Book

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture

Whitney Phillips

MIT Press, 2015

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University professor Whitney Phillips examines the culture of online trolling. Her prism into this world surveys those US residents who revel in this online subculture and identify as members of it. Phillips presents a complex, multilayered portrait of the mores, emotions and tactics of people who intentionally cause distress to others. She interviewed numerous trolls and directly participated in “trolldom” by opening herself up to attacks. She links trolling to the larger culture and shows how these individuals simply mirror attitudes and methods embraced by sensationalist mainstream media. She unflinchingly depicts trolls sexual, racial and scatological humor, which some readers may find offensive, as, indeed, the trolls intend.

Take-Aways

Online trolls are people who seek “to cause disruption and/or trigger or exacerbate conflict for the purposes of their own amusement.”
They demand and revel in anonymity.
Trolls justify their actions as the pursuit of “lulz” – laughter at the expense of others.

About the Author

Whitney Phillips is an assistant professor of literary studies and writing at Mercer University’s Penfield College.

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D. B. 8 years ago

While there is hype around the networked society and the internet of things the dysfunctional aspects of the network socirety is seldom examined. The assumption is that when everything and everyone is connected that life will be improved ... well, perhaps. But the fact is that since the 1990's trolls have been with us and will continue to be with us. This abstract just provdies a brief summary of the book, but the book is well worth reading if you are interested in just one part of the sociological aspects of the dark underside of the networked society. The people described are part of that sociaety and they aren't going to just disappear ...

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture

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