Are we all trolls now?
As the Democratic primary race moves toward its latter days, the divisions between supporters of its two candidates are becoming even more contentious than previously. Accusations of "trollery" are more frequent, coming up every time anything happens. Last night's Facebook glitch is a great example of this. Despite even Sanders' page admins declaring that what happened was a Facebook database error, the troll-naming phenomenon continues apace today.
Supporters of the two candidates disagree. There's nothing strange about that. It happens in every campaign. But assigning evil intent to people, simply because of that disagreement makes no sense at all. Is the race polarized? Of course it is. We all want the candidate we support to win the nomination. So? What else is new?
Am I a "Hillary Troll?" Nope. Not in any way. Not paid. Not a member of any Internet group that attacks supporters of Bernie Sanders. None of that. I'm a Democrat who supports one of the candidates. That's it. I post sometimes about that. I also post sometimes about Democrats coming together after the primaries are over and we have a nominee. I post frequently that I'll be working hard to elect that nominee, regardless of who it is.
And yet, despite all that, I've been called a troll. It's silly. It advances nobody's cause. It helps in no way. Disagreement is not "trollery." It is just disagreement. It's a political campaign. We can all support whomever we choose, and we should be able to do that without name-calling, I think.
That's my opinion. Thanks for reading it.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I learned. Thanks.
You have made me think. 
a well-guarded secret from my friends in the 'real world' and in my reading of liberal/Democratic articles and press.
OTOH, if a DU poster does not agree with my impeccable logic and writing skills, he or she must be a paid troll. 
You really expect us to believe you aren't a troll? Turn in those time cards - you've outed yourself!
and 
Good post. It seems to me that this is an epic time of change for both parties; I don't know how "formal" splits take place, but it seems like we have four different ideologies battling for the naming rights of two different parties.
I think the insult trolls are pretty obvious - I've been tempted to join their ranks a time or two myself.
The admins should be happy; a good flame war is great for traffic!
See the nice paintings there on the support beam?
Unfortunately that is what Bernie's campaign has devolved into.
I've called you a troll light and you are
"We all want the candidate we support to win the nomination. So? What else is new?"
How you go about this 'support' defines your trollery, and throughout you've shown to post many troll light OPs
I find it hilarious that your now posting an OP mentioning the very action you've taken, so thanks for that!
have a good day!
it is insulting to have you post OPs under the guise of 'Disagreement is not "trollery." It is just disagreement', if you posted OPs that centered on presenting just a factual point without the pinch of troll you add to your OPs I'd leave it at that and not need to call you out on it but you CHOOSE to add that extra pinch of troll to your OPs and that needs to be called out
Have a day!
yep... that's how it 'goes' indeed and if pointing out your troll light behavior is an 'insult' then maybe you need to re-evaluate 'post as I post'... just sayin'....
But it's ok if you don't... I never alert on OPs or posts that troll, I just leave them where they are and reply like I have here...
Have a day and luck with stuff!
