Greetings all. I have been awol for a few days transitioning from the sanctity of my underground studio bunker in Washington, DC to Singapore where I teach and am preparing for the upcoming symposium.
During the course of my 21 hour flight I was reading the latest issue of Adbusters and found an article that resonated with our ongoing discussion of net behaviors. It also echoed Mez Breeze¹s essay on Internet noise and trolling: Mechanisms of Exclusion <http://furtherfield.org/features/articles/mechanisms-of-exclusion> . The question I ask: with unprecedented freedom of expression, the ability to post comments on international newspapers, to engage in open dialogue with vast numbers of people from journalists to politicians, to participate in various forms of citizen journalism, blogging, social media, etc., are there limits and dangers to this freedom? Is this freedom in fact an open invitation to rogue commentators, trolls, underminers, and the like who hijack the discussion with no more motivation than to pollute the greater potential of a global dialogue? Or perhaps in some cases disinformation propagandists targeting political entities. I leave you with this excerpt from ³The Fieldgude to Virtual Warfare" in Adbusters to ponder the question. Best, Randall "If while reading a news item you¹ve been brave enough to venture below the fold into the vast uncharted darkness of an online comment section, you may have noticed how vile, offensive and discouraging the experience can be. This generalized toxicity is due to a number of factors, most of which are rooted in the unchecked freedom of expression afforded by anonymity. When certain netizens are permitted to interact with others without having to reveal their identity or be responsible for their words, they often take advantage of the situation and say things they wouldn¹t otherwise say." Netizen 1: I support Politican ³A¹s² policies :) they seem kewl. Lol. Netizen 2: Politician ³A² is a super-Hitler and you are a feminazi communist pig-f****r for supporting his progressive jihadist agenda. "In such cases, Netizen 2 is often labelled a ³troll.² Meaning an internet user who posts deliberately provocative messages online with the intention of causing mental distress and/or widespread calamity. But sometimes a troll isn¹t just a troll but an agent of DEZA (disinformation), which refers to a particularly unpleasant brand of astroturfing what is aimed at legitimizing or delegitimizing targeted political or corporate entities.
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