Hold up. Did you just try and walk up on me? You’re just a bottom feeder and you think that you have what it takes to front up to a wolf?
Alright; it’s your funeral. But let’s get one thing straight right from the start. I’ve taken down bigger motherfuckers than you before. I’ve buried bodies in the dirt and washed the blood from my hands without so much as a second thought. If you think that this is going to end well for you are sadly mistaken. I’m going to tear you apart.
You have to laugh at Internet trolls don’t you? You know the type: backwards pieces of shit who believe that they are clever because they sit behind a keyboard and demean or defame others. More often than not they are armed with a plethora of facts from reputable sources like Wikipedia or offer highly intellectual taunts like questioning someone’s sexual orientation or telling people to kill themselves…
I’ve had a few trolls in my time. From religious fanatics who believed that equality is the devils work, to scholars who thought that the ideas presented in my posts ran incongruously to what they understood to be true. At first the idea that someone could be so repulsed by my work that they felt the need to actively try and damage my reputation upset me. A lot. I’d sit for hours at my computer and read through the nonsense that people were writing about me and wonder how I could appease rather then offend. I didn’t want to be hated. I wanted to be loved!
But after a while you start to realize that the reason a lot of people turn to trolling is because of jealousy and fear. Through this site I have developed a sphere of influence that outreaches some and threatens to eclipse others. For those that envy what I have created they try to break it down, while those that I am threatening to out produce try to ridicule.
After you’ve been trolled a few times you start to enjoy it.
And why shouldn’t you? You’ve touched a nerve with someone to such a degree that they feel the need to try and belittle you on their own forums, unintentionally providing you with free publicity. I’ve been called out by conservative Christians, psychology scholars, other bloggers, business directors, and even a politician who resides half a world away; and every single time someone has tried to break me down their attempts have backfired.
You let the wolf lose inside your head you piece of shit. Now I’m going to eat you alive from the inside out. Can you feel me clawing at the back of your eyelids? Can you feel my fangs tearing apart your fragile mind? You started this. You stepped into the hunting ground and now you’ll be buried with the others. You wanted to front up to a world eater. Now I’m going to take yours away from you.
Let’s pump the breaks a little. This post isn’t about me sinking back into bad habits and trying to tear the head off of everyone who wrongs me… Well, not entirely… It’s about trying to ask at what point in history did it become acceptable to try and belittle and destroy someone’s hopes and dreams from the comfort of your lounge room? When did it become common practice to hide behind a URL, proxy-server or avatar and heap shit on others? It’s about asking where do we as a community draw the line against online bullying?
Because it has to be drawn somewhere. There has to be a moment in time where we as a society stand together and say no to trolling and the degradation of our fellow man and woman. There has to be an end to the faceless attacks against artists, writers and everyday people that leave them feeling broken and alone. Society has turned its back on humanity, decency and compassion in favor of bullying and faceless tormenting and it has to stop. It’s disgusting to see someone’s life or ambition shattered by their peers simply because we feel comfortable to harass from afar. If you don’t have the guts to step away from your keyboard and say something to someone’s face then you need to shut your mouth before someone breaks your fucking jaw.
Brutal? Probably. But as someone who has suffered through depression (and still lives with the knowledge that it will forever be apart of my chemistry) I know first hand the devastating effect that the words of a complete stranger can have. I understand better than most the hollow void that can consume your soul when you feel lost and abandoned. So if I have to get a little aggressive to rouse the masses from their blind acceptance of bullying then so be it.
There are far too many brilliant people out there who don’t have the belief in themselves or their abilities because they’ve been broken down and belittled by some piece of shit that hides behind a keyboard and thinks that it is funny to destroy lives.
For someone has arrogant as I am, the pathetic attacks from online bullies are worn as badges of honor. But the knowledge that there are other artists and ordinary people living in our society who feel threatened, lost and abused by faceless fucks makes me feel ill. Trolling and bullying has to stop and we as a community have to understand that belittling others destroys our humanity. Mankind is limited only by its imagination, so it seems counterintuitive to our progression as a species to be intentionally crippling the ambitions of one another through faceless subterfuge and online harassment.
If we abandon hate and focus on praising our fellow man and woman than there is no telling what we are capable of achieving. If you aren’t brazen enough to take your messages of hate to the streets, then it’s time to stop posting it online.
And if you really want to be a hero then try and walk up on a wolf again. I’ll happily rip out your throat, you ignorant piece of shit.
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The Renegade Press 
Sounds like after allowing the noises on the outside to get to you in the past, you’d finally learned to tune them all out, congrats on that huge achievement there, because it IS, very difficult, when ALL the noises start coming AT you, from all around!
WOW………it is brutal, it is hard to tune out the noise at times. Good for you, I still feel gut kicked and take it personally……….maybe I need to harden the fuck up!
Thank You and A Round of Applause. Trolls suck!
