Day 1

Waylan Day

Jen Abouzeid

COMM 140 C20W

October 28, 2020

Defeating Trolls

The internet is beautiful, bringing other countries right into your living room. Helping

students with studies, assuming the students use it in a manner of learning and not cheating.

Internet has few limitations; each year technicians continue to push past barriers of what holds

the internet back. It’s not all fun and games, one major drawback are trolls, the people who hide

behind a screen making the innocent miserable. Trolls get pleasure ruining the lives of people

they haven’t even met before. The problem hits hard with the younger generation, knowing most

about the internet, and always using being on a device. Trolls can be beat it’ll take a lot of work

and maybe the first amendment needing to have restriction, but trolls can be dethroned. People

who are having a hard time with troll you’re not alone talk to a friend or family get help before it

gets worst.

Pandemic Affecting Trolling

Cvod-19 has not helped the problem with trolls, it has only made it worse. Even the

political race for a president is one major event that trolls come out for. “Sadly the current

political climate, made worse by recent events and the ongoing pandemic, has these occurrences

feel even worse” (Suciu, 2020). It doesn’t help that the media doesn’t help only putting out half

the information instead of the full story. People are afraid of the virus that is know ravaging the

country, looking for answers, asking for any kind of certainty of survival. “We are swimming in

a cesspool of misinformation. The pandemic likely makes is worse because increased levels of
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uncertainty creates the kind of environment that trolls take advantage of” (Suciu, 2020). Why the

trolls are going is easy to answer, people are angry, with the pandemic unemployment is rising.

Having to stay home in front of a screen does little to cool a hot head, with a screen right in front

of somebody a conversation can become cruel quick. A screen can hide who someone really is,

people might be nice out in public but behind a screen with no one knowing who you are. A

person can change to the dark side in a matter of seconds. “Simply put, too often people are

likely to type something they’d never say if face-to-face” (Suciu,2020).

How Trolling is Handled

Currently the federal government does little in the involvement of trolls on the internet.

What happens if a troll is caught or brought before a court depends entirely on the state laws.

This clearly isn’t working allowing the states to handle the problem of trolls. In Idaho the “HB

246 includes cyberbullying, stresses bullying prevention, and requires punishments of “referral

to counseling, diversion, use of juvenile specialty courts, restorative practices, on-site

suspension, and expulsion for any student who commits an act of bullying, intimidation,

harassment, violence, or threats of violence” (Patchin , 2019). It sounds great yet trolls are not

concerned, who use our right to free speech to explain their actions (Braun 2018). Trolls are

punished it’s even shown in the news, one Jarod Kirkman was trolling several politicians, he was

thrown in jail for it. The messages were threatening to end the life of a couple of the politicians

the other messages were racist even going as far as to use the N word. The man was sentenced to

ten months which seems light considering the death threats he put online (Association, 2019).

This shows promise of people trolling going to jail but it needs to be more than just politicians.

News need to show that anyone who bullies on the internet is subject to the same faith of

spending time in jail. It can no longer just be about politicians being trolled, teenagers and adults
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are also trolled, these people have a right to take these people to trail, to look them in the eyes

instead of reading the venomous words.

Why Trolling Still Exists

Trolling has been an action before Facebook was a thing, with the unlimited power of the

internet it has only gotten worse. Each year the internet advances, no one really stops to think of

the rules of what has been given. Some companies might think of some rules but powerful

corporations only care about not being sued, or liable for an incident. No one has really sat down

and put down the law, so people don’t abuse the power given to them by inventors. The federal

government is already dealing with enough problems the states should set up some laws on what

the punishment is for trolling. Some senators might say just be adults and ignore it, but people

have committed suicide due to trolling. The problem needs to be resolved so loved ones no

longer worry. Another reason is some trollers are just too good of hackers, theirs just too good to

be caught at that moment. For experienced hacker’s it’ll take time, could be years before the

culprit is caught, and brought to justice. Finally, adults think that teenagers should be able to

handle these types of situations. One slogan is boys will be boys, we boys must figure it out

without the help of a parent even if it means fighting. Teenager’s should feel comfortable with

telling their parents about an online bully not holding it in until it becomes too late.

How to Handle Trolls

There are other methods besides going to court, that can handle the problem of trolls. One

source of information has exactly what everyone should do if they encounter a troll. When trolls

start texting hateful messages don’t message back. Trolls get pleasure from making people angry

or sad they know nothing of kindness. Ignoring the troll takes away the power they have, this

could lead to more hate but simply blocking them will help the situation. Where the trolls are
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located contact the company, report the people who are being mean. Most app providers have

you agree to be nice to others that use the app. Ignoring will rule will have get people kicked off

the site or app. Start telling others of the person or people trolling, they’ll listen and also report

the abuse making helping your claim on an online bullying. Lastly if he or she won’t give up just

delete your account, try making a new one, once an account is deleted the troller will pick a new

target (Braun, 2018). This gets a little more complicated if the target of a troller is younger, they

choose to keep the abuse hidden not wanting to seem weak. They shouldn’t have that fear, young

people should talk to others, to get out what’s been happening. Friends and family will help those

in need, the troller might want to hide. Parents need to look for signs it’s not always easy with

teenagers, but we can see if their angry when online or texting a person. Check it out don’t wait

until it’s too late. Schools need to teach the signs of a troll and how to handle the situation. Kids

are a lot more proficient on devices then adults. Knowing what to look out for and how to handle

it will cut the power of the troll down to size. Lastly the state government needs to get more

involved on what’s happening online. It might cause an issue on the constitution, but trolling can

be resolved (Beauchere, 2014).

Trolls are nothing but cowards, putting a good punishment will make some think twice

about going online. Taking away trolls’ power will leave them defenseless, even sad knowing

they no longer have a hold. Some might try to get meaner but with the proper way of dealing

with cowards it shouldn’t be a problem much longer. Trolls can be dethroned all we need is to

slow down on advancing so much and think of the people. Teach the younger generation the

signs and how to get the proper help. If the government gets involved find a proper punishment

so trolls will no longer have power.

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References

Association, P. (2019, April 18). Internet troll jailed over threats and racist messages to MPs.
Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/uk-
news/2019/apr/18/internet-troll-jailed-over-threats-and-racist-messages-to-mps

Braun, C. (2018, January 23). Trolled Online: What You Can Do When You're Bullied on Social
Media. Retrieved October 30, 2020, from
https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/trolled-online-what-to-do-when-
bullied-social-media.html

Patchin, J. W. (2019, May 10). Bullying Laws in Idaho. Retrieved October 30, 2020, from
https://cyberbullying.org/bullying-laws/idaho

Rochman, H. (2010, April 1). A Smart Kid's Guide to Online Bullying. Booklist, 106(15),

70. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A223597693/AONE?u=idaho_a_colsil&sid=AONE&xid=22

a0d564

Suciu, P. (2020, June 03). Trolls Continue To Be A Problem On Social Media. Retrieved

October 30, 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2020/06/04/trolls-continue-to-

be-a-problem-on-social-media/?sh=63f1fd673a89