The Beast Of Racism Won't Go Down Easily: Dealing With Internet Trolls On Our Blogs

The unstated and covert mission of an Internet troll or mole is to find progressive black or white blogs and derail legitimate conversation of readers.


This places a chilling effect on the post and can end with the discussion centering around their insanity and hate rather than centering around what you, the blogger, took the time to write.

These people use the same ploys as the asswipes running McCain's ad campaign, which of late, he endorses more often as Election Day nears. They outright plant lies with the hope that less knowledgeable readers of blogs will buy into them.

There is an excellent commentary in the Washington Post today titled, Does The Truth Matter?

It shows a video of a McCain ad that is an outright lie that Obama supports comprehensive sex education for kindergartners, along with other whoppers.




The article also describes other false claims that Obama plans to raise taxes for most Americans, or that Sarah Palin opposed the Bridge To Nowhere without mentioning she supported it prior to becoming McCain's VP running mate.

This election is a grim reminder that racism is a beast that will not go down easily. Gatekeepers of the age-old Racist American Way Of Life have been very busy spreading lies and confusion in the media, in their own right wing blogs and trolling in ours.

When they visit our blogs - ours being defined as any progressive, anti-racist blog - their mission is to plant death seeds. They do this through their comments. Their intent is to kill any worthwhile conversation that commenters might have by dismissing the ideas in that post, and planting seeds confusion, misinformation, lies and/or bigotry.

One end result is that visitors get angry over what the commenter said and they discuss this, rather than the contents of the post that the blogger took time to write.

Once they get away with it, other haters visit and sprinkle similar comments in that post and future ones. One gets the idea that they are connected with one another via email or phone, and they very well may be - or they may be the same person masquerading as one.

The strategy of these Internet trolls is to put a chilling effect on the blog. Regular visitors may not want to come as often or read the comments because they don't want to get their blood pressure up from reading bullshit by the 'new regulars' who have made that blog one of their trailers homes.

In addition, they tie up the blogger's valuable time, who spends an inordinate amount of time writing a thoughtful reply to the hater, only to have it dismissed, rejected, ignored or challenged again.

This sucks away from the blogger's creativity as well. Instead of thinking about and following new ideas for new posts, he or she wastes time having an online conversation via comments with someone who is race-obsessed, and for the most part, insane.

Yes, insane.

While we all have our prejudices, hard core racism is a form of insanity. The obsessively racist person cannot be reasoned with any more than a misogynistic serial killer who hates and preys on women can be talked out of why killing them is a bad thing. If ever there was a population that should be on OCD medication, these people are the ones.

I'm addressing this issue today so black bloggers, along with liberal and progressives and particularly new ones, will know that they are not alone in dealing with this, and a suggestion on how to deal with them.

In a nutshell, don't tolerate them. Ban their racist azzes from your blog and do so without apology. When one wingnut is tolerated, more come. They hijack the post, and sometimes, the blog.

Often their comments are well-written and have truth mixed in with lies, but the tip off is their clear a right-wing agenda. These are generally not the folks in the cowboy hats who use the word nigger on your blog. Those types tend to stay where they belong: under a rock in their own slimey, Internet neighborhoods where liberals and blacks are clearly not welcome. This includes the comment newsline at Fake News, which has so many overtly racist and tolerated comments that this is a story in itself.

Instead, this Internet gang is too cunning resort to name-calling because they know their comments will be deleted. That's not what they want; they want an audience to read what they write and get suckered into their views.

HOWEVER, if you aspire to be a critical thinker of issues, it's important to tease out the difference between the commenter who has a right wing, racist agenda between one who makes an honest criticism of something in your post. Just because a reader disagrees with you is not reason enough to jump to the conclusion that they are a racist, sexist, or a nutcase.

This can be tricky. There are or will be times when a visitor or regular reader genuinely disagrees with your point of view or is upset by it but is not a malevolent person with a hate-spreading agenda. If they didn't state why they're upset or make this clear, ask them. You might actually learn something.

For example, every white person who criticizes Obama is not a racist. They may be looking at specific, legitimate issues where he has fallen short of his promises, and they're mad about it. His voting for FISA pissed off a lot of people of all races who understand that this law wipes out the 4th Amendment of the Constitution.

If these same critics, however, are running over to McCain who also supported it and in addition, supports more issues that will harm our economy, environment, and lead us into more wars, then they're lying about not being a racist.

If they're voting for McCain because they're 100% anti-abortion and nothing else is more important to them, then you, as a blogger, would be dishonest as hell in labeling them racist.

You could point out that his imperialistic war plans for the next few decades or century may lead to as many or more deaths than the unborn he'd like to save. If they think about this and weigh the pros and cons of this argument, good. If not, oh well.

They are entitled to their beliefs and wild hopes that endless wars and casualties won't happen and the GOP's privatizing and screwing up the economy 'won't be too bad.' They'll learn the hard way, just like we all have when we believed something based on pure hope rather than reality.

I truly believe that when we start hitting the delete button on everyone who disagrees with us, then we run the grave risk of only preaching to the choir and talking to ourselves. It amounts to mental masturbation.

We mistake our choir's validation for our being correct on an issue, when in actuality, we've only surrounded ourselves with like-minded people and/or suck ups who bob their heads up and down like dolls, particularly if it's a popular blog and they want to get in on the discussion. Adults aren't a lot different from high schoolers who like to hang out with the most popular crowd, even if it costs them their integrity.

