Psychoanalyzing the Internet troll

By lex, on August 8th, 2007

It is always perilous to psychoanalyze at a remove, far more so for the mere enthusiast to apply himself to the task, lacking – as he customarily will – the mind-numbing (not to say soul-destroying) professional jargon to go along with the Pee. Haitch. Dee.

The troll phenomenon is only of cyclical interest to normals and – not least because I apply the term to myself in this instance – I use that definition pretty broadly. But for reasons of my own, and under full awareness that sometimes “naming calls,” my interest is once again piqued.

Credo

"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me."

— John Paul Jones

"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature"

— George Bernard Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra

"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."

— Friedrich Nietzsche

"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."

— Edmund Burke

"Μολὼν λαβέ"

— Leonidas

"Blogito Ergo Sum"

— Neptunus Lex