I know what the data would probably say, hell, I remember some of it myself from the earliest days of this cesspool we call the internets. I know they’d say that they have always been here, since the birth of this place, been around since before this place was even a place at all. Where there are people, they’ll be there, they’d probably tell me and probably quote Durkheim and his views on anomie and the breakdown of our social contracts or something. Sure, I’d say, but it’s a hell of a lot worse now.
Trolls, kids. I’m talking about trolls.
I didn’t think I was going to write this piece, I actually danced around it and pushed it off and was supposed to write it last year sometime after dealing with a bunch of unfortunate interactions with them, but just didn’t want to. Then, oh my goodness gracious, then, the biggest damn trolls actually won. The big prize, the biggest of the big, they won it all.
I wasn’t gonna write this at all, wasn’t going to shine a flashlight on people that have demanded a spotlight all this time, but then we stumbled into 2025 and have spent almost every waking moment of this brand new year watching the trolls dismantle what took over two centuries to build. Watching them continue to troll as they do so, continue to bully and harass and become more than just the traditional internet trolls that hide behind their keyboards, but into the kind that manifest themselves into true agents of chaos. The kind that breaks governments and destroys democracies and stages a coup in plain sight while everyone just kind of looks on and feels helpless.
Originally, I was going to write about the simpler kind of trolls, the baby brothers to those that are spreading havoc in the highest echelons of our political and social systems right now. I was going to write about how long I’ve been dealing with people who just want to stir shit up, just want to comment and post negative slop on anything anyone does online. Those that try so hard to disrupt. I was going to talk about the impotence of these beasts that once were only fairytale lore, how they have always just been annoying but inconsequential, a thorn in the side of good people who want to do and see good things on the world wide webs.
Turns out, it’s more than this, and probably always has been. Perhaps this “evolution,” we’re seeing wasn’t overnight after all. Perhaps they’ve been slowly turning into this all these years.
The warning signs have been there, not at all hiding it turns out. These are those that stormed the Capitol, these are those that march in our streets and hide their cowardly faces with masks when they shout bullshit rhetoric about white supremacy and against equality. That inconsequential nonsense is still nonsense, but now it’s so far from inconsequential it is terrifying.
I was going to talk about the why, behind why they troll. I was going to dive into the psychology behind it, talk about their deep need for attention, their power plays, their desperate seeking of control and some grand sense of entitlement that makes them truly believe they deserve to be heard. Even in that way, that awful and deplorable way, they think they deserve to be listened to.
I had thoughts about discussing how the social media algorithms that RUN OUR ENTIRE RIDICULOUS LIVES reward their outrage and their divisiveness. I was going to, but then something happened. Then I saw Elon Musk, I saw Mark Zuckerberg, and I saw CEOs of everything from TikTok to Google, standing up and clapping with Donald Trump at the inauguration. I saw Zuckerberg bend the knee to Trump and pay him millions of dollars and completely strip the content moderation department of his ridiculous company so that all the baby trolls could continue to reproduce and spread hatred and discontent and misinformation.
I was going to call out the trolls that do their little evil bidding and explain my hope that they always stayed what they always had been, sad little people behind their little screens, trying to make everyone else as sad as they were. Then I saw all the major news and media companies following in Zuckerberg’s weird footsteps, paying him what could only amount to bribes, and refusing to report the news honestly, without bias or slant, and calling out in plain language what was happening.
Now I don’t know what to say. Now, it just feels like the monsters have won, the trolls are at the helm and they are sailing us right into the storm.
Trolling has never been the harmless fun that the trollers claimed it was, and we’re seeing that now. Trolling, we are learning in real-time, can apparently be one of the chief forms of spreading misinformation, and when it’s disgustingly coupling itself with people in positions of power, the influence that misinformation has is increased exponentially.
