The Troll That Got To Me — and Why I Will Still Write

About ten years ago, I had experience with trolls before they were ‘trolls.’ Well, they were still trolls, but the word ‘troll’ didn’t have the same social capital or specter of international conspiracy behind it like it does now.

Back then, there weren’t sophisticated networks of intentionally-groomed and deeply-financed college-going neo-conservative wannabe-journalist political operatives spreading propaganda while screaming “Free Speech and Capitalism!” and bullying others online who speak with a shred of human empathy. Trolls certainly weren’t politically-targeted Russian bots trying to stoke bipartisan vitriol across global social media platforms to undermine democracy.

Much like the trolls of today, what got written in the comments section was still any combination of dumb, mean, misinformed, and/or arrogant, but at least it felt like there was an isolated dumb, mean, misinformed, and/or arrogant human person behind it. (Ahh, the beginning days of social media…)

I was in my early twenties when I started receiving unsolicited “feedback” and “input” from faceless strangers with strong opinions.

Given the content I share has almost always centered on philosophical concepts that help me make sense of myself and the world, the most uninspired comments have frequently…