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I Asked Twitter What I Should Blog About - The Most Popular Question? How Do You Feel About Trolls...

Posted: 03/08/2012 00:00

Trolls, eh? How do I feel about trolls? I hate them, the spiteful, nasty, low life bastards. That's how I feel about trolls.

I have been trolled, trolled real hard. Trolled so hard I haven't slept for days. Trolled so hard my self esteem has been left raw and sore. Sore and raw. Rawsore. Trolling hurts, it hurts bad.

The worst thing about trolling? When people say 'it's part of the job' when you're in the public eye. What they mean is that because someone has dared to work hard, pushed for their dreams, achieved what they set out to do, battled against the odds, produced good work, entertained people, informed people, had the audacity to create a profile so the effort they put into their work gets noticed, or even just experimented with a colorful frock on a red carpet, that they deserve to be told they are fat, ugly, narcissistic, attention seeking, desperate, 'obviously abused', worthless pieces of shit and that their death would be more palatable than their horrifying face.

It's just that, I don't agree it's okay to excuse it as "part of the job".

People have such a weird view on people in the public eye, maybe that's the problem. If Twitter has done anything has it not shown that celebs are people too?

*Group ahhhh face*.

I'm about to unveil a truth, reveal something unthinkable into the public domain. Hold yourself between the legs folks because this might cause some urine to leak from your pee pee holes, but famous people are HUMAN.

*Ducks for cover*

You okay? Is it safe to crack on?

I know loads of famous people - YEAH I ACTUALLY SAID THAT - and none of them are anything but normal. Some of them live in nice big houses because they worked hard for them. Others, like me, live in normal sized houses and like every other bugger out there hope one day to live in a bigger one. Some of us get to go to nice parties and get the odd free lipstick, but we also clean our own bodies, wash our own pants, have parents that give us shit for not brushing our hair, have fat days, insecure days, struggle for cash, can't get laid, stub our toes, misplace our keys and suffer the consequences of a dodgy prawn. We are NORMAL. The only major thing that makes most celebs different from anyone else is that people treat them differently, and more often than not that is actually quite annoying.

Just because someone has chosen to enter into the entertainment industry does not mean that they are better equipped to take anymore shit from horrible people than someone who works on say, a check out at Tesco. And whats more, they don't deserve anymore either. (I deliberately didn't use B&Q as my check out example because...well.)

This doesn't mean people can't have an opinion about people in the public eye, of course they can. I have lots to say about lots of people and it isn't all positive. Critics have always criticised, that is part of the job - although some journalists are just trolls who get paid, but that's another blog completely *makes a grrrrr sound*. Yeah, it's OK to review something badly if the work isn't good enough, that's allowed. But it's the death threats, the soul destroying jibes about how people look, the 'YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO LIVE' type comments that give celebs, or anyone for that matter, the right to retort. Then cry. Or cry then retort, whichever comes most naturally.

But retorting is what we are told not to do. Because that gives the narcissistic, attention seeking troll the satisfaction that you noticed them. And it looks like you care, which proves to them that you are a narcissistic attention seeker rather than just someone who has the right to stick up for themselves.

I find it ridiculous and cruel that a celebrity who admits to being hurt by mean comments is branded as 'someone who cares' and how that's somehow a bad thing.

It's all down to jealousy, of course. Well that is what friends tell you when someone says something awful, but it's hard to believe. But of course it is, what other reason would a person decide to log onto their computer and attack someone they have never met by telling them they have a face like rhinoceros? Rather than just not follow them, or not watch their performances or read their books? Why do trolls torture themselves with absorbing their victims work? I don't watch the people I don't like on TV and I certainly dont follow them on Twitter, because I don't like them. Why do trolls do that to themselves?

(It's because they love them, like properly love them. Obsessively. And that makes them so mad. With themselves. They want to be them. They want them to love them back. It's true).

Many of the negative feelings I have towards other people stem from jealousy. If I'm having a fat day and a skinny pretty girl in a great dress who looks awesome comes near me I am almost certainly going to be so jealous that I could scream 'I HATE YOU' into her face, but I don't. Because I don't really hate her, I hate myself. Me abusing someone who I see as better than me is about me and my jealousy, my inferiority complex, it's nothing to do with her. I just want to be her.

It's OK for people to have bad thoughts. Sometimes they are not something we can control, it's how you execute them that matters. I'm lucky to have the mechanism in my brain that helps me control outbursts. It's the same mechanism that stops all angry people murdering the person they are angry with. It's the mechanism that makes you a good person. Trolls don't have it. Sure, they MIGHT not be murderers but they're still total fucking arseholes with no self control, major self esteem issues and nasty, evil souls that leave them desperate to make other people as full of hate, sadness and loneliness as they are. Twats.

Have I made myself clear about how I feel about trolls?

