Trolling is something we are all familiar with. On these forums, trolling seems to have achieved the status of some sort of freakish pastime... but we are by no means unique on the Internet. Trolls have existed since the earliest days of the Internet, and I am sure every last one of you reading this article has been trolled before. I needn't say more. It does bring up some interesting issues though with privacy and voyeurism (especially when this stuff goes public) that I don't really know if I am qualified to comment on... which is where you guys come in. Anyway...

Why do I bring this up you ask? Well... mainly because I've been noticing on the news lately there have been a lot of stories of people who are now taking their trolling to real life. The difference between real-life trolls and Internet trolls is crucial. Though the two groups largely get the same rush from trolling people, it seems that the real-life trolls have some sort of purpose or statement to make, where Internet trolling is certainly more juvenile thanks to the level of anonymity that it offers, and the venues in which more serious trolling occurs (i.e. not on message boards). It is also important to note that the real-life trolls still have some association with the Internet via personal web-pages that they use to document their pranks. That aside... not only have I been noticing this phenomenon in the news, but it has actually come up in some of the current literature that I have been reading as well. Umberto Eco dedicated an entire chapter to this phenomenon and other similar such behaviors largely revolving around the Internet and other forms of mass media that have only become common with the global proliferation of high-speed Internet access.

Anyway, the important stuff here that needs mentioned are the trolls that have been in the news. I already posted a topic about the legless man, but I feel like he deserves another mention. This guy, his name is Kevin Connolly, was born without his legs. Kind of a freakish birth defect if you ask me... especially considering the rest of his body is perfectly normal. Despite this setback he has remained active his entire life, using modified equipment to compete in some major extreme sporting events. He is a silver-medal winner at the Winter X-Games, and he actually uses a modified skateboard as his primary mode of locomotion. What makes this guy a notable troll is that his project is actually some sort of project/exhibit that he is doing for art school. Essentially he just rides around in cities all over the place snapping pictures of people who stare at him. He has documented some pretty interesting responses, not only with his photographs, but in his conversations with people as well. I could go on at length about this guy, but instead if you're interested you can check out this feature Yahoo news did about him.



Another guy that caught my eye this week was John Hargrave. To sum this guy up in one word... balls. The man has balls that you need a wheel-barrow to carry. He makes a public spectacle of his trolling... though while it is largely harmless (in the feature he impersonates Benjamin Franklin (the 14th president of the United States)) he stands to get in serious trouble quite often. This guy has been pranking people for years now, but has not only just trolled anonymous people but celebrities as well, pulling off some incredible stunts with Michael Jackson impersonations and trolling the shit out of Ashton Kutcher (he actually had his name legally changed to Ashton Kutcher just to pull this gag off). He has also trolled Bill Gates, Angelina Jolie, Oprah and get ready for this... Congress. He faked being an 11 year old girl with cancer to try and elicit responses from celebrities and found that the most genuine and caring person he sent a letter to was (and this isn't really a shocker but its still awesome) Charles Manson. I would highly recommend watching the video on this feature, there is a robot man chasing Benjamin Franklin getting chased by cops. Its good stuff.

Now, switching gears a bit... since I think we are all familiar with many types of Internet trolling and other subversive behaviors I will now quote some thoughts from Eco on the subject:



The tie-in here is that this kind of behavior now seems so common. Us putting our lives up for everyone to see on the Internet I mean. Sure there are some people who do us a service by providing us with entertainment or by provoking thought (as in the two guys I mentioned) but then there are 1000 more and 1000 more on top of that who are no better than the goatse.cx man that Eco so cleverly alluded to. But that still isn't us directly...

We all have shared significant portions of our lives with others we do not physically know on the Internet, whether it is just a simple picture or far more than that is irrelevant. We have all done it. What I ask though, is what do we stand to gain from exposing ourselves to random people on the Internet in this way... and what do you think the consequences will be down the road?