The Crest and Trough of Digital Hate
Welcome to another blog, an opinion blog, to be specific. As a trying blogger, it might not be an excellent choice to explore the idea of anonymous trolling; it could be a terrible one cause who knows who would find the opportunity to dig a blog against trolling. Regardless, I made this choice after coming across a series of tweets on the internet that left me speechless. It was about the ruthless trolls on a German kid supporting her country while they lost to England 0–2. The girl left inconsolable post the German National football team’s exit in the UEFA Euro 2020, captured on the lens by a photographer on the site. What followed this was a barrage of insensitive comments, slurs that triggered almost everyone who read them, except those who posted them. Here is a small collection of some unfiltered posts ahead, which I found on Twitter, and I’m sure it should leave you with disgust.
The first thing that you notice here is it is wrong, followed by a variety of adjectives ranging from cruel, shameless, low, pathetic, and so on. The question this blog brings forward is simple — how could people put up such posts with zero regards or sympathy? A few more questions that add on would be does this happen daily, is there absolutely no filter on the internet, how could this harm me in the future. Let us try to look these through the eyes of an internet troll; probably that would be the best way to understand how these come up in the first place.
The Digital Shield
For a while now, since the rapid booming of the internet, data transfer speeds and convenience of usage, we have been fortunate to learn, share, explore things happening around the world faster and quicker than ever we did. The power of incognito has helped people explore complex topics on the internet while masking their identity beyond the screens. It appears to be a good thing, to have absolutely no fear as your identity remains unknown in the world. Sure, you leave a digital footprint, and it is possible to trace your IP back to a length, but beyond that, it is possible to cover your tracks to an extent. It is the fundamental reason why trolls exist on the internet, they can get away with what they put, and they don't care how it affects anyone else. They find situations, opportunities and events to post offensive content to ignite and flame sparked reactions across the internet from different communities of people. The above image is just an example of how they can stretch to make fun and hurt people. Sadly, they find some twisted sense of fulfilment and joy in doing so.
Look at the scenario from the perspective of a troll. The said person has nothing better to do in life, so they find a way to make themselves happy by hurting others. Somewhere behind the digital mask, they are just misguided and lonely individuals who feel it is alright as they can get away with it. The concern today is focused on the lack of a filter for this hate. The fact that trolls add and support such posts, comments and reactions across the internet isn’t helping at all.
All of this raises concerns about using social media platforms, primarily and followed by the security concerns of those subjected to hate and threats. A mortifying situation to be in, to be honest, and Alvaro Morata, the Spanish striker, was subject to such threats on his family due to an initial lacklustre performance in the Euro 2020 tournament. It makes you wonder and ponder this question — is there anything you could do to end trolling, flaming and cyberhate? The incident is through the link below.
Do Internet Trollers always get their way?
The short answer to this is maybe. Trolls clever enough to spark minuscule hate and reactions often get away with what they do. On the other hand, many of them end up being subject to not complying with the terms and policies, therefore get their posts removed and even get accounts banned permanently. You may know these from your social media accounts, and instead, you could be following some pages made explicitly for trolling on events in a jokingly harmless fashion. It is essential not to be a contributor to hate, and that brings us to the next question — What should you be doing in the first place?
The answer is pretty straightforward to this; you’d know yourselves if you have been in situations where people have put some hurtful comments to your posts. Maybe it was a photo of you or some insightful tweet that a random stranger saw as an opportunity to ambush you. Or worse, perhaps one of your friends posted something, and someone trolled them, and you enjoyed that exchange of comments. Either way, if you don't offer the troller a reaction, the likelihood of a repeat happening goes way down. The analogy is pretty much the same as your high school — don't be a bully, and don't allow bullying.
The second best thing you can do is, stop spreading hate online, be it on gaming or social media; people can’t troll you or trigger you if you don’t allow them to do so. You can't control what people do, but you can control how you respond to a situation. Tell this to a victim of offensive trolling; they might receive it differently, so be sure to empathise with them before giving away your two cents. If we relate this with the Euro 2020 tournament, we have seen plenty of hate coming from fans, especially the English ones. At least people pretended to be fans of England while tarnishing their nation’s reputation. It was heartbreaking for them, as they waited so long for a cup only to lose it in a nail-biting penalty shootout. While people held their heads high with a sense of pride in seeing how far their nation moved up in the tournament, the internet garnered a lot of racist hate towards those who couldn't convert their shots for England. Incidents of vandalism and assault were also recorded across London that eventful night. In all of the hate, thousands of fans, supporters, and well-wishers stood in solidarity with the team. If you want to read more about this, here is a small article below —
To summarise, while it might be a complicated world with so much hate, there are many good people out there spreading positivity and love, both online and offline. When people chose not to react but respond and take a stance against hate, you will be surprised to see how many people stand up to support your cause, and this was the case with the English football team. Within hours, countless tweets in support and praise of the team came up on the internet. Even when the posts attracted meaningless comments, the notes of positivity didn’t stop. Further, a lot of trolls were traced back and handled by the police too. When the people come around to end anonymous hate, the world becomes a slightly happier place, better even.😄
