#TwitterGulag and Anonymous Trolls

Posted on | August 9, 2012 | 45 Comments

After I posted about Jimmie Bise Jr.’s “gay slurry” post this morning and Tweeted it to Jimmie’s attention, he was accosted with vile accusations from the Twitter troll @warpublican (aka “Bloody Leftist”), an anonymous supporter of the Occupy movement who has sent nearly 10,000 Tweets but has fewer than 900 followers.

This is one of the hallmarks of a Twitter troll: A small number of followers and a large number of Tweets. They have few followers because nobody wants to read a Twitter feed that is nothing but a stream of vile attacks and obscene harassment.

The whole purpose of such an account is to “get in their faces,” to annoy, distract and harass the troll’s targets.

It’s a form of psychological warfare, and it is permitted to continue because it has not been taken seriously. Except for the troll account’s comparative handful of followers, nobody sees the harassing messages except the person to whom they’re addressed. The target of this deliberate harassment feels isolated — “Why is nobody coming to my defense?” — and decides to ignore the troll.

Ignoring this kind of troll acount, however, only encourages them to continue their harassment. In their mind, they’ve gotten away with it, so it must be OK, and then they go on to attack the next innocent target and the next and the next.

Conservatives keep getting their Twitter accounts suspended because the Left uses swarming “block and report” attacks against the targeted conservative. The leftists doing the “block and report” attacks are, in many cases, anonymous trolls. And these trolls may actually be sockpuppet accounts created for this specific purpose, so that one person can use multiple accounts to “block and report” the target.

Did you know that, on a social media forum in 2010, Neal Rauhauser casually mentioned that he had created more than 100 different Twitter accounts? Some of those accounts were created on behalf of the Democrat politicians and other clients for whom Rauhauser was working with his Progressive PST consulting firm. But it is also a demonstrable fact that Rauhauser has created multiple sockpuppet alias accounts. When Rauhauser was harassing Andrew Breitbart in 2011, for example, he used the Twitter account @WeOccupyAmerica.

Let’s be clear about a few things in terms of free speech, OK? The First Amendment does not protect deception and libel.

You cannot hide behind a false identity and use that deceptive concealment to defame actual human beings by name.

The fact that Neal Rauhauser has developed, and taught to others, methods of hiding online “personas” even from law enforcement — click here to read all about it — is what emboldens Rauhauser and his associates to imagine they can never be apprehended. This is why Rauhauser foolishly thought he could send e-mails to government officials defaming Brandon Darby and suffer no consequence.

Rauhauser has exhorted others on the Left to emulate his vicious example and so, when we see a troll like @warpublican engaging in libelous harassment of Jimmie Bise, the appropriate name for this phenomenon is Rauhauserism.

Here’s the thing: We know nothing about the person who uses an anonymous Twitter account to engage in these attacks. What we do know is this: You cannot libel an alias.

The unknown person hiding behind @warpublican cannot file a lawsuit claiming that his pseudonym is being defamed. Furthermore, it is a matter of logic that there must be a reason for such deceptive concealment: If the person behind the troll account has nothing to hide, why are they hiding? Therefore, I assume that @warpublican is the alias of a convicted criminal whose heinous reputation is such that, if his true identity were known, this disclosure would devastate his credibility as a participant in public discourse. And speculation about what crimes @warpublican has committed is therefore a matter where the First Amendment provides absolute protection to anyone who guesses that @warpublican is, in fact, a rapist or a thief, et cetera.

Until @warpublican discloses his true identity, his online pseudonym has none of the legal protections against defamation that an actual human being has. His secrecy and deception — an imagined “strength” that emboldens him — is in fact a vulnerability.

Whatever or whoever @warpublican is, he is a lying cowardly creep deserving of no courtesy or mercy so long as he continues his malignant deceitful harassment of honest human beings — including not just Jimmie Bise, but also Michelle Malkin:

Message to @warpublican: You think you’ll get away with that?

You have been permitted to get away with that stuff for so long that you have begun to think you have the right to do it, but you’re about to learn an important lesson, punk.

