Progressives: Stay the Course. Don’t Feed the Trolls.
Don’t waste your energy trying to change the minds of those who refuse to listen
This story will be short and sweet, and I hope it serves as a helpful reminder to value and preserve your own sanity when things get heated online.
The Problem
If you’re anything like me, you‘ve probably made the mistake of reading through politically-charged comment sections on social media. Likewise, you’ve also made the mistake of posting your own comments, only to watch the entire Deep South spew all sorts of vile idiocy in response. Congrats, you’ve poked the hornet’s nest that is proud conservative Backwardsism.
And again, if you’re like me, you may have attempted reasoning with these conservatives. Also a mistake. You probably feel like it is your civic duty to challenge these monsters and prove that there is no place in this world for the delusional, draconian behavior they support.
But we all know how this turns out. It’s stressful. It’s exhausting. It’s draining. It’s time consuming. And it’s infuriating. Why? Because conservatives do not partake in conversation to converse. They don’t want to learn. They don’t want to hear new ideas. They don’t want to compare thoughts and engage in constructive debate. All they want to do is steamroll you with their archaic ideology so they can laugh at your frustration. All they care about is “owning the Libs.”
As I wrote in a separate Medium story, they derive purpose and value by putting others down. This is what makes them tick. It’s what gives their lives meaning. It’s pathetic. But be that as it may, interacting with them still takes a huge mental and emotional toll. The Troll Toll, if you will.
The Solution
My suggestion? Don’t even bother with them.
I know you have life-saving, clinically-proven, scientifically-tested and peer-reviewed reproducible data that would undoubtedly shatter the “logic” of their conspiracy theories in a heartbeat. But they just don’t care. Your ideas will fall on deaf ears. You’ll waste your time and energy. You’ll just feed the trolls, making them feel more justified in their hateful harassment efforts.
Which is why I would argue that we need to stop giving conservative trolls our attention. Yes, we need to stand against the regressive values they seek to impose on society. But we’ll never be effective if we continue to wear ourselves down trying to change their minds on a person-to-person basis.
Our time and energy are better spent empowering fellow progressives and collaborating to make the world a more just and inclusive place. We need to focus our energy on supporting progressive initiatives. We need to preserve our bandwidth so we can make strides in our efforts to address and solve things like climate change, systemic racism, gun violence, police violence, education reform, and economic reform. Making progress in these areas will naturally signal the end of conservatism anyway.
All we can do is hope that by making the world a more beautiful and vibrant place, the conservatives will finally feel convinced to hang up their grudges and join us in the human experience.
