My recent posts on #TheTriggering drew more than a few Triggerers to We Hunted the Mammoth, and to the comments here. I let most of the comments the Triggerers posted through moderation, in part just to show how ridiculous they were. But there were some others I didn’t let through, for an assortment of reasons.
But I do think it’s worth talking about some of the horrendous stuff that online abuse campaigns like #TheTriggering stir up.
Here’s one from a rather foul-mouthed fellow; I had to censor it so much that it now reads like an obscene mad-lib.
Howdy all of you fläming [homophobic slur, plural]. Welcome to #TheTriggering. Hope all of you [different homophobic slur, plural] take the [still another homophobic slur] [naughty body part] out of your mouths long enough to gasp in outrage!
Oh, you wish.
There are only two genders! There are no real lesbians!
Wait, what? You mean we paid good money for supposedly genuine lesbians, but were given cheap lesbian knockoffs instead?
Down with gye matriarchy! Equal rights for all means women should have their prison sentences increased 2-4x to equal their crimes out to men!
Well, there is a bit of a sentencing disparity, but men convicted of crimes don’t get sentences that are double (much less four times) those received by women with similar criminal backgrounds convicted of similar crimes.
I’m not even going to ask what “gye matriarchy” is.
But this comment, for all of its nastiness, is nothing compared to the lovely missive I got from someone calling himself Travis, possibly a reference to Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle, a creepy, violent, and thankfully fictional fellow obsessed with, er, cleansing the world of those he sees as degenerates.
“Travis” begins by reporting that
I’m always getting triggered – not by conventional trolls but by things like attractive girls that get tattoos, the sight of obese people, the homeless, homosexual waiters, public housing projects, pictures of destitute Arab Muslims storming into Europe… I’ve just never thought of it as being ‘triggered’ – I’ve always used the words ‘disgusted’ or ‘enraged’.
Yeah, that’s not what being “triggered” means. What you’re describing is your own bigotry, and your rather creepily possessive attitude towards women’s bodies.
[I]n Iran in the early 1980’s the Revolutionary Guards would brutalize women for not covering themselves. I’m no more for this attitude towards fashion than I am for Hitler’s attitude towards the Jews, but the methodology worked and we should find it inspiring.
What the hell, dude. Really?
However, we have our careers and the law to worry about in a world where our peers have accepted the degenerate liberal zeitgeist that Hoellebecq has so aptly lamented, so attacking the SJWs on the internet anonymously is a great way to blow off steam.
Well, posting ridiculous offensive crap on Twitter is certainly a better alternative than, you know, brutalizing women for what they’re wearing, but that bit about blowing off steam? I don’t buy it.
I used to believe that “blowing off steam” was a real thing. That is, that one could purge oneself of anger and hatred and so forth by letting it out in a “safe” way. Obviously. the idea of “catharsis” is a pretty ancient one. But I’m not sure any more that it’s an actual thing.
And I definitely don’t think it’s a thing when it comes to campaigns of online abuse like #GamerGate or #TheTriggering. Far from purging anger and hatred, it seems to amplify it. Things like #TheTriggering cause participants to wallow in their screwed-up emotions, not to free themselves of them. They end up more angry and hateful, not less.
And despite the claim that these guys are just “trolling,” it seems pretty clear that their anger and hatred are all too real. Do either of the Triggerers I’ve quoted today literally believe every offensive word they wrote? I don’t know, though Travis’ mention of Michel Houellebecq, a reactionary, racist novelist who’s become something of an icon on the so-called alt right, suggests that he’s steeped in this kind of hate.
Even if “blowing off steam” did work as advertised, online abuse — or even the sort of “trolling” that somehow ends up looking and functioning exactly the same as”real” abuse — is hardly a “safe” way to get those bad emotions out, because it is in itself (obviously) a form of abuse. It’s not like punching a punching bag, because in this case the punching bags are real people. Online abuse is intended to hurt people, and it does, even if the abuser claims to be “just trolling.”
#TheTriggering may have been more risible than most of the harassment campaigns we’ve seen of late; it even came with its own trigger warning, in the form of the hashtag itself. But there’s nothing cathartic about it. It’s just a giant exercise in public douchebaggery.
EDITED TO ADD: And here is the relevant Clickhole article, “Huge Relief: This Student Thought He Was Being Bullied For Years But The Other Kid Was Just Joking Around.”
(Clickhole is a spinoff of The Onion, so this is essentially the relevant Onion article.)
