“Even if the internet can magically turn people into #assholes, how they choose to become assholes is quite important, for it tells us something about the larger society that the #trolls are a part of. Even if the #alienated #teenager typing away in his basement about #sluts and femi-nazis is not “really” misogynistic (and I am pretty damn skeptical that this is possible) the fact that he has gravitated towards misogynistic language as a major form of trolling is very telling, no? After all, if a person wants to troll, there could be many different ways in which they could attack and belittle other people. And yet, attacking #women, people of color, and #LGBTQ individuals seem to be very popular options. Goodness, I wonder why that is! It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with actual, widespread attitudes of #misogyny, #racism, and #homophobia, could it? I mean attitudes that exist off of the internet – that is, in the realm where all those people, unrecognized as trolls, operate as fully embodied beings. And it is precisely because those attitudes are so pervasive and widespread that I do not believe that trolls arbitrarily choose from the various types of awful they see around them without any pre-existing tendencies; trolling, it seems to me, reflects attitudes you already hold to some degree or another before you get on the internet.” disruptingdinnerparties/2013/11/08/do-not-feed-the-trolls-but-do-not-dismiss-them-either/
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 01:24:19 +0000
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