Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Just a little troll watching

Every cloud has a silver lining or There is no use crying over spilled milk. These two quotes are my response to the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" we all face. There is a lot of wisdom in Shakespeare.

I searched for the origins of the first two phrases. John Milton's Comus: A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634 was probably the first reference in literature of the silver lining of clouds.

I see ye visibly, and now believe
That he, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill
Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,
Would send a glistering guardian, if need were
To keep my life and honour unassailed.
Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
I did not err; there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-origin-of-the-phrase-Every-Cloud-Has-a-Silver-Lining-and-what-does-it-mean

I did a cursory search for "crying over spilt milk" and came up with blithering. Blithering in the sense that the answers were obviously made up. One attributed the phrase to spilt milk being a favorite food of the fairies. So although you spilt the milk, you pleased the fairies.

Knowing how precious food was so long ago, I imagine everyone missed a goodly portion of their food that day when the milk was spilt. What comes to mind are my great-grandfather getting upset that my mother threw her piece of cornbread in the fire to watch it burn or my grandfather's declaration that his favorite pieces of chicken were the neck, back and gizzard. And of course, the more chicken feet a girl eats, the prettier she will be.

An infamous clickfarm (I had to click about four times to get the lousy origin they offered) wrote that somebody was probably crying over spilled milk and the others told them not to cry. Gee, what research.

But there is so much unrehearsed research on the internet. I keep a list of troll comments to use in my writing. I'm not in the habit of saying something hateful. It has been a long time since I was 14 years old arguing with my older brother. I will confess. I was hateful. But that is another post.

Some trolls write great zingers. So many don't understand the internet is forever. I take screenshots just to save a few nasty beauts. A high school chum who is a bona fide genius and programmer states anyone can make a quick copy of any screenshot. So good luck using it as proof.

I have heard of the power of trolls. Trolls are not always that frustrated male living in their parent's basement. It is not unusual for them to be women, nurses, doctors, teachers, mechanics. They come from all walks of life. For many it is obviously an anger outlet. For others, it is idleness and something to do. I'm sure future research will reveal several threads of psychology that motivate trolling. Immaturity comes to mind.

When there were anonymous comments and everything was new; I was as guilty as everyone else making comments. Then when a girl name Justine was pilloried with mass indignation; a book was written, articles were written about the tendency of social media attacking people without the facts. It is that fairplay thing. Does the crime fit the punishment?

There is that acknowledgement that they were so stupid not thinking about how what they said could be taken or interpreted. There is that greater humility in knowing I have done some pretty dumb things intentionally and accidentally.

So I matured. As so many others did. My big beef with folks arguing over the internet is calling someone a Nazi, Fascist, Hitler or Commie. I've read about Godwin's Law which is an excellent summation of using those epithets.

I do not think Donald Trump would be a good President.

I do not think Donald Trump deserves to be called a Fascist. He is not. He is a salesman selling himself to an electorate that will turn out and vote. The fact that the tax cut he is proposing only benefits the more affluent passes over their head. Because, heck don't we all aspire to that in the United States. Isn't that why the lottery is so popular. If you don't earn it and you aren't going to inherit it, you might win that great windfall.

Godwin also brings up a point that calling someone a Nazi because you disagree does not acknowledge the enormity of the crime against humanity Hitler's Third Reich committed.

Anonymity allows trolls to flourish. Some are just as obnoxious with their names in print. When trolls commit actions that can put an individual in harm's way or incredible bullying, there should be real world consequences like monetary fines. The KKK was broken financially. I have heard of it's resurgence which is unfortunate.

Sitting in the car putting on lipstick, It's Wednesday and I should create a post for my blog. A little whimsy got pretty serious quick, eh.

I took this on an Alaskan cruise.

26 comments:

  1. Growing up in a large family, if one spilled their milk,it may have never been replenished.We often like your grandfather, asked for the neck because it was a 2nd piece, instead of eating just one.

