342. Online trolls

One thing that astounds me about the internet is the way in which it makes people feel empowered to abuse total strangers.

Can you imagine walking down the street and having people yell abuse at you because of the way you dress, your race, or your political ideologies? Now this does happen sometimes, but it is somewhat rare in comparison to the frequency in which it occurs online.

And with the growth of Facebook much of this abuse his delivered by people who don’t hide behind usernames or personas. Their profile is there for the whole world to see, as is often their workplace, family and other personal details. People whom would probably stay deathly quiet if you put them in a room together somehow become brazen, hate filled demons online. I’m sure many of their work colleagues would balk at some of the things people spew when trolling.

And it’s not restricted to one particular group of people, be it age, gender, race, religion, ideology. There are trolls from each and every group.

Now I love a good debate, with well reasoned arguments and a healthy dose of respect for one another. Unfortunately this almost never happens online. Even if one person tries to be the voice of reason they are often drowned out with personal insults that have nothing to do with the topic at hand.

People don’t debate online. They just shout hate. Nobody listens to what the other person is saying and considers it. Instead they just drum up all the hate they have ever felt, from the bottom of their dark souls, and then direct it at anybody who happens to have a different opinion to them.

Why do people have so much hate?

As I’ve mentioned, I love a good debate and sometimes I’m tempted to enter into an online conversation. The I come to my senses as I realise it would be a futile way to spend my time. After all if you start to wrestle with a pig you both get dirty and only the pig enjoys it (no offence to any pigs).