What happened when I confronted my cruellest troll

[mother earth]

5. Excellent article, TY for posting this. This kind of behavior is not limited to the internet, so I

will disagree with parts of this, but one thing is for certain. There is a mentality that some feel entitles them to be an asshole, plain and simple, as though the perp has perfected what it is to be "human" and if you are the scapegoat, sucks to be you. I've seen this in the workplace plenty enough. One doesn't have to be fat, skinny or anything really, it's not about the victim, it's the perp's mentality & what they perceive they are getting from their actions.

The big piece missing is that it speaks volumes about the perp, no matter what they think they are gaining by this sociopathic behavior, or if they even feel they are gaining anything. I think it's done for sport more often than not.

I didn’t mean to forgive him, but I did.

This story isn’t prescriptive. It doesn’t mean that anyone is obliged to forgive people who abuse them, or even that I plan on being cordial and compassionate to every teenage boy who tells me I’m too fat to get raped (sorry in advance, boys: I still bite). But, for me, it’s changed the timbre of my online interactions – with, for instance, the guy who responded to my radio story by calling my dad a “faggot”. It’s hard to feel hurt or frightened when you’re flooded with pity. And that, in turn, has made it easier for me to keep talking in the face of a mob roaring for my silence. Keep screaming, trolls. I see you.

Above taken from the conclusion of the article.

Yeah, absolutely, we see you. Like in the movie, The Avatar, good or bad, what you put out into the world tells everyone who you are. But then, one has to be capable of empathy to understand that.