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    1. I grew up in a large family and I have good memories of dinnertime. I remember one time mom fried beef liver like cubed steak and tricked us. Well at least me, my brothers all loved liver. But the day before payday, mom got pretty creative. My favorite was bean splatters. lol

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  2. Hi Ann,

    What an in-depth post. I note you have the writing gift of forming a whole bunch of thoughts into a more coherent posting that I could ever come up with. Whimsically serious, indeed.

    Gary

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    1. Gary, You are so kind. And I beg to differ. I have enjoyed many a post by you.

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  3. All we can do is ignore those trolls.
    Not a chance I'm eating chicken feet!

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    1. Not much meat on a chicken foot. It wouldn't fill you up. lol

      So true about ignoring the trolls.

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  4. Yep, stupid trolls need to be ignored big time. The less you say the more they go away, usually.

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    1. I understand that most will move on to another topic when they are blocked. It's just a game. Ignoring is a good thing.

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  5. People can hide behind the safety of their keyboards, that is why we have trolls. They can get away with pretty much whatever they want especially if they can do it anonymously. I think in most cases they are miserably unhappy people and want to inflict their misery on others.

    Betty

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    1. So true, when people are difficult it usually has more to do with them than yourself. It is just hard to separate yourself from the situation at times.

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  6. The only trolls I care for are a couple dozen Treasure Trolls; childhood keepsakes, for the creative whimsy. As kids, the elders warned us not to sing at the table or we'd cry before we went to bed. I was really confused when it came to birthday parties ;-) I always look for silver linings; you never know when one will come in handy. Nice picture, Ann. Vistas like that are good reminders of how vast the world is ;-)

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    1. I remember troll dolls what may have been their first round of popularity when I was in fifth grade. They were a lot of fun.
      My mother was from the mountains and she hated all the superstitions. So she tried to never repeat them. Except for a few I never learned many. The singing at the table, lol, could mom and dad want some peace.

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  7. Loved the information on the first silver lining. And what a gorgeous picture.
    Have a great weekend.

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    1. I'm a big poetry fan too, Thanks for visiting Sandra.

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  8. The anonymity is definitely an issue. Honestly, I don't think either candidate would be a good president. What has happened to our country that these are the two candidates we have to choose from? *buries head in the sand* I think people do need to be accountable for what they say online as much as they would in person. Honestly.

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    1. Money is the root of all evil and I think that is a problem with national elections. It is not just the superpacs. It is the ordinary person who writes a check because one issue gets them so fired up. I think they create issues to get people to send money.
      My beef with both candidates are they are too old. I don't think anyone over 60 should run. I am in good health. But I'm 60.

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    2. My issues with both candidates is their lack of integrity. I really don't want leaders who will tell me one thing and turn around and shake hands with an enemy behind my back.

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  9. Love the part about "blithering." There is a definitely a lot of blithering on the Internet. :)

    Thanks for visiting my blog earlier this week!
    http://annbennett2.blogspot.com/2016/09/just-little-troll-watching.html#comment-form

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  10. I suppose there's a silver lining to having a small (in terms of visitors) blog. No trolls have attacked me yet, and I hope I haven't left offensive comments elsewhere. I do think there is a learning curve as well. I am more careful now than I was when I first started blogging. It can be easy to misinterpret things and sarcasm can be hard to pull off properly in this format.

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    1. Sarcasm and humor can get you in hot water. People take what people write way too serious at times. There are some benefits of being small.

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  11. Just stopped by to say hey and have a great week, Ann:)

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  12. Internet trolls are every where. Sadly, a lot of them are teenagers also. I see some really mean comments on Twitter. They say hateful, racist, homophobic and sexist things. I have blocked a lot of them so they never show up on my timeline even by accident.

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  13. Chicken feet make a girl pretty? Hysterical. Loved this rambling thought process. Very entertaining. When I think of don't cry over spilled milk, I think of children having accidents at the dinner table. I remember knocking over my glass of milk as being very traumatic.

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  14. I like the 'spilt milk pleased the fairies':)Lovely whimsy.

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