Well, being admired and envied is a thing. Here’s Adam Smith on the subject:
‘For to what purpose is all the toil and bustle of this world? what is the end of avarice and ambition, of the pursuit of wealth, of power, and preheminence? Is it to supply the necessities of nature? The wages of the meanest labourer can supply them. …What then is the cause of our aversion to his situation, and why should those who have been educated in the higher ranks of life, regard it as worse than death, to be reduced to live, even without labour, upon the same simple fare with him, to dwell under the same lowly roof, and to be clothed in the same humble attire? Do they imagine that their stomach is better, or their sleep sounder in a palace than in a cottage? The contrary has been so often observed, and, indeed, is so very obvious, though it had never been observed, that there is nobody ignorant of it.
From whence, then, arises that emulation which runs through all the different ranks of men, and what are the advantages which we propose by that great purpose of human life which we call bettering our condition? To be observed, to be attended to, to be taken notice of with sympathy, complacency, and approbation, are all the advantages which we can propose to derive from it. …The rich man glories in his riches, because he feels that they naturally draw upon him the attention of the world, and that mankind are disposed to go along with him in all those agreeable emotions with which the advantages of his situation so readily inspire him. … The poor man goes out and comes in unheeded, and when in the midst of a crowd is in the same obscurity as if shut up in his own hovel. … The man of rank and distinction, on the contrary, is observed by all the world. Every body is eager to look at him, and to conceive, at least by sympathy, that joy and exultation with which his circumstances naturally inspire him. His actions are the objects of the public care.’
It’s their world, other people are just satellites. Women who don’t meet certain appearance standards are seen as sending a ‘fuck you’ vibe out.
I’m going to go out on a limb here, and state that anyone who is a nice person really but just trolls on the internet to relax doesn’t use the word “degenerate” to describe people, groups or cultures.
If you’re a massive asshole, you have to work really hard to prevent it showing every time you open your mouth, or put fist to keyboard. And most massive assholes don’t seem bother trying to hide it, because they are massive assholes.
@Ashara Payne
I think you’re spot-on. They really are selfish jackasses who only care about the comfort and convenience of themselves. They think they have the RIGHT to police other people because other people (specifically non-male, non-straight, non-white, trans, etc people) don’t matter/only exist for them to do what they please with. And it’s pretty obvious that we aren’t dealing with the happiest, most well-adjusted people in the world. They make it pretty clear that they’re miserable as hell.
@Bryce
It’s like they take it personally. I don’t understand the mindset of thinking that other people exist for your entertainment, and if they do something you happen to disapprove of (getting tattoos, being fat, whatever supposed injustice of the week they are whining about) they are doing it deliberately to defy you. It’s hard for me to understand, but I guess if you grew up with an entitlement complex and thinking the world revolves around you it makes slightly more sense. Still, ick.
You know, on one hand, I am terrified that Trump will win. On the other hand, I am equally terrified as to how these people are going to react if a woman or a Jewish socialist wins.
I have the same thoughts. In the past trolling used to be a lot more innocent. They were pranksters for the most part. While they would post racist stuff it was just to offend people and they had limits. But over time bigots, people banned from forums, white nationalists, pedophiles, and other scum aggregated with the original trolls. This created the modern troll, someone who is actually sinister but pretends to be a prankster.
“I’m not saying that beating women for showing off some skin is a good idea, I’m just saying it worked and it’s a good idea.”
UGH.
Fucking Goobers, taking everything I love and tainting it. No More Heroes is a good game series, even for all of its flaws!
Stop touching everything I like with your shit-covered hands, damn Goobers!
@abars01:
I suspect they’re going to do what they did when a black person became president: they’ll stamp their feet threaten violence, but ultimately do nothing at all. There’s no bite behind their bark, not any more.
oh, I never realized! I guess now I… don’t… exist… *fades*
Every time some ignorant asshole pulls this off I just disappear because they unmasked my non-existence… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My understanding of displaying your anger is that it does and doesn’t work in getting rid of that anger.
It works if you display your anger at someone who has truly harmed you. You tell that person that you are angry and why. Then you’re done.
It doesn’t work if you display your free-floating anger at someone who hasn’t actually harmed you, someone who has less power than you who has to take it. It works even less if you go on and on about your anger.
@Kat:
I am not a psychologist, just a dude who reads papers, but I’ve seen support for your understanding of it which goes back to Bushman, Stack & Baumeister in 1999 and Geen & Quanty in 1977.
ETA: Bushman gives a good, readable summary of the effect here, which was written in 2001 and republished in 2009. The real puzzle seems to be why the myth of venting has endured since then: it’s probably helped Bushman’s career but hasn’t done much else.
@EJ (TOO)
I disagree. Trump has stirred up so much anger and people are already acting on it. Look at all the violence at Trump’s rallies. He’s not condemning it; he’s encouraging it and it’s only going to get worse. You say they’ve got no bite and I say, “Not yet.” While I hope nothing terrible happens, I’m not so sure we’ll be that lucky.
@ej (the original one)
I hope I’m right but I fear that you are.
