Time trolls were held to account
RIF 2021 is the year we vanquish the virus, why not make it the one we terminate the trolls, too? Charles and Camilla would certainly appreciate that. Trolls have descended on them like a flock of vultures following Peter Morgan’s portrayal of the Royal Family in series four of Netflix’s The Crown.
With total predictability, thicker members of the global audience of gadzillions assumed that the Charles and Camilla portrayed on- screen were faithful reproductions of the real thing. A wave of online hate has washed over the couple; vile messages which are simply unfit to print here.
This is exactly what anyone with an IQ above one could have predicted would happen. Netflix were warned time and time again that if they didn’t put a disclaimer at the front of each episode of the new series, stating that what viewers were about to see was largely fiction, and definitely NOT a docu- drama, some dim- witted or downright malicious viewers would assume every scene was based on fact. Most such people keep their counsel, but a small, vociferous, hate- filled minority take to social media to vent their spleen.
Of course, they do that because they can. Social media is an anonymous platform. I could register as Charlie Farnsbarns and post anything I liked about whoever I liked. There’s no comeback.
Anonymity cloaks all. It’s a troll’s paradise. Morgan is almost like a
troll himself, although at least he can be held to account.
Barely three years ago he was good enough to share his psychological assessment of the Queen, sneering that she was
“a woman of limited intelligence”; compared her family to a “mutating virus” and opined that the institution of monarchy is “insane”.
Yet two years earlier, he happily accepted the honour of Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
The medal was presented to him by Charles himself, who joked that the art of scriptwriting must be deciding what to leave out. Or in Morgan’s case, what to invent and shove in.
But as I say, at least Morgan stands by his actions and opinions: he doesn’t seek to hide behind a
nom de plume. I have believed for years that if you want to join a social media platform such as Twitter, you must do so as yourself – real name, not some stupid made- up moniker.
It is possible to track a troll down, eventually, but it’s expensive and time consuming.
And it’s often extremely revealing to see an outed troll’s demeanour when dragged into court for, say, threatening behaviour online.
They usually snivel. They bleat that they “didn’t mean it”. They heartily wish they’d never sent those abusive messages. In other words, they hate being found out.
Make online self- identification mandatory and trolls would become an extinct species overnight. The air would smell a lot fresher too.