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In a rather well-timed yet coincidental counterpoint to Why we're Losing the Internet to the Culture of Hate, Milo Yiannopoulos over at Breitbart brings us this:
A warped currency today governs popular culture. Instead of creativity, talent and boldness, those who succeed are often those who can best demonstrate outrage, grievance and victimhood.
Even conservatives are buying into it. Witness, in the days since Breitbart executive chairman Stephen K. Bannon was announced as Donald Trump's campaign manager, how establishment stooges have bought into the worst smear-tactics of the left. As with the left, nothing is evaluated on its quality, or whether it's factually accurate, thought-provoking or even amusing: only whether it can be deemed sexist, racist or homophobic.
Campuses are where the illness takes its most severe form. Students running for safe spaces at the slightest hint of a challenge to their coddled worldview. Faculties and administrations desperately trying to sabotage visits from conservative speakers (often me!) to avoid the inevitable complaints from tearful lefty students.
In this maelstrom of grievance, there is one group boldly swimming against the tide: trolls.
Trolling has become a byword for everything the left disagrees with, particularly if it's boisterous, mischievous and provocative. Even straightforward political disagreement, not intended to provoke, is sometimes described as "trolling" by leftists who can't tell the difference between someone who doesn't believe as they do and an "abuser" or "harasser."
Yeah, you knew I wouldn't let that kinda SJW nonsense slide without comment.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 21 2016, @12:37PM
Last time I looked, The Mighty BUzzard and I were about the most troll-moderated people here.
If this guy has any idea what he's talking about, TMB and I are saving Soylent for everyone. No need to thank us, unless you're sincere. If you're really sincere, just buy us a beer or sixty.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 21 2016, @01:26PM
LOL, these dolts speak of their "troll-fu" in front of me, AC the Magnificent.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday August 21 2016, @05:37PM
Indeed. I bow at the feet of the master.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Francis on Sunday August 21 2016, @01:32PM
I kind of wonder about that, Buzzie being modded doesn't really surprise me, but unlike some folks, *coughkhallowcough* at least he contributes something of value.
The folks I don't get are the ones that post bullshit day in and day out and are too lazy to even bother to think about what they're saying.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 21 2016, @08:05PM
The folks I don't get are the ones that post bullshit day in and day out and are too lazy to even bother to think about what they're saying.
Something else Francis does not get! Perhaps the accusation of intellectual sloth is on the other foot?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 21 2016, @04:16PM
How about we'll buy the two of you some weed, which will put you in a good mood for the brain surgery.
(Score: 2) by mojo chan on Sunday August 21 2016, @05:21PM
Milo is a FSW - Free Speech Warrior. He wants be able to say anything he likes, free from consequences. Sorry, but freedom of speech requires that others can respond with criticism or by ostracising or by kicking him off their private services/property.
Just screaming "free speech!!! censorship!!1!" whenever anyone blocks him or boots him off Twitter is professional victimhood.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday August 21 2016, @05:52PM
You're seeing things through a pretty thick filter there. For starters, he said getting the boot from Twitter was one of the best things that could have happened for him and one of the worst for Twitter. As for getting no-platformed by the snowflakes on campus, that's not about his free speech as much as it is pointing out the hypocrisy of a campus that is supposed to be pro-free-speech refusing to listen to anyone the faculty disagree with, despite a significant number of the students wanting to hear what he has to say. Universities have gone from fighting the establishment to being the establishment.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by mojo chan on Sunday August 21 2016, @06:21PM
He would claim that being banned from Twitter was good for him. It's not, it cuts down his public profile outside of Breibart and other shitpost sites where few people bother going.
He thinks that because people he dislikes are "professional victims" and it worked out well for them, he should do it to. Thing is, they aren't doing well because they are victims, they are doing well because they produce high quality content that people want.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 2, Troll) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday August 21 2016, @11:24PM
Sarkessian ever finish up those six videos she accepted tons of kickstarter money for or is she still at three like she was a year after taking the money?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Informative) by mojo chan on Monday August 22 2016, @07:59AM
Why yes, she actually made way, way more than six videos and the series is still on-going. The latest was posted last month. She has more than delivered on the Kickstarter promise, and in fact has turned it into a viable charity.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 22 2016, @02:31PM
Interesting. Last I saw she had plans to release little bitty videos under an entirely different kickstarter and no word on finishing out the original, paid for series.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by mojo chan on Monday August 22 2016, @03:19PM
She finished the original Kickstarter offering about a year ago, this is just "season 2" bonus material now. She, or rather now the charity she set up, did another Kickstarter for some different videos that are in production now. Since the charity has a number of employees, and Anita isn't the only one doing videos for it, and this new series seems to have a lot of guest speakers, and she is doing it full time now, it doesn't seem like a stretch.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 22 2016, @06:48PM
Interesting. Six full videos not just little five minute vids? Cause she was seriously dragging ass and it was starting to look about as truthful as the time she said she was run out of her house by death threats, which she filmed while inside her house.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by mojo chan on Monday August 22 2016, @10:43PM
Yep, all full videos delivered, shorter ones (5-15 minutes) still on-going. Also, the allegations about the video turned out to be false, just the usual reddit crap.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 22 2016, @10:48PM
Going to need a link to that because I saw quite a thorough examination that proved pretty conclusively that she never left her home.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by mojo chan on Tuesday August 23 2016, @08:27AM
If you provide a link to this examination I can refuse it. I can't prove a negative, and most people don't bother to careful document being threatened out of their home just in case random people on Reddit question it.