Damn right, venting your anger never really works. I occasionally ‘lose it’ and shout at people (usually, but not always with a pretty good reason) and what often happens is I feel flooded with negative stress hormones (I’m sure that’s totally unscientific, but that’s what it feels like). Plus, if I’ve been particularly out of line I will feel compelled to apologize to the target, which kind of sucks if they were more in the wrong and I know they’d never apologize.
But then this is always because of a ‘direct wrong’ (someone dumping a load of work on me when I’m off; someone being a jerk to someone else; my brother in law coming in drunk and eating the curry that was for the next day), even if my anger may be disproportionate. The idea of someone feeling enraged by fat people, people with tattoos or gay waiters is deeply disturbing.
@Jimbtho
Been there.
Done that.
Wished I hadn’t.
I got taken once in Hong Kong, when some guy in a trench coat sold me a genuine “losbian”. Never again.
The Republican convention should be interesting. Ohio is an open carry state, and they’re allowing the bars to stay open until 4 am. If I lived in Cleveland, I think I’d be planning to be out of town that week.
There’s nothing innocent about promoting racism for funsies, or doing it “ironically,” or whatever you mean here. Everyone knows that racism is bad, and when you do bad things knowingly, that makes you a bad person.
I also don’t remember this golden age you’re describing here. Back in the early 90’s, IRC was where the dregs of the Internet gathered, but they were still there and doing the same shit they do today on Reddit. It was just harder for other people to see it, because most people didn’t know (and still don’t know) how to use IRC. Usenet also had its toilet corners, but again, Usenet is something of a specialized skill, whereas the WWW is made user-friendly by browsers.
tl;dr: these people have always been around, they’re just more visible now.
“SJWs are too fragile and too easily ‘triggered’ and want to censor everything! Oh, and also I’m triggered by the bodies and/or romantic preferences of total strangers.”
(Also, it’s adorable that they think nonbinary people don’t already hear ‘only two genders’ fifty times a day. Sorry dudes, you are merely the tiniest whiny little drop in the ocean there.)
@abars01: If they’re as competent as their brethren in Oregon were, we’ve got very little to worry about except maybe a dildo shortage.
After Obama was elected, membership in white supremacist groups went up and he’s been the target of more assassination threats than previous presidents. But the hate crime rate has been stable. So, a Clinton presidency will probably increase misogynistic rhetoric and a Sanders presidency an increase in anti-Semitic rhetoric. But violence? Hard to say.
One caveat here is that hate crime is kind of like rape in that it often isn’t reported and local police often don’t properly investigate and don’t report it to the FBI. So it’s kind of hard to keep track.
It’ll be interesting to see if there’s a revived interest in the MRM if Hillary Clinton wins. It seems like MRA activity has dropped the last couple of years. There’s plenty of internet misogyny, they just don’t seem to be identifying as MRA so much. I’ve noticed they’re the topics of David’s posts less and less. But with gamergate fizzling out, maybe it will start scooping up anti-feminists again.
*reads last troll’s post*
*twitch*
meth·od
ˈmeTHəd/
noun
– a particular form of procedure for accomplishing or approaching something, especially a systematic or established one.
“a method for software maintenance”
synonyms: procedure, technique, system, practice, routine, modus operandi, process;
– More orderliness of thought or behavior; systematic planning or action.
“historical study is the rigorous combination of knowledge and method”
synonyms: order, orderliness, organization, structure, form, system, logic, planning, design, sense
“there’s a method to his madness”
meth·od·ol·o·gy
ˌmeTHəˈdäləjē
noun
– the analysis of the principles of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline;
– the systematic study of methods that are, can be, or have been applied within a discipline;
– the study or description of methods.
“Methodology” ≠a fancy wrd for “method”
Annnnd I was so twitchy that my last line is a mess of errors :p
I think it would be naive to assume these people are not committing violent acts in their meatspace lives. More likely, these are abusers and rapists with internet access. When you see the internet as a tool to get off (and lets be honest, they type this shit one handed) by abusing and terrorizing people for the crime of existing while not a cis white strait dood, you are not going to suddenly behave like a decent person in person.
Of course they sometimes remember to claim otherwise, but that is who these people are. The I internet just gives them a longer reach to strike out with.
And they are working one another up, hoping to see escalation in violence that already exists as a constant threat in the lives of minorities.
“Down with the gye [sic] matriarchy!”
Gynocracy. Sheesh.
In my personal observations, ranting doesn’t make anyone feel better, and usually just makes things worse. Complaining to someone who is not the cause of the problem and has no power to fix it doesn’t make anyone feel better. Sometimes a good cry will do a fine job of emotional catharsis, though. Of course, that’s not considered manly in American culture, so many men don’t have the easy outlet for those overwhelming feelings.