Of Trolls and Trolling

 

I was more than a little distressed to learn that the wonderful Capt. Tom was subjected to a lot of hate mail in the last year of his life, outweighed, thank goodness, by masses of fan mail.What induces people to spend a large proportion of their life “composing” these spiteful and hurtful messages by the ton?

I think trolls have always been with us but in the past they busied themselves writing poison-pen letters and, more innocently, ringing on people’s doorbells and then scampering off into the night. It’s just that modern technology has allowed the phenomenon to reach an industrial level, just as our violent society has ensured that trolls and trolling have become more nauseating than ever.

In the case of Capt. Tom,his family were luckily able to shield him from this torrent of hate and abuse. Others are not so fortunate.