These claims are usually easy to dismantle because they rarely do a very good job of faking the evidence. Tweets frequently exceed the 140 character limit, they forget to remove Photoshop metadata tags from the images etc.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Monday August 22 2016, @04:08AM
Except that mass exodus of conservatives from Twitter is already happening. Good or bad, Milo's article has 977 comments and he is not on twitter. You may not like it but he is not a small fish anymore, at least. He was banned for exactly this reason, btw, because he is not a small fish anymore.
(Score: 2) by mojo chan on Monday August 22 2016, @08:03AM
Try setting up your own Free Speech social media platform for conservatives. The Amazing Atheist tried and failed, because he found that no hosting provider was willing to ignore the law and that advertisers wouldn't touch a site like that, but maybe you could Kickstarter it or something?!
Seriously, good luck with that. It would be a comedy gold mine, better than the MGTOW and Red Pill on Reddit.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Monday August 22 2016, @03:11PM
It is the work of liberals and it is what's going to become their undoing. Men's rights is a valid problem but liberals have sold it to women vote-bank. There are plenty of poor white people who have valid concerns but liberals would rather pander to black racists than non-racists white. Owing to your two-party system, multiple people have now been cornered to stand with conservatives. And that involves standing-up with white supremacists and fascists so be it.
And what has that bought you? Silicon valley is a business world and it will pander to whoever is in power. Currently liberals are in power. Let's see... Trump is bigger than tea-party... hmm... Hillary is already saying that men's rights are a valid concern... feminists are already saying "we need to listen to men's concern"... NOW is saying father's are getting a short-end of the justice system... Conservatives in London are supporting Men's Rights Movement.
All that in lieu of twitter. I say it is a win-win situation. So much win, actually. And all because of liberals couldn't care less about men committing suicide in unprecedented numbers and used them for laughter.
(Score: 2) by mojo chan on Monday August 22 2016, @03:30PM
Well, I keep being accused of being a liberal, and I support men's rights. I just don't support MRAs, because they are idiots who are trying to make the situation worse and blaming the only thing that can help them.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Monday August 22 2016, @04:12PM
What have you done to stop its state sponsored violation?
By doing what?
What that is, exactly?
(Score: 2) by mojo chan on Monday August 22 2016, @04:58PM
Campaigned against MGM, feminism and feminism.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Monday August 22 2016, @05:25PM
Thanks. I am not an anti-feminist personally.
(Score: 2) by naubol on Sunday August 21 2016, @06:40PM
I miss the days when free speech violation could only mean being no-platformed by the government.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday August 21 2016, @11:27PM
It never meant that. That would be a first amendment violation. Say it with me so you'll understand next time: free speech is not just a first amendment thing, it is a founding American principle.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 22 2016, @02:01AM
Yes a founding principle that they just forgot about at the start and needed an amendment to slip it in later. At least it was kinda more important than owning slaves.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 22 2016, @02:22AM
Oooh, yeah, give me that salt. Please. Go right ahead and ignore that we also killed a hell of a lot of white folks to rectify that. What matters is that the founders weren't perfect and thus it's okay to ignore anything they may have gotten absolutely right.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by dry on Monday August 22 2016, @02:33AM
You should really read some history if you think that Free Speech was a founding American principle. Generally during the Revolution, people who spoke against it were tarred and feathered, had their property taken by letters of attainment issued by the colonial governments and later, hung from a tree by Mr Lynch and friends.
The idea that the lower classes, the slaves and the Tories (the right wing party of the day) should have free speech was foreign to the ruling classes.
