Trolls will be trolls

In class Monday we watched a TEDxToronto talk by Steph Guthrie called "The Problem with 'Don't Feed the Trolls'". She calls upon people to take a stand against "trolls," the people who use the internet as an outlet for their misogynist and racist beliefs. Guthrie rejects the common wisdom "don't feed the trolls," which suggests that the best way to deal with online bigots is to ignore them. Fueling their fire only feeds their egos and gives them what they want-- a reaction, right? But Guthrie says that's all wrong and that we should, in fact, be fighting back online. She argues that silence makes the trolls feel validated and only perpetuates their sexist beliefs, but exposing them with an army of opposition can bring about real change.

Before I talk about my problem with her philosophy, let me say I completely acknowledge that misogyny and racism are alive and well on the internet. We've all seen it on our Twitter feeds, probably most recently after Coke took a stab at embracing diversity in its Superbowl ad and was met with a firestorm of outrage (how dare they sing "America the Beautiful" in languages that accurately reflect America's demographics). There was a swift response from the rest of the online community who were eager to attack the attackers, and voila, another Twitter war between two immovable sides that both think they're right.

While I in no way condone some of the bigoted and ignorant things I've seen on Twitter, I disagree with Guthrie that we should always fight back. Why? Because anyone who actually espouses those kind of views on the internet isn't going to change because you call them out. In my experience, they usually feed off of it. And what I don't want to do is give the voice of a minority of offensively racist people disproportionate attention. Maybe I'm being cynical in suggesting that intervening won't do any good, or maybe I'm just realistic. Because more often than not, the trolls will come right back at you with more people who think like them, and you'll find more people who think like you, and the two sides will battle it out from their respective corners until they realize that finding middle ground is impossible. I do think there is a place for meaningful dialogue on the internet, but you're not going to find it in 140 characters.

It's very unsettling that there are real people out there who tweet some of the things they do. But my philosophy is not to feed them, but rather to unfollow them, sit back, and let the natural selection of the internet render them extinct.