TROLLS?

Troll by Danish artist Thomas Dambo in Breckenridge, Colorado. 

Have we come to this new low? I recently watched an interview on YouTube which left me wondering. Is a new media elite forming among young conservatives?  

The person being interviewed in this instance was an articulate young gay man who has been advocating for a male-inclusive gay movement. as distinguished from the Leftist lesbian-feminist LGBTQI+++ brand. I was very pleased to see it. That is, until the young man said something to the effect that people who are not engaged in celebrity culture and simply express their ideas on social media in response to postings by celebrity presenters are "trolls". 

Really? I could immediately think of several present-day celebrated intellectuals who began getting their ideas across on social media platforms when they were unknowns. And I was annoyed by his implied presumption that celebrity equates worth in the case of ideas. This seemed hypocritical coming from a person aligned with those who frequently dismiss Hollywood celebrities as either inane or simply looking for a spotlight for their virtue-signaling.

Power does indeed corrupt on any part of any scale of human activity. 

There is another aspect of this which I have recently observed on Twitter. There is a resistance by pundits to engage in actual polite dialogue on Twitter, whether that dialogue entails furthering agreement or fleshing out disagreement. 

I will read a thoughtful article in a periodical after the author posts a link to it on Twitter. If there is a comment section under the article, I will post my feedback succinctly and thoughtfully. If not, I will reply under the tweet, whether or not the thread is left public. 99% of the time, the author does not engage with those who reply thoughtfully to the post or the article on Twitter. 

Why bother to post the article on Twitter without engagement unless, of course, your goal is fame and not engagement? And, under those circumstances, who is the troll? The author trolling for recognition only or the thinking person who bothers to read and respond? The former certainly!

Have trolls now become those without celebrity who are thinking skeptics? Trolls used to refer to those who react and insult wildly without real engagement, thought or insightful humor. Are we entering an elite-vs.-rabble paradigm in public discourse once again? This was the paradigm of early broadcast television, which was carefully controlled by politicians, business leaders and entertainment moguls. It gave rise to talk radio.

The liberation of self-produced media on social networks and streaming platforms is perhaps coming to an end. Censorship by those who control the outlets is one thing. But now an elitism of ideas in sharp contrast to clownish click bait may contribute to the death of that liberation. Money, of course, when fused with the power of personality in media corrupts it even faster and more thoroughly.