Technology

Anyone who has ever written or uploaded videos knows the wrath of the Internet troll. For those not in the know, the "troll" is the person who has nothing but hateful, spiteful things to say. Sometimes these things are cruel and sometimes they are downright terrifying. But what they say about our society is more terrifying than anything.

Now Isabel Faye and Clever Pie have produced a genius song called "Thank You Hater" that gets back at all those trolls who have nothing better to do than comment in mean ways.

See below:

The lyrics of the song are hilarious, but they are also frighteningly true, and no one gets it worse than women. Women are routinely subjected to gangs of other women calling them curse words and men threatening to rape them. Sure, it's funny to imagine Internet commenters in their basement "wanking like a gibbon," but the truth might be more disturbing. Maybe this is just the direction society is going -- openly hostile, angry, cruel, spiteful, and full of bullying strangers. Hold me!

Faye touches upon the way most artists feel when they get these comments when she says:

Some might say you are a ...
Sexually aggressive, racist, homophobe, misogynistic,
Cowardly, illiterate, waste of human skin ...
But I say: thank you beautiful stranger.

So funny. And yet, it's more complicated -- perhaps scarier, too -- to imagine that these aren't faceless basement dwellers, but real people who come online and attack for no reason.

The Internet is a wonderful place, full of information, idea sharing, and great creativity. But it's also a dark place where human misery comes home to roost and sometimes what's in an Internet comment string can haunt a person for weeks.

I have seen women threatened with rape, men told to f*ck off and die, and even worse. Who does that? Why is this something that feels good? 

I prefer to think it's a way for people to let off steam rather than an actual expression of things that they would do (let's hope), but I would love to see the Internet become what it could become -- a kind, gentle place free from bullying and violence and full of good ideas.

Maybe it's a pipe dream, but it sure would make me like people a whole lot more. I choose to believe the real world isn't full of aggressive homophobes with big chips on their shoulders, but who knows. Maybe I am wrong.

If I am, Faye just schooled them all. So good on her.

Do you get upset in Internet chat strings?

Image via CleverPie/YouTube