This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture

In the age of social media, cyber trolls, and fake news, it is a national and global crisis that people so readily follow their feelings to embrace outlandish stories about their enemies. A community in which members hold one another accountable for using evidence to substantiate their assertions is a community that can, collectively, pursue truth ... See more

It was considered part and parcel of the Internet, and more threatening situations were just anomalies to be aware of in an environment that generally accepted and encouraged this type of behavior. In early texts about the Internet, people would speak of their digital alter egos openly, “Online, I’m a 6’4” German man, and in real life, I’m….”Often ... See more

Even then, the frame itself might be useful. At a personal level perhaps it’s worth remembering that those feelings of outrage—you know the kind, the ones that fill you with such anger you just have to speak out right now , the kind where you’re summoned as if by strings to contribute your little piping neuronal voice to that huge ongoing mind of t... See more