photo courtesy of Twitter
According to The Guardian, a British teenager has been arrested on suspicion of “malicious communication” after sending a heartbreaking tweet to UK Olympic Diver Tom Daley who came in 4th.
The teenager tweeted, “You let your dad down, I hope you know that.” Daley’s father, whom he was famously close to, died of brain cancer last year.
If you work within online publishing, you know all about trolling. People seem to gain power by delivering sucker punches to famous people and non-famous people alike, without thinking much about the fact that they’re talking to a person. It’s inspired one of my favorite lines to describe what life is like dealing with online publishing, “Dear Internet: This is why you can’t have anything nice.”
What do think of the way trolls attack people? Are these simply anti-social people who would do the same were they face-to-face, or does anonymity bring out people’s mean side? What is the end-game for trolls in doing something this heinous? Would this teen ever have said such a thing to Daley in real life?
If you’ve “trolled” in the past, feel free to log in anonymously and explain why you did it, and why you think this teenager felt comfortable saying what may be the cruelest thing you could ever say to a man who just lost his father.
Tom Daley’s Twitter handle is @TomDaley1994 in case you want to drop him a note of encouragement.
you mad bro
Although I’ve occasionally gotten into comment wars on various forums where I probably got sarcastic and riled up, I don’t understand the urge some people have to just troll. I.e. just to post mean or crude or hurtful remarks for the sadistic pleasure of it. I guess some people are just angry bullies. My boyfriend is a big guy who needs to lose some weight — he’s not hugely obese, but he stands out in a crowd because he’s 6’3″ and he’s big. He needs to lose about 50 pounds. But he’s working on it. He told me almost every… Read more »
“Troll” originally referred to “someone who deliberately posts inflammatory material into web forums to wind people up.” Nowadays it seems to mean anything from “someone saying something horrible” to “someone who I disagree with and therefore shouldn’t be talking.” The last version is most commonly seen on blogs or articles where the commentators are shocked to see that someone has a different opinion to them and is therefore “trolling.” Looking at this situation, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t trolling in the classical sense, and what he said wasn’t simply an alternate opinion. It sounds more like he was drunk and… Read more »
Yeah, people misuse the word “Troll” all the time. We have a lot of men and women here to say obnoxious stuff that I disagree with, but very few actual trolls. Because I know most people really believe what they’re saying, and have good intentions in trying to have people understand what they’re trying to say. But we do get our trolls. There are always a few random people who comment things like, “You’re just a stupid, ugly bitch” or something. They just like to see if someone will get in a flame war with them. I think it’s similar… Read more »
Or they’re just angry and want to lash out with their keyboard.
Either way I really don’t see how arrests for a tiny percent of a percent of them is going to change anything.
Yeah, people misuse the word “Troll” all the time. “Troll” is one of those words that if enough people mis-use it the same way, it just becomes an alternate definition/usage, rather than a mistake, like “literally” or “ironically”. I wouldn’t call this etymology authoritative, but the way I remember it, the Internet version of the word originated as a bastardization of the word “trawl”, as in the method of fishing. “Trawling” just meant fishing for responses by being intentionally provocative. Like “flame wars”, it was considered by many to be an exhibition of wit, not just saying mean things. Some… Read more »
Never heard that etymology, that’s pretty interesting. I thought it was just the idea of a lonely monster who lurked under bridges and had nothing better to do than annoy people.
The “new” meaning of the word is subjective to the point of uselessness though. Old school trolls were at least distinguishable by their intentions and it was a useful label to identify people who were better left alone. The new meaning is just a different shade of muck to throw when people get angry.
The message about Tom Daley’s dad was the start of it. I believe death threats that followed were the actual reason the police were then involved.
Even so, how seriously should a “death threat” be taken if it’s coming from a complete stranger who doesn’t even know where you live?
Heck, I had an argument with my housemate yesterday and she told me she was going to kill me. Is this seriously something the police should be concerned about?
Any threat must be taken into deep consideration. It should not be tolerated to have anyone person, stranger or not, make any comment like that. To me, allowing someone to say such things without any repercussions is a sign to letting that kind of anonymous bad behavior tolerated without any thought or consideration to whom thay may be trolling. As for death threats, I have found myself having to write a statement twice to an officer, insuring that I wouldn’t harm someone because of some drama that we both made. Who knows, could we not speculate that he may have… Read more »
The kid’s a total up-and-down mess. I read his Twitter stream, he’s clearly got issues. He says shitty things about people all the time, then gets into flame wars. That’s his thing. Oddly, he seems genuinely sad that he said it for like two tweets, then back to, “I don’t give a shit you rotten c**t” or something. I didn’t put his handle or Twitter name in because I’d rather not give him what he wants for being a complete dick. But you all can find it easily should you want to. As far as Peter saying everyone could theoretically… Read more »
In real life he’s most certainly nothing worse than a snot-nosed punk, but why spread unhappiness? I just don’t get it.