To hell with that. The hits ain't worth it when it compromises your ability to learn new things that you, as a blogger, may have missed or not have seen.

Another type of blog comes to mind. I can think of two off-hand, where one 'covers' black women's issues and the other black male issues. In reality, these two do more harm to the race by demonizing the opposite gender, which in turn harms black families.

By deleting comments or attacking anyone who disagrees with them, these bloggers cater to men or women who have been victimized or feel like victims, and they do the work of the white racist by sensationalizing a handful of atrocities by black men, or focus exclusively on how black women are stupid and inferior or gold diggers, as though these stories are common behavior and applies to the general black population. I find this reprehensible and socially irresponsible.

Little to no disagreement is tolerated to their general man-hating or misogynistic approach or piss-poor investigation to the links (if any) they provide. In a misguided attempt to 'liberate' their readers, they inadvertently keep them oppressed by promoting the idea that only a few select men or women are worthy of existing on our planet, and the rest should be locked up or sterilized. If a white blogger wrote some of the shit they do, these same blacks who agree with them would be deeply offended.

Whether conscious of it or not, bloggers and commenters or any race who intentionally and malevolently disseminate misinformation are ill with ignorance, and their narrow vision is contagious to their more vulnerable, often young adult readers.

This is also seen commonly on white hate sites and broadcast media TV and radio where the agenda is to recruit the young and/or uninformed into their line of thinking.

It unfortunately works well and is reflected in the current polls which shows that the most warmongering and least knowledgeable Presidential candidate and his VP running mate are running neck-to-neck against Obama and Biden.

If Obama were white, McCain's campaign would be the joke of the nation as it is in the UK and the rest of world. But he's not, and the reason his campaign has the problems it does is because the beast or racism won't go down without a helluva fight. The haters are everywhere and many are out of the closet, from the bigots who get paid well in their media jobs to the anonymous trolls who work so hard to sabotage our blogs.

Makes one wonder who the fuck are these people?

An Internet troll leaving offensive comments at a progressive and/or black site is sometimes the same person. One tip off is that their writing style is the same, and suddenly in one post, there will be two, three or four racists leaving the same kind of racist agenda comments. This way, they hijack the thread.

To date, I have only had to ban one person in early August who makes his or her rounds to black blogs trying to start shit. I have seen him, and last night, others like him on other black blogs. I got tired of it.

Back in August, I accepted his first comment where he didn't seem to think genocide was a problem. When he left a second long rant, I deleted it and told him he was banned. He left at five additional comments, all of which were deleted. He gave up and hasn't been back to my site, but interestingly, told me that I should be more 'thick-skinned'.

I've had a number of folks critical of some of my posts. Fine with me, because dammit, I want to grow and learn and have someone tell me that "Well, Kit, I think you're wrong because..."

I'll think about that, do some research, and maybe I'll agree, or in the end, tell them we'll have to agree to disagree.

Otherwise, I just say no if I sense they're haters, moles and trolls with anti-social agendas. I can usually spot them a mile away and I'll bet most of you can too. I feel no compulsion to give the enemies of humanity - because that's what they are - an opportunity to use my blog to spread bigotry and ruin my fucking day or yours.

As an African-American woman with a racial melting pot of genes and a multi-cultural outlook, who has been both working class and middle class, who has seen the beauty and ugliness in human nature in all races, and has been unnecessarily put through hell in my life, I thank God for the heaven here on earth to balance out the hate.

I blog first for my wonderful black people because we have been through so much and have so far to go, and then a very close second for all the other wonderful people of all races, religions and creeds in this world who want us all to just get along and be judged by our merits, not our families or circumstance of birth. We don't always agree on every issue, and that's fine, because wouldn't it be weird if we did?




It is for the good folks, the bloggers and readers of all rainbow colors that this post is dedicated to today. I wish you well and to stay strong, 'cause I said, the beast of racism won't go down easily.


Addendum @4:10 PM, same day:

I just learned that Barack finally got fed up enough to fight his own trolls. He compared McCain's economic policies to putting lipstick on a pig.

Heh-heh-heh. I ain't stupid; pork barrell economy comparison or not, I recognize it's a closely worded phrase used by Palin bragging about herself being a pitbull with lipstick. Bet she won't no more; everyone will now have this new association with it that they might not have had if she hadn't recognized her character over-reacted and had a hissy fit, crying "sexist!"

Mind you, these crocodile tears came from Palin, who allegedly was overheard by a part-Eskimo waitress saying, "Sambo beat the bitch!" in an Alaskan restaurant. In four words, Palin dissed Barack and Hillary. Well, we've learned she can dish it out but not take it.

Heh-heh-heh... I'm cracking up laughing right this minute as Neil Cavuto of Fox News (!) is challenging some offended woman by the pig comment. He's repeatedly saying there's no way one can interpret Obama's comment as an attack on Palin.

I agree it wasn't an attack on her, but I think it most cleverly and intentionally stripped away the glory of the Palin pride and tribe of her being a pitbull with lipstick. Hell, the McCain campaign may have even ordered hundreds of thousands of dollars in tee-shirts and posters to sell by now.

LMBAO!

And it gets better! Today, Obama whipped out his troll whacker and said, "I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage... Enough is enough!”

We'll see.