A friend of mine recently suggested I write a blog about trolls. Trolls are people who, with malicious intent, sabotage writers, by leaving negative comments about them continuously, or by using the writer’s writing against them in real life. They stalk games, forums, blogs and other places where people gather to talk. This has certainly happened to me, I know it’s happened to my friend, and I also know of several others it’s happened to.
I can’t write about everything that’s going on in my life, and sometimes I can’t write freely at all. Like the past few days I have been wracking my brain trying to write about things that cannot be interpreted in any way as having to do with my own personal life situations and how I feel about it, except to say that I’ve been having to deal with high anxiety situations.
As long as I’ve been writing publicly, people have thought I was currently writing about them. The truth is I really try hard not to. As a matter of fact, I try hard not to write about my current personal life or problems, or anyone in it, because it can be misinterpreted. If I am feeling frustrated about something, I may write about frustration from a completely different angle, such as a time when I was frustrated with a waiter, or about a book I read that talked about frustration. Conversely, I may also write about exactly the opposite feeling that I’m feeling. I do things like that because I don’t want to write about exactly what’s going on in my life because that would be unprofessional somehow and not compassionate to others in my life. I have a personal code of ethics, and that code does not usually include talking about people in my blog. Primarily, the number one thing on my personal code for writing, as silly as it may sound, is “Do No Harm.”
However, there are times when others go too far and trolls are a really good example of this. Their behavior is not criminal, just unethical. I think one of the reasons people troll is that it gives them a power trip. They crave attention, whether good or bad, and are incapable of realizing that the battle they are fighting is purely in their own head. And they won’t ever mind their own business, because trolls and stalkers do it for power, and there is nothing reasonable about that.
I wish writers everywhere could make these people stop being trolls. I wish we could say, “Mind Your Own Business!,” and be listened to. But we can’t. Wouldn’t you think that a person of reason wouldn’t engage in behavior knowing that it hurts someone else? An unreasonable person will continue to be unreasonable no matter how reasonable the request is. Because when it comes down to it with trolls, like with rapists, it’s not about reason, it’s about power.
What’s the difference between this?
You deserve what you get because you put it out there.
And this?
You deserved what you got because of what you were wearing.
To my mind, there is not much of a difference behind the thinking of these two statements. Besides, if it’s really not about power, why don’t they go read something else?
All best,
Rose
