Online comments — from the perspective of the troll

From the Star Tribune. This woman has been around…like a whole lot of us.

Look, let’s get something straight: I don’t need no stinkin’ Internet police wearing a badge of civility imposing on my freedom. Here, I get to say what I really think, even if it’s not too deep. Here, I get to yell and lecture and force my point of view on everyone else and if I do it in the most violent and irresponsible way imaginable, who cares? It’s a free country.

Nothing’s going to stop me from humiliating the opposition. I don’t actually write a blog but blog-responding is my game. I speak for a lot of other people, most of whom dummy up because they don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. Not me. Bring it on. I’ll speak for the silent ones and I’ll speak with a vengeance. I even physically threaten people here — in fact, I do it regularly just so those creeps understand that I don’t take no crap from nobody.

It’s great to be anonymous on the blogosphere. We don’t need no rules, no names, and no real accountability, neither. It’s great. This is just like it was in the Wild West. It’s a virtual democracy. People can vote verbally in this marketplace of ideas. What’s on sale in this marketplace? Mostly rage, I guess, but it comes in all varieties and it’s really, really hot. It’s like porn without the pictures. People calling each other names and swearing at each other, making accusations they couldn’t possibly back up with facts. It’s the opposite of journalism. (read the rest here)