The founding principles of America are best expressed in a famous document that starts out claiming all men being equal and then goes on to classify some men as 3/5s of a man.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 22 2016, @02:40AM
You really should get over slavery. Nobody born in this century's great-grandparents were or owned slaves.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by dry on Monday August 22 2016, @04:08AM
You are the one who brought up "founding principles", not current principles. Speech is one of the rights that has generally become more free with the passing of time. Perhaps eventually we'll get to the point where people aren't thrown in jail for speech.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 22 2016, @02:47PM
Has it? Doesn't look that way to me. Forty years ago you could hold most any political view and speak about it on campus without the faculty or administration trying to silence you. Eight years ago you could be a whistleblower and not end up in prison for it. At the beginning of the Internet age you could spout any political view you liked and not get censored as long as you did it in a forum that was somewhat related to what you were saying. Today? All of the above: gone.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 22 2016, @12:10PM
Just because it's made illegal, does not mean it stops happening, if there is demand. Slavery still occurs today, even in the US.
And I don't mean "my employer doesn't pay me enough!" millennial whinging. I mean the real, traditional, old-school your-ass-is-mine kind of slavery. You're not likely to see them though, because modern slaves don't work in the fields.
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Thursday August 25 2016, @01:10PM
I distinctly remember an episode of Michael Moore's TV Nation which featured slaves. Apparently, they made it legally watertight.
1702845791×2
(Score: 2) by naubol on Monday August 22 2016, @11:04PM
What does it mean? If I have a platform, I'm obligated to let you speak on it? If that's what you mean by 'free speech', I say no thank you.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday August 22 2016, @11:14PM
Absolutely not. It's your platform. If it's a public forum that belongs to you though, just don't be surprised when called on being an oppressive asshat if you're going to be an oppressive asshat. Most especially if you're supposed to fundamentally be about the free and unhindered exchange of ideas, like say a university.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by naubol on Tuesday August 23 2016, @12:00AM
The idea of giving free and unhindered exchange of ideas doesn't strike you as facially absurd? There are so many bad ideas. Should a university give a platform to a flat earther? Universities want to improve the quality of ideas, yes? There must be a selection mechanism and room to get it wrong. As for hindrance, universities are suppose to provide friction for shitty thinking. Hindrance is desirable.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday August 23 2016, @12:40AM
Why would you not give them a platform? Are you afraid of them? Will your own ideas not obviously prove them wrong? Seriously, if you ideas cannot stand debate, it's safe to consider them just flat wrong. This is how universities used to work and how they still should.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by naubol on Tuesday August 23 2016, @11:26AM
signal to noise matters
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday August 23 2016, @01:29PM
No, it absolutely does not. That idea is fascist garbage designed to set those in power up as the ones who decide what qualifies as 'noise' and allows them to both censor something and declare it utterly unworth hearing. You either allow the most absurd ideas or you get fitted for jackboots. There is no middle ground.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by naubol on Tuesday August 30 2016, @11:59AM
Why is there no middle ground?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday August 30 2016, @12:36PM
Because as soon as there becomes "middle ground" there has to be someone who gets to decide what constitutes speech that can be censored. Since you have to have a human making that decision and humans have an abysmal record of corruption when given power, you cannot give that power to anyone or allow yourself to have it.
Thus our policy here of allowing all speech that isn't mass, commercial spam. Since we are humans, we're open to corruption even here. Thankfully we have widely varied ideologies except on the matter of free speech and someone is always ready to call bullshit on any attempted censorship.
This is not even remotely true on most campuses nowadays. They are fully ready to censor any speech they disagree with.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 21 2016, @07:35PM
Sometimes you are a troll for the greater good.
Others, you're just an asshole.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday August 21 2016, @11:37PM
Thankfully, both are fun.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tfried on Sunday August 21 2016, @08:31PM
Ok, granted. Being called a troll could mean you're simply swimming hard against the mainstream. Or it could not. In my unwritten book, the core definition of being a "troll" is pissing off others, deliberately. An important connotation of that is that - in general - pissing off others is the main point of being a troll, whereas the method chosen is secondary.
So what are possible reasons for being called a troll?
1) People disagree with you, strongly, and are too immature to tolerate your opinion, possibly even for lack of counter-arguments. <-- You hope to be here.
2) People disagree with you, but would have been ok with your statement if you had simply left out the ad hominem. <-- Doesn't make your ideas any worse, but you probably haven't convinced anybody, either.
3) People agree with you, but reject your statement for too much offensive language. <-- Mostly theoretical category, listed for completeness. People just aren't that reasonable.
4) People think your statement is so obviously designed to be offensive, that they do not even think you believe in any of what you said. <-- Proper use of the word "troll" according to my above defintion; of course this still does not rule out that the audience has guessed wrong, and you actually were trying to make a point.
I won't guess on the proportions, make up your own statistics. My point is: It is not necessarily bad to be called a troll, but it's quite a leap of faith to take pride in being called a troll.
As to "troll" being used mostly by the left: Probably true. That's simply because for case 1), above, the alt-right prefers the term "SJW".