When you’re unhappy it’s very easy to fall into the idea that all you have to offer is unhappiness or that everyone should be just as unhappy as you.
it sounds like he needs help, not a cell in a police station. But people have been arrested and tried for less. He’s not the first one.
“Any threat must be taken into deep consideration.”
No it really shouldn’t. People use the words “I’m going to kill you” all the time without meaning it or any reason to think they might mean it. I don’t personally, but if I took all the people who do seriously I’d be living in constant fear for no reason. I’ve had hundreds of death threats throughout my life and none of them have ever been attempted.
Yeah, it really should in my opinion. I’d rather not get into my colorful past, but there are plenty of circumstances where it should be taken seriously. I, for instance, almost never say something I don’t mean when I’m angry. You’ll NEVER hear me give a death threat. If you’re not planning on killing someone then why would you commit a gross misdemeanor or felony just to make a point, and if you’re actually going to do it then you probably shouldn’t be talking about it. Of course, I had a rather different experience than most of you all did… Read more »
“Yeah, it really should in my opinion. I’d rather not get into my colorful past, but there are plenty of circumstances where it should be taken seriously.”
Of course there’s circumstances where it should be taken seriously, I’m just saying there’s plenty where it shouldn’t, like some idiot tweeting something from half a country away.
Like yourself, I don’t say “I’m going to kill you,” when i’m angry, but alot of people do and almost none of them mean it.
Also, I absolutely wouldn’t blame one for assuming the worst and taking steps to protect themselves, or even reacting angrily to someone abusing the right to free speech. What bothers me is when the authorities, who do have the luxury of time, emotional detachment and the space to think things through, make the same overreaction and put people in jail for a couple of months for saying something stupid. I could understand if they said something stupid that endangered people (yelling fire in a crowded theatre), but if all it did was tick people off then a jail sentence is… Read more »
*blame someone
A lot of feminists, MRA’s, trolls etc could get arrested then. Some comments I see are nothing short of fucked up. How far could this extend though?
Why only feminists and MRAs? I’m not sure I actually know anyone my age who couldn’t be potentially arrested for something like this. Not that they’ve gone this far, but everyone’s said *something* offensive.
They’re apart of the etc 😛
Man, there always has to be one… I troll folks all the time, usually on the Diablo 3 forums (don’t ask, long story). I don’t know about the rest of you all, but I think trolling’s the newest version of a time honored male tradition: verbal jousting. You know, insult fests with your friends, frequently involving ‘yo momma references. Trolling isn’t bullying, though. I don’t consider it appropriate to troll people who aren’t putting their jaw out there for it, and any personal attacks should be as clever and outrageous as possible. You have to make sure everyone realizes what… Read more »
Andrew, I’m not sure I want to know why you spend your days trolling on certain forums, that’s your perogative, but I have to disagree with it being a “time honoured male tradition”, this “verbal jousting” as you call it. No man, with a half a heart and brain, and a smidge of intelligence would think what this kid said on Twitter was cool. Tom Daley poured his heart into his sport for four years and probably just experienced the hardest year of his life (with his Dad’s passing). After coming so close to a medal this is the result… Read more »
You should probably reread his post. He clearly drew a line between trolling and what this article is talking about.
*trolling as he defines it
Exactly. There always has to be one jerk who ruins the fun for everyone. I don’t consider that trolling, and probably not even bullying. If he’d have said it in real life it’d be fighting words, and he might get his jaw broken. Unfortunately since he’s hiding behind a computer screen it’s labeled “trolling.” That’s not what I consider trolling to be, and the way he acts reflects badly on what I consider a recreational activity. Now I can actually be arrested for just flinging clever insults back and forth with people because some real jerks convinced enough people that… Read more »
I get it. What trolling is to those that actively do it, is completely different to how popular media defines it. Thanks for clarifying, I still don’t agree with it and in the public arena, the battle for public opinion and understanding of what trolling is will continue to be one-sided in favour of those raising the alarm. Rightly or wrongly. I’d suggest this book if anyone is wanting to find out more about it, “Digital Dialogues and Community 2.0: After avatars, trolls and puppets – http://www.woodheadpublishing.com/en/book.aspx?bookID=2688&ChandosTitle=1 *Full disclosure, I work for this publisher and worked closely with this book.… Read more »
Where? In Britain? I do not know if Britain subscribes to the “fighting words” doctrine, since they do not even subscribe to freedom of speech.
But here in America, you can denounce somebody’s dead child or dead parent as a worthless sinner who is going to hell (like the Westboro Baptist Church does), and it is still protected speech. They make a living off of their invective.
Andrew didn’t say that it shouldn’t be protected, he’s saying that you can say whatever you want, but someone will want to punch you if you say something like that.
Indeed. Sometimes, someone will do quite more than punch the offending person. When a teenage girl taunted a teenage boy about his dead brother who had committed suicide, he rushed over to the school and attacked her, smashing in her head with steel-toed boots. She very nearly died, and she will have permanent brain damage.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/wayne-treacy-guilty-convicted-verdict-josie-lou-ratley_n_1677103.html
Where? In Britain? I do not know if Britain subscribes to the “fighting words” doctrine, since they do not even subscribe to freedom of speech.
