Anyone who has an online presence will know all about trolls, who go out of their way to make unpleasant comments on social media, and generally make the lives of others difficult.
While most people would probably be desperate to avoid their trolls, one journalist from The Guardian, Owen Jones, decided to meet up with one of his trolls and ask him why he behaved in such a foul manner.
His troll, George, claims that he was only doing it for the attention, and was using Twitter as a platform to get recognised.
Jones claimed:
He tweeted me over, maybe, two or three years, and he called me – amongst other things – a racist, a homophobe, and a few other snarks thrown in for good measure.
But this is what intrigued me, because of course, me and George, we’ve never met – what happens if I met him, say, over a pint in a pub? Maybe he’ll end up changing his mind about me, or maybe I’ll end up changing my mind about him.
George makes the point that people will say anything over the internet, especially on Twitter, and when people are face to face, they are obviously much different.
George also thinks trolling is an art form, and that the word has been misused recently, and taken out of context.
That might be the case, but trolling is still something that people should not have to put up with – and certainly not something people should aspire to do.