 

Follow Dawn Porter on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hotpatooties

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Trolls, eh? How do I feel about trolls? I hate them, the spiteful, nasty, low life bastards. That's how I feel about trolls. I have been trolled, trolled real hard. Trolled so hard I haven't slept fo...
Trolls, eh? How do I feel about trolls? I hate them, the spiteful, nasty, low life bastards. That's how I feel about trolls. I have been trolled, trolled real hard. Trolled so hard I haven't slept fo...
 
 
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13:59 on 17/08/2012
Aww poor Dawny not like nasty comments about her. Boo hoo. Write a story about how horrid it is and make it all go away. Poor Dawn if crying about it doesn't work, throw your dummy out of the pram, stamp your feet and threaten to take your ball home. Then we'll all love you and all will be fine in Dawnland.
07:02 on 15/08/2012
Just read Stephen Fry's tweets, well first page of, having never before visited twitter. Didn't see any trolls which, I guess, is to be expected as he appears to be pretty uncontroversial. But what did occur to me is - Has this guy not got ANY life? Does he have nothing better to do than spend his time posting short, and therefore rather inane, stuff on the cloud for, WHO?, to read? I acknowledge that Stephen is a compulsive communicator and a good one, but Twitter seems to be a weird way of doing it - tain't exactly conversation!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Avalon666
15:14 on 12/08/2012
Where are the billy goats gruff in all of this ?
united dreamer
The meek shall inherit the earth, trust me
17:55 on 08/08/2012
Divorce yourself from your celebrity and you will be fine. Celebrity is a public persona. Some revel in it. Some shy away from it.

Most of us are anonymous - maybe you are missing that anonymity, that humanity. If you are I suspect its only the negative aspects. Trolls, if they are not debating your point, are targeting your public persona. I doubt its personal even if it seems like it is.

As in most of life, you need techniques in discarding negativity.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Gunderan
Who let the Libertarians out without supervision?
15:33 on 07/08/2012
This article misses the point."Any publicity is good publicity" and how can you criticism something if you know nothing about it?So its not love when i dislike badly written Twilight fan fiction,its actually rubbish and thats not an opinion its fact but if i and many others don't comment then the impression people get is everyone loves it.I forced myself to read Harry Potter to defuse the argument that i had never read it and it confirmed my view that it was a well written children's book.But really bad YA and upwards fantasy book.Yet millions of adults loved it go figure.
PS You say celebrities have worked hard hahahaha Katie Price? Amy Childs.TOWIE,Made in Chelsea and Kim Kardashian worked hard now i have wet myself.I dont care about so called fat(mainly because skinny women make me physically sick) or appearance i care that i paid for something and enjoyed it.
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00:42 on 07/08/2012
trolling has its place. It is usually the devils advocate, the opposite position, the taboo breaker, seeing through the fog of congratulation. I don't for one minute support full blown attacks on individuals, but I will recognise tokenism and call it so, I will call the elephant in the room and will always do. And you are welcome to do the same to me. I have been threatened for stating facts about northern ireland and nearly reported it, but in the end, you choose to comment here, you are not forced. It isn't a chat room and some of the moderation is stupid and in my immature way I love to circumnavigate past the huff robots. It is what I like to do.
14:16 on 06/08/2012
Trolling is made worse by anonymity. It will never go away because some people are mentally ill and will troll even under their real names. They have no impulse control. But the bullies with impulse control could be embarrassed into stopping trolling if there was a way to identify them and there were consequences for the behavior.

I think trolling is like drinking and driving. Eventually society will understand the consequences and will make it unacceptable behavior.
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00:44 on 07/08/2012
no, you are wrong, you are talking stalinism, yo are talking about shooting the messenger. No yo are at fault. It must be allowed. Being outspoken is how you got your freedoms but you are so willing to give them up. Get back under your shell.
08:32 on 07/08/2012
You mistake bullying with speaking truth to power. Freedoms come from stating a position like Martin Luther King or from blowing the whistle when something seems wrong. It does not come from telling writers that they should die because their ideas are different from yours or because you don't like the way they look physically. There is a difference between trolling and freedom loving or freedom promoting speech.
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ginadeoliveira2008
Seen a shooting star tonight and I thought of you
22:13 on 05/08/2012
Trolling is lowlife people pastime. It will never go away entirely, even if people come up with measures to restrain it. Now, if you're a public figure they might hit you harder. And yes, it's part of the chunk you got for being out there. Ignore it.
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Daniel Johnson
11:27 on 05/08/2012
I don't know if it's personal growth, or some kind of unhealthy detachment -- but recently, I've become much better at dealing with the criticism. Because, it doesn't really seem to be about me, it's more of a reflection of the person writing it, or something they're going through.

But I also think it's different depending on whether it's an 'artist' or a 'celebrity'. A lot of celebrities are there for one reason, to be famous; and part of what comes with that is going to be a harsh criticism, because what they're doing is essentially pointless. Sure, they're still human beings, and no-one should be subjected to hate; but when they are famous for absolutely no useful reason, it is always going to invite strong criticism.