Sometimes it seems to me that online bullying is a new age form of social Darwinism. I may be playing Devils advocate here but I try to look at it as separating the strong from the weak. If you are strong enough to to voice your thoughts despite the people who try to diminish them, you are among the best. If you can overcome your anxiety about being bashed, you can adapt. And if you are the one who is bashing….. Well your voice will eventually fade and you would have left no lasting impact on society…… Just my thoughts.
Sometimes your harshest critic can be your best friend…..and then other times they are simply a turd.
Well said! It’s sometimes hard to distinguish between constructive criticism and petty-minded assault motivated by jealousy. You write brilliantly…never doubt it and I applaud your courage in speaking up.
Agreed. It’s frightening what a sense on anonymity can bring out in some. Probably little different from the pitchfork mobs of yore.
Trolls eat attention. Feeding a troll by engaging with it in pointless and idiotic banter only encourages the poor wee beastie. While exposing a troll to sunlight is a surefire way to destroy it, this is difficult to accomplish due to their tendency to hide behind an impenetrable screen. There is another method, however! Indifference. Failing to care one way or another what a troll says or does invariably causes them to shrivel up and waste away to nothing. Simply pretend they aren’t even there. No matter how close to home their vitriol might strike, it will always follow the same pattern: a sudden, sharp spike in the potency of their venom, followed by a slow decrease in violence until, blessedly, silence descends. This is because without attention, they burn their energy and wind up starving themselves. This forces them to run to another place in the hopes of a quick source of food. If everyone, everywhere, were to ignore these bratty little creatures, they would simply cease to exist. There would be no room for them to exist in a world that paid them no mind.
Ah, but a man can dream, eh?
Thankfully, the words of a complete stranger can also give hope and provide healing.
Great post !
The more that we dwell on the differences between us the further we’ll drift apart.
Honestly, I’ve found the best way to deal with trolls is to either ignore them or smother them with kindness. They love that. 🙂 As Proverbs says:
(Proverbs 25:21-22)
If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat;
and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head,
and the Lord shall reward thee.
Truthfully, I pity them. Greatly. I wish they understood how they are wasting their lives for nothing. How “bitterness is the poison we drink, hoping someone else will die from it.” (Anonymous) I pity them. And love them. I pray that God would open their eyes while there is yet hope.
Because love is the greatest of our weapons, and prayer the tool that works miracles. 🙂
Nice! Trolls are the lowest form of beings.
A powerful post and a powerful message – good work! Cheers J
A passionate diatribe indeed. You reminded me of my post, “It’s Official: Trolls are Sociopaths”:
http://nicholasrossis.me/2014/09/29/its-official-trolls-are-sociopaths/
Reblogged this on wwwpalfitness.
I do understand this, but at the same time, some criticism is never a bad thing. Even if someone comes and attacks you as a person, it doesn’t automatically diminish what they’re saying. Their fault only lies in how they presented themselves. Trust me, I know.
It is only with the encouragement of others do I have to courage to write what is on my mind… to share what I put on the canvas or to let others see through the lens of my camera. Thank you for your post.
So good!
that words in italic were some lyrics of rap right? cause it kinda mach and I like it lol
aand yes!! why should we do bullying on each other or throwing bad comments just bcs what others think doesnt same as us, it’s kinda hard to tell why. When it’s not same we can just go through and looking for others that had same thought as us, right? then going to encourage one another and be big and grow together.
This is a super important message written in a powerful way.
Bravo! We must stand up to online bullies! Together, we will stop this virtual disease.
Yes!! Love this. When I first started writing and had some articles published on other blogs/sites, Internet trolls pounced on it. It really upset me at first and it made me very timid in my writing for a while after…I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes! But then I realized that was bull shit. So now, rather than writing for my worst critic and feeling like I have to appease everyone, I decided to write for people who are aligned with me, people who are positive and supportive, people who will (hopefully) feel empowered with what I have to share. Not everyone will like what you have to say, but writing with the intention of sharing your work/thoughts/ideas with a loving audience is so much more empowering than writing for a negative, critical crowd. They can go be miserable in their dark cave. Thanks for your post 🙂
You wrote: “as someone who has suffered through depression (and still lives with the knowledge that it will forever be apart of my chemistry).” Don’t you believe that! Just get yourself thinking positive thoughts and you’ll see your mood change for the better. Trust me on this.
That’s funny!
I’ve never understood Internet trolls either–but I think you’re right, they’re insecure as hell.
I remember seeing this quote, posted at my Christian (Church-of-Christ) school:
Great people talk about ideas.
Average people talk about things.
Small people talk about other people.
Internet trolls are small people.
Great post. Sticks and stones, hey? 🙂
Internet trolls run second to soul-crushing narcissistic mothers….trust me on this one. Your writing is brilliant!
Well said!!!
Reblogged this on Ancien Hippie.
You’re pretty amazing. Thanks so much for writing. I enjoy the glimpses of your life. Keep going. Forever.
I really enjoy your writing, thank you liking a post of mine wouldn’t have found you otherwise 🙂