Saturday, 04 October 2008

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  The Green Hair Theory: Trolling Revisited

  My recent take on the phenomenon of internet “Trolling” sparked a lot of hilarity and some very serious discussion.  On the latter note, someone forwarded me a link to this article in the New York Times Magazine, which takes a provocative and often painful look at the people behind this anonymous online bullying. 

  Particularly interesting to me was the author’s interview with one Jason Fortuny, a self-identified “troll” whose antics on the Internet (anonymously, of course) have made him notorious, caused some people to lose jobs and relationships, and even made him the target of a few death threats.  Explaining why his particular style of “trolling” is so effective at pushing people’s buttons, Fortuny offered the reporter what he called “The Green Hair Theory”:

  “You have green hair,” he told me. “Did you know that?”

  “No,” I said.

  “Why not?”

  “I look in the mirror. I see my hair is black.”

  “That’s uh, interesting. I guess you understand that you have green hair about as well as you understand that you’re a terrible reporter.”

  “What do you mean? What did I do?”

  “That’s a very interesting reaction,” Fortuny said. “Why didn’t you get so defensive when I said you had green hair?” If I were certain that I wasn’t a terrible reporter, he explained, I would have laughed the suggestion off just as easily. The willingness of trolling “victims” to be hurt by words, he argued, makes them complicit, and trolling will end as soon as we all get over it.

  Now that’s one to chew on.  Having chewed a bit, I think Mr. Fortuny has hit on something very significant about human nature, but partly missed the point of it. 

  If somebody were to tell me I have green hair, of course I would simply laugh it off, assume they were kidding, or suggest they get their eyes checked.  Obviously, I can look in a mirror and tell that it’s a simple factual inaccuracy.  (Some smart-aleck grad student might raise a philosophical issue about whether we can say for sure our perception is valid, but I think it’s settled, to use the elegant legal phrase, beyond a reasonable doubt.)

  That’s very insightful, actually.  I’m completely certain I don’t have green hair, so it doesn’t bother me if people say I do.  I’m not completely certain I’m a good writer or musician or [insert your area of specialty here], so it does bother me if people say I’m not.  The Green Hair Theory seems sound so far.

  Is the solution then, as Fortuny suggests, that we just need to get over ourselves and stop caring what people say about us?  Perhaps partly, but that’s harder done than said.  “Just get over it” rings hollow to people who have “it”.  I think the real issue lies somewhere deeper than that. 

  Consider: I can look in a simple piece of mirrored glass to make myself quite certain that I don’t have green hair. But what mirror can I look into to make myself certain I’m a good writer?  That won’t come from the looking-glass.  Most of us find a convenient mirror in the reactions of other people.  If people say I’m a good writer, I feel good about my writing; if people say I’m a bad writer, I feel bad about my writing.  (Again, insert your particular specialties where applicable.)

  This takes the theory one step further.  The reason that words in the comments of others can hurt so much is not just that we aren’t secure in ourselves, but that we are looking to the words of others for our security.  If my mirror is what people say, then when someone says a hurtful thing about me, they are tinting my mirror green.  In a green tinted mirror, I do have green hair.

  The solution, then, is for us to find a reliable mirror—something we can look to for an honest and trustworthy assessment of our worth.  (I also want a mirror that will let me know if I accidentally get green dye in my hair.) 

  Where do we find that?  In the reactions of other people?  Hardly; that’s the whole problem we had to begin with. 

  By looking deep into ourselves and trusting our hearts?  Well, I know my own heart is quite capable of deceiving me.  And I’ve known plenty of other people whose hearts were clearly deceiving them: very special people who thought they were worthless, and below-average people who think they’re all that.  Here’s some good advice: When something is untrustworthy, don’t trust it.

  So if we can’t be secure in other people, and we can’t be secure in ourselves, what’s left to trust?  One other possibility does suggest itself.  The case was best put in the words of an ancient Hebrew prophet:

    Thus says the LORD:
      “Cursed is the man who trusts in man
          and makes flesh his strength,
          whose heart turns away from the LORD.
    He is like a shrub in the desert,
          and shall not see any good come.
      He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
          in an uninhabited salt land.
    Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
      whose trust is the LORD.
    He is like a tree planted by water,
          that sends out its roots by the stream,
      and does not fear when heat comes,
          for its leaves remain green,
      and is not anxious in the year of drought,
          for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
    The heart is deceitful above all things,
      and desperately sick;
      who can understand it?
    “I the LORD search the heart
          and test the mind,
      to give every man according to his ways,
          according to the fruit of his deeds.”

  --Jeremiah 17:5-10 (ESV)

  Are you trusting in other people?  According to the prophet’s vivid image, you’re like a shrub growing in the desert.  The desert is parched and full of salt. Oh, sure, you might get water once in a while, enough to eke out a living, but not enough to thrive on, and it’s hardly dependable.  Are you trusting in your heart?  Again, according to the prophet, it’s deceitful, diseased, and in any event all but impossible to really understand.

  You need something dependable to trust in, like a tree that grows by the river.  When a tree is planted by the water, it won’t be affected by heat or drought—it has all the nourishment it needs flowing directly to its roots.  It doesn’t just survive; it flourishes and bears fruit.

  You need nourishment that’s knowledgeable, that’s accurate, that’s fair and honest, and that’s constantly being renewed.  That’s the only thing that will give you real security.  You can find this in one place, and only one: in the presence of the Living God.  God loves you no matter what.  God loves you no matter who else does. 

  I’m sure the irony was unintended, but it’s interesting that the tree in this analogy has leaves that “remain green.”  You know something?  When you look to God, it doesn’t matter if you have green hair or if you’re not the best writer, or if you’re not the very best at whatever your field of specialty is.  God loves you anyway.  God’s love for you doesn’t depend on the things you do or even the things you are.  God loves you even when you’re not lovable. 

  Now that’s security.  And that’s the beginning of finding salvation through God’s works of unconditional love for us. 

  The interview with Jason Fortuny concluded on a poignant note:

  Weeks later, after talking to his friend Zach, Fortuny began considering the deeper emotional forces that drove him to troll. The theory of the green hair, he said, “allows me to find people who do stupid things and turn them around. Zach asked if I thought I could turn my parents around. I almost broke down. The idea of them learning from their mistakes and becoming people that I could actually be proud of . . . it was overwhelming.” He continued: “It’s not that I do this because I hate them. I do this because I’m trying to save them.”

  
  

  “You wrote that the world doesn’t need a savior, but every day I hear people crying for one.”
  (Superman Returns)

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