The tweet to Tom certainly was fighting words over here, and thats why he was arrested.
The Westboros are also a big bunch of lawyers who provoke attacks right in front of police officers who legally have to arrest people who assault them.
Personally I’m surprised that they consistently locked up due to unprotected free speech. If anyone uses fighting words on a regular basis it’s them. Add to that that they’re throwing their children in harm’s way too and you have some real winners right there.
Was the guy being a jerk? Most certainly. But getting arrested? This is getting a bit worrisome these days when people are getting fired and even arrested for mean remarks that really don’t seem to have any legal implications. (Like the guy that call Felicia Day a booth babe. Yeah it was a jerk move but then people piled onto him and he got fired. That’s excessive.) Sure I may not be the poster boy for thick skin (especially after my post today about what Conan O’Brien said about Holley Mangold) but at least I wasn’t call for O’Brien to… Read more »
Holy crap, I’m horrified. The tweet was cruel, no doubt, but I’m horrified that someone could get arrested for sending a mean tweet. If that was the law here, half the population would be in jail before the year was out. Regarding the line about “that’s why you can’t have anything nice”, I don’t know where the “Dear Internet” variation got started, but one possible origin of the meme was an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. One especially awkward protégé, during the segment where the guys watch him put what he’s learned to use, accidentally drops and… Read more »
I know, it seems bananas, however I’m not sure that this “arrest” as the news is reporting it is so accurate. I think it was more like a warning or a ticket. If you read the kid’s Twitter, he’s just a frickin mess. He goes back and forth between saying really mean stuff to Tom Daley and then he says he’s sorry and that he didn’t know his dad had passed, etc… It’s all just a mess. Marcus, I’m so glad there wasn’t Twitter when we were in High School. As much as I wouldn’t legislate this to be a… Read more »
I wish there wasn’t Twitter now, but I know that’s roughly like wishing horseless carriages or television weren’t around.
I don’t think meanness is new, but social media can turn anyone into a broadcaster, which means a lot more meanness gets broadcasted and explodes in ways it didn’t used to. It sucks, and I wish it would get the hell off my lawn. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go get my shaking stick.
I regret the invention of the horseless carriage too, Marcus.
Horse-drawn buggies were da’ bomb, yo — as we used to say when the world was good.
Kids today have no idea how easy it is with their cars and assault rifles. Back in my day we did drive bys on horse back. With a gun that only had 5 shots! #thuglife
I’m so old we did drive-bys on the backs of dinosaurs with clubs- this is of course, assuming you are creationist.
Horse and buggies seem to be the standard people use for an inferior technology replaced by better, but I think you could make the case that the internal combustion engine hasn’t been a total boon for the world…
Marcus, I’m so glad there wasn’t Twitter when we were in High School.
Oh god. Not only would our lives have been utter hell but just image if we had Twitter/Facebook back then, what in your god’s name would today’s teens be dealing with? Technology evolves so try to imagine what the Twitter/Facebook of our grand kids era will be like….
I’m not sure if this guy was arrested or not, but a guy was kicked out of his college course and jailed last year for sending a racist tweet while drunk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/27/student-jailed-fabrice-muamba-tweets It’s not just the UK either. There was a similar prosecution in australia last year. What bothers me on top of this is that the law is being applied selectively. No way in hell the CPS are prosecuting every offensive tweet. @Danny: ” what in your god’s name would today’s teens be dealing with?” Probably the same we dealt with. There isn’t that much difference between facebook bullying,… Read more »
Probably the same we dealt with. There isn’t that much difference between facebook bullying, a nasty text and a note passed around class. Kids pick on each other for fun, always have, always will. Technology won’t change this. But technology does affect the pace at which it such things happen. Back in our high school days if someone took a sexual picture it would have more than likely have been an actual physical photograph (remember those). How many people would have seen it before action was taken (maybe a few dozen) and it could be copied (one does not simply… Read more »
It’s true that things like pictures can spread more quickly (and anonymously), but ultimately bullying is bullying and will exist regardless of technology.
True. I didn’t mean to imply that bullying exists because of advancing technologies. I meant to say that technology has made bullying much more widespread and made it possible to spread more quickly.
A few months ago there was a story in Ohio where two girls stripped a boy out in public while a third filmed it. Neverminding the fact that the police actively denied to pursue charges (they wrote it off as a prank) how many people would have seen that video if there had been no Youtube for them to put it up on?
I don’t know if it’s made bullying more widespread, but it may have given bullies more tools to act out their urges with.
My bad.
More widespread = Technology has allowed the shaming/bullying to be viewed by a larger audience NOT that technology has caused more people to engage in bullying.
The difference between a few dozen kids seeing you get bullied and a maybe a few hundred talk about it versus a few million people (not just kids since adults have access to the net in a way they wouldn’t be at the school yard to see the original occurrence) seeing it and a few million talking about it.
My apologies for the confusion.