As for the artists, and yourself as a documentary filmmaker -- it is part of the job, I think. There are people out there who think 'Casablanca' sucks, who think 'Some Like It Hot' isn't funny. Even the all time great films, TV shows, paintings; there are people who think they're pathetic. So if the greats have it, then the rest of us everywhere else on the scale will get that some level of praise/disinterest/hate. We just have to get on with it. It's not as personal as it appears, it just feels like it is.
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Edgar H
Keep the Press free!
11:25 on 05/08/2012
For years writers, journalists and reporters for TV, newspapers, magazines and periodicals have trashed the lives of ordinary people in order to titilate the masses and appear clever. They have given little concern for the truth or effect their words would have. hose maligned suffered hardship, some committed suicide. They were 'little people', they did not warrant a retraction, could not afford legal redress and laws weren't changed or introduced to protect them.

Not seeking to justify 'trolling', Question;

Given media irresponsibility, is it not possible that people on social media see this as legitimate expression?
11:01 on 05/08/2012
I personally do not 'follow' any of the people you describe as celebrities, including yourself!
Their faces and their activities are thrust in our faces by the media, Huff Post being no exception.
I think it is this frustration that makes people comment in a negative manner, such as when some z lister has cut her toe nails ........................... whatever!
However, there is no excuse for rude and offensive comments to anyone.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
rg9rts
Carpe Diem! This aint rehearsal
10:16 on 05/08/2012
Hate is a wasted emotion. First the object of your hate doesn't know and secondly they don't care. Trolling is something that people with no life of their own do. Let it go, and judge it by the source.
~~(^..^)
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02:05 on 05/08/2012
Unless the comment is inciting violence, a threat of violence, or inciting racial or religious hatred, nothing should be done regarding offensive tweets. Freedom of speech is a vital corner stone of our civilization and we must protect it. This last month we have seen an athlete thrown out of the Olympics for making a joke that, while insensitive, was not racist. Yet it was portrayed as such and she got the boot. Also seen tweets about Beth Tweddle where someone said she had a nice body but ugly face (the exact phrase was "body like baywatch, face like crimewatch". That's insensitive too, but so what? It's not a crime! We have to be very careful about how we pursue with matters re: freedom of speech because when people start to feel voiceless tension arises, we lose or freedoms, and eventually it is possible for dictatorships to rise. In other words it is a slippery slope. We must protect the right to speak
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09:25 on 05/08/2012
I agree Jabron. Free speech is too valuable to lose .

Some no-mark making insensitive comments about a woman who has actually achieved something isn't even bullying, because whereas BT is admirable, the commentator is just a Loser.
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17:27 on 05/08/2012
Beth Tweddle seems like a really nice, humble, freindly girl. But saying she's ugly should not be a crime. That didn't even exist in Nazi Germany!
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00:48 on 07/08/2012
you make some well learned broad statements without definition. This is the limitation of the comments section. If you do elaborate, your audience will get bored and look further down the thread. I say bring back smoking and let us all meet down the pub and talk it through. We'll get used to our clothes stinking pretty quickly too.
10:38 on 04/08/2012
I'd just got back from a really lovely holiday when I read an email from a friend warning me this guy had done something and I personally love spoofs of any kind because if they have a ring of truth about them you can't help but laugh. Anyway I went in and found not just a link to a comic page but a really personal and spiteful attack on myself as an artist and writer. I think all good writers are vulnerable because like your post here, we dare ourselves to lay our private thoughts and opinions open for public vieing and just hope they are on our side when they read it. Comments similar to what you made about feeling bitchy towards the skinny girl in the great dress are based on thoughts and emotions triggered in all of us at times and good writing comes from having the honesty to print it, but of course it does make us very vulnerable because those that don't like us for whatever reason can throw those words back at us and possibly make us wish we had kept quiet.
Anyway rather 'un-proffessionally' I suppose, I felt sick and very upset. Loyal readers were leaving messages of support and had even tried to get it removed before I returned as a lot of them guessed it would get to me bigtime.
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Peter Leary
So long and thanks for all the fish.
16:09 on 04/08/2012
'Good writing' does not come from simply being honest. It comes from being honest whilst actually having something original or inspiring to say.
18:58 on 04/08/2012
Yes, I quite agree with that Peter. There are many things that contribute to making a good writer but I was already making quite a large post and didn't want to go into all the qualities one should hope to have.
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Peter Leary
So long and thanks for all the fish.
20:25 on 03/08/2012
Dawn, unless you go to the extreme of taking legal action against the people you refer to (which is just sooo last month), then rest assured you'll never see them. Ignored, they will run out of steam and move on to the next target. Taking them on and trying to make them feel even smaller than they already do - that's just going to bring more of the same. I suppose if the worst came to the worst there's always a tv prog in it... Dawn Porter: Troll Bait.