Everybody else is doing it, so why can’t I?

So there’s this NYTime article, right, about the people behind trolls (strangely enough, the original article was titled “Malwebolence” and has since changed - I think the editors realized how very 6th grade corny that title was). It’s a long but really interesting read, if only because when you’re provoked by these kids you very often forget, or it’s easier to forget, that they’re actual people and not just low-life scum. Obviously this is a different age, and I can’t even wrap my head around the implications in terms of privacy and morality and law that come with being a citizen of the interwebs; I wouldn’t even know where to begin. But the author of the article did bring up something that I never thought about regarding trolls and how they operate. It’s that at a fundamental level they are a nuisance; how much of a nuisance depends on how they pull off their trolling and how much adverse reaction they get from everyone else:

But while technology reduces the social barriers that keep us from bedeviling strangers, it does not explain the initial trolling impulse. This seems to spring from something ugly — a destructive human urge that many feel but few act upon, the ambient misanthropy that’s a frequent ingredient of art, politics and, most of all, jokes. There’s a lot of hate out there, and a lot to hate as well.

I mean of course there is something reprehensible about trolls; that’s why they’re called trolls. But it does make you wonder what that “destructive human urge” is - is it the same that compels us to go to war? The same one that champions genocide? Yes there is an element of humor in trolling; if you take them seriously people say you just don’t get the joke. But these are always the same people anyway who are never at the receiving end of quips; it’s much more human to react in the defensive; not everyone has wit at standby. If everyone was witty I guess there would be no need for trolls.

Loki is mentioned in the article - the Nordic god of mischief. In hindsight, how insightful it was for the Vikings to personify mischief as a god (albeit unpopular), along with fertility, war, wisdom. They were well aware that mischief cold wreak havoc just as much as outright spite or pure evil. Must be something about the cold weather and dry wind up there.

On a sidenote, Weev, the troll who’s interviewed in the article, has written a distinctly Valis-like response to the article. I have no doubt that, if warranted, Weev could erase my identity just like that. But let me say this: Weev, you look like you’re 14 years old. You look like all my high school classmates at fourteen, just when we were trying to get us to fall in love with each other in between Bio lecture and lab. I think it would have been super productive for you to have had a girlfriend at 14.

Speaking of Valis and Philip K. Dick, they confirmed water on Mars in case you haven’t heard. This brings to mind a short story by Dick, in which mankind attempts to colonize Mars, only to realize that mankid originated from Mars and left it, having depleted all its resources (too lazy to try to figure out what the title was, otherwise I would have to sift through about seven different books - and a google search for philip dick life earth mars - fat lot of good that would do!). Oh my God, Horselover Fat. You were a fucking prophet. It’s the end of the world as we know it. Weev was right: this is a Malthusian crisis. I’m never making my own children. I’ll have to use my baby names on future cats and akitas instead.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 at 12.21.am and is filed under God and the Big Questions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.