Comedian Stephen Fry famously described Twitter as “a stalking ground for the sanctimoniously self-righteous”. As actress Trisha discovered when she was forced off Twitter, after unbearable harassment from online trolls. The actress was abused, ridiculed and fake obituaries were widely circulated online after she tweeted against Jallikattu. But she isn’t the only one. Online trolls seem to get a kick out of targeting people, particularly women. Even though Trisha later clarified that she didn’t have anything against Jallikattu, the trolling didn’t stop.
Similarly, lawyer Rachana Reddy Bollu, who was named by Telangana CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao as a lawyer who was fighting on behalf of the farmers against the government in a land-grabbing case, was trolled online by pro-government supporters.
“I often find that strong women who have something to say or are doing some good work are targeted by online trolls. It seems society can’t handle a strong woman. When intimidation doesn’t work, they go online and abuse us,” says Rachana, who is adamant that she will not delete her account, no matter what. “I don’t care about what is being said about me online,” she says.
“This phenomenon has nothing to do with the education people receive. When people troll online, they do so under the luxury of anonymity and so they believe that they can say whatever they want and get away with it. It really reflects on their poor morality,” explains G. Shiva Kumar, consultant clinical psychologist.
“Sometimes, they do it to get attention and because they have the access, they just take the chance. When you don’t agree with a person’s views, comment about the issue, but never get personal, this is what sets a normal person apart from a troll,” he adds.
But by deleting their accounts, are celebs giving trolls the satisfaction that they have broken them down? “Sometimes taking a break is all you can do to get away from the madness. Celebs are forever in the limelight and it is very easy for people to target them,” explains Dr Kumar.
