DougJ @ Balloon-Juice: "I believe that trolling is the highest form of human expression."

[Fumesucker]

DougJ is hands down the most brilliant troll I have ever seen in my extensive online wanderings, he mostly trolls conservatives including quite a few "journalists" but he is not above trolling his own OPs with sockpuppets too.

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2013/09/27/take-a-letter-maria/

I believe that trolling is the highest form of human expression. Art, music, and literature are too often about fantasies, the notion that the world is beautiful, that human beings have some decency, things that no adult could possibly believe. Trolling, by contrast (when done properly), illustrates the most profound eternal truth, that people are mostly ignorant, delusional sociopaths. I believe that the Socratic method is just a sophisticated form of trolling since its goal is to get people to say things so stupid that they’re temporarily shocked into trying to think.

This clip of Alex Pareene on CNBC is trolling at its best. Pareene says Jamie Dimon should step down as head of JP Morgan because of all the JP Morgan scandals. Who knows if he’s serious or not — though his point about bad PR is more relevant than his interviewers want to admit — but he gets Maria Bartiromo to sputter “the New York Times!”, revealing to all that she’s a teahadist whack job who has no place in journalism.

The comments on this OP are worth a look too, for instance:

I love the sarcastic way Bartiromo shouted “Oh, the New York Times,” as if it were the National Enquirer or Weekly World News. It really is mind-boggling how often ostensibly media savvy people unthinkingly make complete asses of themselves on national TV. It’s like watching self-proclaimed gun experts repeatedly shoot themselves in the gut while cleaning their rifle collection.

[hrmjustin]

1. I am not a fan of trolls.

[In_The_Wind]

2. Hahaha

I wonder why. [img][/img]

[hrmjustin]

3. Ok maybe I love lg.

[Fumesucker]

4. You will like this old post of mine then...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023430503

[hrmjustin]

5. Yes I remember it.

[1000words]

6. Thing is, there aren't a lot of good trolls.

Most are rather transparent.

[Fumesucker]

7. Sturgeon's Law: Ninety percent of everything is crud

And brother Ted was being highly optimistic, it applies as much to trolls as to anything else.

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. I love the bolded section. nt

[A-Schwarzenegger]

9. Trolling doesn't have to be mean.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x387808

[Fumesucker]

11. Milo Minderbinder lives... n/t

[A-Schwarzenegger]

13. Chocolate-covered cotton balls

as I recall.

[sibelian]

10. Trolling engenders the response that it expects.

Treating the world as a pile of unredeemable sociopaths CREATES those sociopaths.

[Fumesucker]

12. I disagree, trolling done well (a rarity granted) ~reveals~ the sociopaths

There's the old saw about not being able to cheat the honest man, scams play into the mark's cupidity and use it against him.

[sibelian]

15. The premise supposes

that shaming stupidity cures it.

The opposite is the case.

[Fumesucker]

16. Nothing cures stupidity, it's forever

Ignorance on the other hand can sometimes be ameliorated.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

14. Remember this from Rachel? "He's a troll!"

He's a troll. He's saying this for effect. He knows it's offensive and he knows he's going to get a gasp from the courtroom, which he got, and he loves it. He's like the guy on your blog comment thread who is using the n-word. 'Oh, it made you mad? How about if I say this? Does it make you mad? Did it make you mad? Did it make you mad?' He's that guy! He's that kind of guy! When we're all shocked that he said something so blatantly racially offensive while talking about the cornerstone of the federal Civil Rights Act, he's thinking, 'Oh yeah!'"
If you didn't hear her say this, the "He" she's referring to is Scalia.

[bemildred]

17. Yes, you can diagnose socks that way too, the "Socratic Method".

Give them a little ambiguity to deal with.

[Fumesucker]

18. I'm of two minds about that n/t

[bemildred]

19. LOL.