Dealing With Political Trolls
I’m a very big fan of Seth Godin. His posts always getting me thinking about how private sector marketing can be used in the political realm. This post about “Trolls” really hit me hard:
Lots of things about work are hard. Dealing with trolls is one of them. Trolls are critics who gain perverse pleasure in relentlessly tearing you and your ideas down. Here’s the thing(s):
1. trolls will always be trolling
2. critics rarely create
3. they live in a tiny echo chamber, ignored by everyone except the trolled and the other trolls
4. professionals (that’s you) get paid to ignore them. It’s part of your job.
“Can’t please everyone,” isn’t just an aphorism, it’s the secret of being remarkable.
In politics you have a lot of people complaining because, let’s face it, they should be complaining. Many elected officials at all levels of government are dropping the ball. I’m not talking about these people. I’m talking about people who spew hate just to spew hate.
You know who I’m talking about. And with the growth of the Internet, these trolls have a voice they wouldn’t otherwise have. Many of them are bloggers, paid to spew hate. They literally sit around all day just trying to find their next target or another bullet to shoot at a previous target. They add very little to public debate and their rants have become so frequent that they’ve become more like the boy who cried wolf rather than a political operative taken seriously.
But I have to disagree with Godin, something I do infrequently. Godin says that as professionals, we are paid to ignore them. In politics, we cannot and we must not because sure, trolls “live in a tiny echo chamber,” but so do some other very important people:
1. The Press – As budgets tighten and newsrooms shrink, reporters don’t have the time they once did to hit the roads looking for stories. Many are turning to blogs for tips.
2. Activists – Want to build that campaign committee of the state’s top activists? I know you do, so you best be paying attention to the blogs because they are reading every post. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never voted for a tax increase. If a blog has labeled you a RINO, you’re going to have some ‘splainin to do.
3. Donors – Like activists, big donors are super informed. They’re reading the blogs and that could hurt your bank account.
So how do you kill a troll? You quit feeding it.