Its very rare these days that I read something in the news that genuinely upsets me or makes me angry. You only have to pick up a newspaper, turn on the television or look at a news swebsite to be surrounded by dispicible tales of murder, rape, war and all sorts of autrosities. You tend to build up a wall against these things and become ‘used’ to reading about them because they appear in our news so often. Its when you hear something new that often shocks you that you are truly effected. This happened to me this morning when I read an article on SkyNews website regarding Internet Trolls.
In case you are not aware what an ‘Internet Troll’ is then let me explain. A ‘Troll’ is someone who anonymously posts a comment, message or question on a blog, website or message board with the explicit intent to upset or cause friction. A ‘Troll’ is not simply someone who opposes the point of view of the blog or the structure of a message board, the ‘Troll’ goes there with the main intent of causing a reaction with disgusting and degenerative comments. In the article I read about this morning, ‘Troll’s’ have been targetting the tribute pages for people who have passed away with disgusting comments and images. The article focuses on the site of a teenager who hung himself after falling victim of cyber-bullying. ‘Troll’s’ attacked the page with vicious comments such as “Good news everybody I got a shovel from the store, now us facebook bullies can get to little Tom Mullaney.” and “Why would you make an RIP page about someone that’s clearly a wimp? That’s just embarrassing.”. They didn’t stop there though, the group also published an altered picture of Tom with a noose around his neck and the tagline “Hang in there Tom’. The hurt and anguish caused to the family of the deceased teenager is quite obvious, and with no fear of retribution there is nothing to stop these ‘Troll’s’.
Instances like this have added fuel to the fire of people who believe the internet should be better policed and without tighter controls and regulations, could lead to it becoming a lawless free-for-all. Personally I’m a firm believer that the only ‘policing’ that should go on is by the website owners by banning inapropriate behavior (unless its illegal activity then of course the police should be involved). My main concern about this whole situation though is that the individuals who carry out these attacks show no remorse, no thought about the families of the deceased. These are basic morals that should be tought to children, yet they seem to not care about the reponse to their actions. This is a prominent behaviour that is severely lacking in general society today (see my first paragraph about the contents of the news).
In the meantime, I would strongly advise that anyone who see’s behaviour like this on social media sites, blogs, message boards or wherever, don’t overlook it and think that someone else will take action. Report these accounts for their behaviour and ignore what they write, no matter how sick, because what they want is a response. What they crave more than anything is the attention their comments garner from people like me and you. I know its hard when you see something like that not to respond, but if you cut off the thing they crave the most, these ‘Troll’s’ will disappear.