Are Satire and Trolling the same thing? I think so ...

This post is birthed from a reply to someone on another thread. I thought that the idea was worthy of its own thread.

The individual to whom I was responding was complaining that "Trump pisses people off on purpose."

I pointed out that this technique is known as trolling and that it actually has a long, storied and respected history in literature. It is essentially a modern day version of satire; satire done on the fly, in sound bites, for a retarded populace with a short attention span and little to no critical thinking skills.

The second definition of the word satire in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is as follows:

trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly

This is exactly what good trolling - particularly the kind in which Donald Trump engages - is meant to do. (There are bad attempts at trolling, just as there are bad attempts at satire.)

An excellent example of "satire" (and, really, some pretty damned good trolling, if you think about it) may be found in Jonathan Swift's 1729 essay, A Modest Proposal. If you have never read it, I heartily recommend that you do yourself a favor, feed your intellect a bit, and read it right after perusing this post. You'll find links to the essay in various formats at the bottom.

In short, Swift's "modest proposal" was that the best way to solve the problem of overpopulation amongst the poverty-sticken in Ireland was to eat the children. Yes! He went there. He used 3,376 words to publish the idea of eating the children of the indigent in Ireland as a solution to the social ills of poverty and the ever-increasing population of poor people.

Now, did Swift actually mean that he wanted to eat the children of Ireland's poor? OF COURSE NOT, SILLY!!!

Did everyone who read Swift's essay understand his point? I'm sure that many did not, but were instead horrified that he'd suggest something so terrible. Those, my friends, were the 18th century version of what I refer to as the progressive/leftist/commie/socialist/democrat/justice warrior/woke types. And just like in 1729, these types have no capacity for self-awareness or critical thinking. Their ability to process humour (especially dark humour) is completely atrophied. I am certain that many were angered by Mr. Swift's "modest proposal;" surely many were horrified; certainly many were in incensed and thought that such a horrible person as Mr. Swift should be censored, shut up, shunned, even factchecked, by golly!

I posit, then, that trolling is a modern day version of satire. You see, in the internet generation most people won't take the time to read a 3,376 word essay that drives a point home in a humours, irreverent fashion, so it has to be done in 5 to 10 second sound bites or spicy memes. This, sadly, is the intellectual state of the cultural malaise in which we live.

Now, good satire and a good troll both aim "to expose and discredit vice or folly" (see the Merriam-Webster definition above) by pointing out its absurdity. Sadly, however, in this day that is not likely to happen as those who most need to learn from satire and trolling are generally devoid of any of the mental capacities necessary to process and understand them. These include (as I have previously stated in part): self-awareness, critical thinking skills, and mostly a sense of humour. You see, the progressive/leftist mind virus atrophies all of these characteristics, so sadly those who should most benefit from good satire or a good troll probably won't, never will.

So, all that's left to the rest of us is to laugh at those who just don't get it.

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You may read it on-line.

You may download it to read at your leisure from Project Gutenberg.

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Trolling is the use of interaction by way of seemingly obtuse positions to illicit negative responses to the troll.

The trolls portrayed position does not have to be and usually isn’t their real position it’s used only to illicit a response from the person they are engaging with. It’s all a form an emotional sadism in which the troll gains pleasure.

Not to be confused with shills who take the same obtuse and ridiculous positions but not for personal pleasure but for gainful employment. Russian troll farms are mislabeled in reality these are Shill farms not troll farms.

Trolling can include satire most definitely.
a reply to: AwakeNotWoke

originally posted by: Athetos
Trolling is the use of interaction by way of seemingly obtuse positions to illicit negative responses to the troll.

The trolls portrayed position does not have to be and usually isn’t their real position it’s used only to illicit a response from the person they are engaging with. It’s all a form an emotional sadism in which the troll gains pleasure.

Not to be confused with shills who take the same obtuse and ridiculous positions but not for personal pleasure but for gainful employment. Russian troll farms are mislabeled in reality these are Shill farms not troll farms.

Trolling can include satire most definitely.
a reply to: AwakeNotWoke

"The trolls portrayed position does not have to be and usually isn’t their real position it’s used only to illicit a response from the person they are engaging with. It’s all a form an emotional sadism in which the troll gains pleasure."

I'm fairly certain that Swift's A Modest Proposal ticked all of those boxes to some degree.

It was certainly not a real position that he held.

He was trying to illicit a response from the uptight, self-righteous religious folks who gave their pittance as an public display of righteousness with little to no real concern for those truly in need.

And I can imagine that as he penned it, he was chuckling at some of the responses and blowback that he knew he would get.

Are you guys trolling with the "illicit" thing or intentionally verbing an adjective?

Just sayin'.

solicit***

Just a miss spelling on my part I could blame auto correct but I didn’t proof read what I put down so I get what i get.
a reply to: yeahright

a reply to: Athetos

Ok. I'd have gone with "elicit". But that's me.

Cool beans man.

a reply to: yeahright

a reply to: AwakeNotWoke

I think the question can be served two ways.

Is this a smart thing to do for sharing an ideological point.

Is this a smart thing to do to win a popularity contest?

For the first question, I think we can all agree it’s been immensely effective at awareness. He was the underdog in the 2016 primary, and became arguably the most well known and watched politician.

To the second question, we won’t be able to answer it until November. He’s leaning into the same formula for 2016, but it may be a different game. He was an unknown quantity in that election, so there was an element of gambling with people. This time not so much.

My opinion is it could be refined and executed better this time around. But that’s an opinion of mine based off of reading the environment, which is hard considering it’s littered with bias and ultimately relies on mechanisms like polls, bets, ect.

We’ll have to see if it helps him win I suppose.

Not the same.

Trolling is about pushing peoples buttons and trying to to frustrate them or make them mad.

I believe most of not all trannys are trolls. They don't really believe it. They just get a kick out of watching people bend over backwards trying to be nice and understanding. Even if you just give up and say you agree with them just to shut them up they still act like your ignorant often changing their arguments along the way

I don't think this behavior fits the definition of satire at all but it fits the definition of trolling to a T.

Troll is just another word like nazi to denigrate or shut someone down. A troll and trolling is only a problem to generally uneducated people as anyone with a smattering of intelligence can spot a "troll" and either ignore them or "troll the troller" which happens quite often on ATS. It's people with feelz again thinking it's aimed at them personally. Just ignore them or play against them but to be really upset by a troll, well you don't want me to answer that.