I’m quite fond of a G.B.Shaw quote, regarding arguing with ideologues and zealots, and his simple philosophy on dealing with them. “I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.”
I think this cuts right to the heart of the matter. Trolls exist only because they are allowed, even encouraged, to exist by the very people who seem to detest them. If the purpose of a troll is to elicit emotional responses from their targets, manipulate discourse, and prevent intelligent dialogue by shouting the loudest, then by the time you’ve jumped into the mud to wrestle that pig, you’ve already lost the match.
Another way I like to put it is that arguing with a troll is like banging your head against a brick wall to knock it down. You end up with a headache and the wall is just as thick as when you began. So, forget about trying to prove your point or convince a troll. Like fire needs oxygen to survive, so does a troll need willing participants to succeed.
Screaming and shouting may sound loud from within an echo-chamber, but without anything to bounce off of, echoes do not exist. Inside the right wing echo chamber, the histrionics are deafening. Remember, Mitt Romney was going to win by a landslide. Outside was another story. Mitt got crushed. Turd-Blossom Rove (any so many Wingnuts like him) remained in his echo chamber until Meg Kelly literally took a walk down the halls at Fox News HQ on election night and burst his bubble, live on national TV.
Those who reside inside the right wing echo chamber are, and will remain, convinced that the volume of their arguments correlates to legitimacy – kind of like how Fox News tries to rationalize the legitimacy of their partisan propaganda by citing their ratings successes as often as possible. Nothing will change their minds.
And just as McDonald’s cannot be considered fine dining even though they are one of the world’s largest dining establishments, neither can Fox, despite how vocal they may be about it. And neither can trolls claim success based solely on the quantity and volume of their arguments.
But, I have found some success in using a tactic that I notice being used on the right. If/when I wish to make a point, I try to do so without regard to any follow-up commentary. I never take the bait from a troll. I never address any question / criticism by a troll intended to take my commentary off-point or hijack the thread. I never respond to insults regarding my post – at least not directly in a follow-up to one of my posts. By the time a troll gets all wrapped up in a comment thread, I've moved on – there is no shortage of topics to discuss. If they want to chase, they can. But soon enough, they realize that they are not in control and are simply following. It’s been my experience that they don’t like to be led around.
Like I said, fire needs oxygen to survive, so does a troll need willing participants to succeed.
I like to think of it as the Ferber Method for ODS sufferers.
