What a day its been. What a year its been. The end of a disastrous reign is over.
As the world takes a collective sigh, I have had the pleasure of perusing teh intertoobs. And it seems like the old dogs haven’t learned any new tricks. The same old trolls are back to their usual debauchery. Which leads one to wonder – why?
We have had a couple of interesting theories. Is it Malwebolence?
The trolls employed what the M.I.T. professor Judith Donath calls a “pseudo-naïve” tactic, asking stupid questions and seeing who would rise to the bait. The game was to find out who would see through this stereotypical newbie behavior, and who would fall for it. As one guide to trolldom puts it, “If you don’t fall for the joke, you get to be in on it.”
Or maybe the Broken Window Theory?
Why aren’t some people able to have a discussion about the merits of a candidate, or strengths and weaknesses of a specific strategy without getting personal or mean about it?
Are the stakes really so low in some parts of the blogosphere, that people feel the need to be nasty about everything?
Short answer.
Yes.
For many people, flaming and hostility are the only reasons to get online.
These are folks who suffer from a chronic case of assholicism.
troll
One who purposely and deliberately (that purpose usually being self-amusement) starts an argument in a manner which attacks others on a forum without in any way listening to the arguments proposed by his or her peers. He will spark of such an argument via the use of ad hominem attacks (i.e. ‘you’re nothing but a fanboy’ is a popular phrase) with no substance or relevence to back them up as well as straw man arguments, which he uses to simply avoid addressing the essence of the issue.
It’s much easier to criticise and inflame than it is to be creative and stimulating.
No matter what the topic – these trolls can’t help but flame. It’s sad really. Either way though – its been a great day. This morning I looked at my baby as I was watching the inauguration and thought – wow, you were born in the year that Obama was elected president. Change has come.
The era of hope and brains has begun. Take that trolls!
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