Musk at Twitter, er, X, Zuckerberg at Meta, ByteDance and their TikTok, Trump with his chaotic style of ruining a country governing, AI-generated nonsense that throws even more noise into the mix, DeepFakes, TruthSocial, Proud Boys, it’s all adding up to bigger, badder, more despicable trolls. Those trolls are no longer hiding beneath the bridges, scaring billy goats, they are no longer fast asleep in the fjords of Norway, they are here, they are there, they are everywhere.
They are at the podium with the Presidential Seal, they are in the boardrooms of the most profitable companies on the planet earth, they are building rockets to colonize a glowing red planet in the middle of outer-space that cannot even sustain us anyways. They are killing a planet, then promising to kill another.
All of this is having consequences, far reaching and it looks like lasting. They are emboldening everyday people to mimic their behavior, to continue it as there are no repercussions. This, my goodness, this, is leading to a breakdown of empathy on a national, on a global scale. It’s creating entire societies that are forgetting how to be kind to one another, how to negotiate, peacefully, how to co-exist. We’re following leaders that aren’t doing anything that remotely looks like leading, that are destroying instead of repairing, that are alienating instead of reaching out.
Ok, so we know this, we see this, we’re aware. So what? What can we do? How can we fight back?
I’m not an expert, but I’ve been here a long time, dealing with the lowercase t trolls that come out in droves no matter what I post. I know we’re dealing with a lot worse now, capital T Trolls that are manifestations of a callous, indifferent evil that we’ve never seen before, but still, I think a lot of the same lessons apply. Start here.
Do not become what we are so repelled by - This is the beginning of it all, I think. We must refuse to acquiesce and let ourselves combat the onslaught of negativity with evil of our own. I know this is hard, I know this sucks, but fighting anger with anger only leads to more anger.
Deplatform - Yeah, this one is just as hard, but for starters, and I’ll say this not so gently for those of you in the back: GET OFF OF THE PLATFORMS THAT ARE SPREADING THIS VITRIOL. IF you are still on X, why? I know the excuses, that it’s still worth having to monitor the bad guys blah blah. Delete it. Log out and don’t log back in. If you still want to use Instagram or Facebook for personal reasons, that’s fine, but please, for the love of all that is good and holy, stop getting any “news” from there, believing anything you read or see posted there, and have a serious think about how much better your time can be applied and spent elsewhere.
Do Not Engage - Think of each tiny little troll as a tiny little spark that wants so desperately to start a great big fire. How do we help prevent that? Starve them of the oxygen they need. Your attention is their fuel, and the more you give, the bigger that fire spreads. Mute. Block. Report. Start training yourself to recognize what’s just baiting you, and what’s never, ever worth responding to. Hint: It’s all of it. ALL of it.
Support Independent journalism - Some of the absolute best writing about all of this is far, far from the mainstream media. Follow writers who are writing the truth, and avoid the big usual suspects that are owned by some of the richest people on earth. Read
, read , read , read . If we disrupt their megaphones by refusing to tune into them, we steal that power.Strengthen your own digital literacy - AND help others do the same, by educating them on troll tactics, as so many people don’t even know they are being manipulated. Support fact-checking efforts and support the websites that do this. Above all, promote serious critical thinking, and hold yourself to that standard. DO not accept anything at face value anymore. Learn. Teach. Learn. Teach. Repeat.
Build (and join) healthier communities - THIS PLACE IS ONE! If we spend more of our precious time in more precious places, we avoid so much of this in the first place. Right now, more than ever, we need communities of good people who want good things for all of us. Not just the top 1% of the top 1%. We need those who are brave, who are courageous and want to fight for democracy and fairness and equality and kindness and justice and truth. Find these people, find your people, and stick close.
Just a few tips, I know they are like throwing rocks at tanks right now, but dammit, we’re still in the fight.
This whole thing, I didn’t even want to write it, I didn’t even want to go down roads like this, but it’s so much worse, so much more dangerous, to stay quiet in the face of it. You know the old poem, “First they came for…” so do not allow yourselves to “say nothing.” Speak up, fight the good fights, and hold tight to those who believe in this.
This became a rant, but what can you do. These are desperate measures for such desperate times.
Be good.
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