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posted by janrinok on Saturday August 20 2016, @03:18AM   Printer-friendly
from the troll-on-trolling dept.

Paraphrasing an article by Time Magazine's Joel Stein:

The Internet's personality has changed -- once it was like a geek with lofty ideals about the free flow of information. Now the web is a sociopath with Asperger's. [ Submitter's note: the "Sociopath with Asperger's" comment is not my addition, but a verbatim phrase in the source article ]

The people who relish their online freedom to act under influence of the online disinhibition effect are called "trolls." Trolling is, overtly, a political fight; but it has become the main tool of the alt-right, an Internet-grown reactionary movement that works for men's rights and against immigration. They derisively call their adversaries "social justice warriors" and believe that liberal interest groups purposely exploit their weaknesses to gain pity, which allows them to control the leverage of political power.

When sites are overrun by trolls, they drown out the voices of women, ethic and religious minorities, gays -- anyone who might feel vulnerable. The alt-right argues that if you can't handle opprobrium, you should just turn off your computer. But that's arguing against self-expression, something antithetical to the original values of the Internet.

The article closes with a description of an exchange between Stein and a detractor. In meeting the detractor in real-life, he was surprised by her lack of bravado, to which she responds, "The Internet is the realm of the coward. These are people who are all sound and no fury."

Stein ruminates in response, "Maybe. But maybe, in the information age, sound is as destructive as fury."


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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 20 2016, @04:07PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 20 2016, @04:07PM (#390596)

    "I won't read anything that challenges my beliefs."

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  • (Score: 2, Flamebait) by aristarchus on Saturday August 20 2016, @05:52PM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Saturday August 20 2016, @05:52PM (#390625) Journal

    "I won't read anything that challenges my beliefs."

    Oh, if only anything that starts with "SJW" could challenge mine, or anyone's, beliefs! So to be clear, this is not a matter of ignorance, it is a surfeit of knowledge, knowledge gained from hard experience. Many times in the past I thought I might find something to challenge beliefs in writing that contained "SJW", but sadly I only got spittle on me from the foaming mouths of a deranged far right. It was like reading Mein Kampf expecting to learn something besides a historical context. Hmm. "Mein Drumpf"?

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 20 2016, @08:49PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 20 2016, @08:49PM (#390705)

    Anyone actually interested in debate wouldn't be using terms designed to shut down debate, like "SJW", from the start.