I suppose this phenomenon is definitely no stranger to anyone who has ever blogged or commented, posted on forums and social media. I mean by phenomenon the trolls and cyberbullies. The two are not exactly the same, but they are similar in one way. They attack from total anonymity to destroy your hard earned reputation and trigger emotional reactions. I would add that they never have to prove anything, not even their own identity to get their ugly business done. I have absolutely no respect for trolls.
We are living in insane times. Everyone can have a word in social media, which can be great, but this rule applies to those who are doings so with evil intentions either. And seemingly the algorithm of these mediums favours them. And sadly these elements make healthy human interaction impossible on these posts. The aim of trolls is feeling omnipotent with demolishing entire platforms, and crippling characters. If they are succeeded that flatters their vanity, which is an extremely narcissistic malevolence. And the cyberspace provides an endless opportunity for getting this undertaken.
In a real world building a reputation and earning trust on field of high value communication requires extremely hard work. In the real world if you strive to harm others either verbally or physically the whole system immediately kicks back. But in the cyber world you can hide in a world of complete anonymity.
In this dimension anyone can comment, post, and share regardless of competence and social status. Moreover anyone’s identity can be stolen by anyone. Anyone can post in behalf of anyone else, and this is the most unblockable way to destroy anyone’s reputation. While the problem is that maintaining free speech would demand responsibility from those who operate these platforms. It would require protection for those who assume their identity and take full responsibility for their behaviour. But everything can be hacked in cyberspace, everything, including free speech.
This ‘democratization’ of communication encourages abusers in absolutely parasitic manner due to lack of commitment necessary to demonstrate the ability of communication and good intention. There is no cost for insults, and no way you can defend yourself against this if you’re ever targeted.
Sounds like conspiracy, but it’s not a coincidence why and how the whole system incentivizes narcissism, and destructive trolling instead of healthy debate and normal human interactions. It’s all about money. The bigger the scandal, the bigger the ratings. As bigger ratings as more money is generated by advertisers. And the second goal is creating legions of avatars that do not exist in reality to gain economical and political influence.
The phenomenon of trolls and cyberbullies is not random at all. Their targets are not randomly selected either. This is a cultural war against healthy social interactions and healthy discussions in issues which would be very necessary to discuss. This is how a vocal minority is able to dominate the completely defenseless civil society.
Not so long ago, I was inspired by the idea that the mainstream media could be bypassed by spontaneous and natural self-organization of bloggers, podcasters, commenters. But I have no more illusion. They are smarter than ever. The true philosophers, artists, scholars can’t destabilize the monopoly of power, but instead some interest groups can be capable to destabilize the whole social structure by seemingly spontaneous and deorganized verbal interractions. They can be generating outrage against those who could contribute to intelligent and healthy discussions with their talent and competency. They attack from moral superiority they don’t have in reality.
The whole mass communication system is undermined by monopolistic communitation enterprises this way, devolving internet into a mere echo chamber no matter where you go online thanks to algorithms. Today, even a small group of skilled hackers is enough to cheat the algorithm with thousands of avatars created from scratch. No matter what we do, they’re gonna win. The internet seemed a revolution of communication, but in fact it is just another weapon for futher intellectual destruction.
Anyways thanks for reading me!
A fascinating discussion is worth comment. I do think that you ought to publish more about this issue, it may not be a taboo matter but typically folks dont speak about such topics. To the next! Cheers!!
Itís difficult to find well-informed people on this subject, but you seem like you know what youíre talking about! Thanks