I thought the mentioning of philosophers believing that sophists were teaching people how to lie was interesting. Initially, I didn’t really think of trolling to be a form of falsehood. After some thought however, it does seem somewhat feasible. Of course that part of the article was referring to people who lived long before we had the modern examples of trolling, but it can still apply. Looking at the examples within the article, the image of Gandalf stating a quote from Yoda as attributed to Dumbledore is technically three lies in one. The purpose is the difference; this image wasn’t made with the intention of misleading people (although my mother, notorious for being unsavvy in the realm of popular culture, would certainly be misled), but to annoy or anger people.
Also mentioned in the article is James Veitch, who has multiple videos of TEDTalks about him replying to scam or spam messages. I’ve watched them (they are very entertaining, I recommend you watch them as well) and I can say that his trolling also heavily relies on lying. To waste the time of the person sitting on the other end of the scammy email, he pretends to be a hapless and gullible person who plans on using the funds gained from transporting the offered gold to invest in hummus. As stated in the article, his form of trolling isn’t meant to be mean; it’s meant to keep the scammers busy so that they have less opportunity to take advantage of less skeptical people. Thinking about other forms of trolling I’ve witnessed in my life, I can find falsehoods that they are built upon. One example I’ve seen somewhat often is when a troll pretends to be completely innocent and unaware as to why something they’ve said has upset someone else. Of course, the troll is extremely aware as to how they had been offensive, and is feigning innocence to continue to goad the other party into that reaction. Although, lying might not be a prerequisite for a troll. They could just be saying things that they believe in the company of people who they think will be upset by it.
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April 2019
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