and 'spoiled' over the years, and b) he gets overly flattering treatment from other parts of the press who practically fall over themselves to praise his Carl Leaburn-ish England record. Is it really more unfair than the media treatment of someone like Theo Walcott, who's still seems to be labelled a brainless donkey despite having a more productive international record while playing in a worse team, or Wayne Rooney, who's got abuse from the press and fans for doing practically anything? Or what Gazza or Beckham or Jack Wilshere had to go through?