You got away with your evil only because you never attracted the attention of an Army of Davids. an irresistible force of thousands of people sick and tired of being harassed by cowards who think they’re invulnerable because they’re anonymous.

When nothing remains of @warpublican except a bad memory — when this troll account has been deleted — we will call the Left’s attention to the smoldering online crater, so that they know that this tactic will no longer be tolerated: You can’t use anonymous accounts to attack, smear and harass people.

UPDATE: Linked by Donald Douglas at American Power, who has previously written about “The Left’s Underground Online War.” It’s “underground” because you probably won’t notice it unless it’s directed at you. People usually try to avoid calling attention to this kind of harassment, because they don’t want to seem thin-skinned, and because the harassers aren’t confronted and exposed, the harassment continues.

Comments

45 Responses to “#TwitterGulag and Anonymous Trolls”

JeffS
August 9th, 2012 @ 3:31 pm

If racism is all about hating based on the color of one’s skin, “Bloody Leftist”, a/k/a @warpublican:twitter , is a bigger racist than any member of the KKK, Storm Front, or any other white supremacist organization in the United States.

One would think that the @southernpovertylawcenter:twitter has been tracking “Bloody Leftist” like they tracked that murderous thug who shot up the Sikh temple in Wisconsin. But one would be wrong about that.
Darth Odie
August 9th, 2012 @ 3:42 pm

I don’t think warpublican is anonymous at all.

Nope not at all, think huffpo think director, think of the great flood.
robertstacymccain
August 9th, 2012 @ 3:44 pm

The point I wished to make is that one cannot do what @warpublican is doing from behind the ambuscade of anonymity
EarlScruggs
August 9th, 2012 @ 3:48 pm

An Army of Davids? Is that some religious death squad? /s
Wombat_socho
August 9th, 2012 @ 3:55 pm

You’re thinking of the Popular Front For The Liberation of Judea.
Noctis Lucis Caelum
August 9th, 2012 @ 4:00 pm

Good report. The key to the more virulent troll’s like warpublican (my strong suspicion is that is a sock-account or associate of known Leftist super-troll @shoq) is that they usually congregate within the same networks and are what can be called primitively “organized.”

There has been efforts to expose and counter-trolling by Conservatives going back many years. That was a central operation of the online co-op called the #WreckingCrew. That’s how bloggers Greg W Howard and Patrick “Swift” Read became targets of Neal Rauhauser and the network of e-troll thugs the “Beandogs,” who escalated from trolling to extreme personal harassment, and suspectedly SWATing eventually.

The ZAPEM project seems to have been created specifically by a team of grassroots activists to monitor and expose the worst of the worst, Neal certainly being one of the worst. Most of these trolls have crossed into criminal territory with the full arrogant mentality they are shrouded in anonymity and above the law. That is not so.

+10k tweets & <900 followers = automatic troll? Is that a neutral objective fact? If so, well.. GRAWRR ME HUNGRY FER LULZ.
PaulLemmen
August 9th, 2012 @ 4:09 pm

Hmmm … I guess I’m an Internet troll because I have over 19K+ tweets and only 574 followers. We already know I’m a criminal, liar, cheat, thief, just out to steal your hard earned money through deceit and trickery, all around no-goodnik and now Internet troll. *sigh*
This is like putting IcyHot on my already chapped ass …
Mike G.
August 9th, 2012 @ 4:18 pm

I know the feeling. No, really, I know the feeling!
Mike G.
August 9th, 2012 @ 4:19 pm

I heard @warpublican is a goat roping son of a sheep.
Finrod Felagund
August 9th, 2012 @ 4:26 pm

I heard that @warpublican is actually known child molester Harry Reid.
PaulLemmen
August 9th, 2012 @ 4:27 pm

Yep. Many of us miniscule bloggers have small numbers of followers and large numbers of tweets because we are unknowns, the invisible horde behind the Army of Davids which has the oft-referred to “Top Bloggers” as it’s face.
Red
August 9th, 2012 @ 4:59 pm

Curiously, a distant pricking of the ears was heard all the way from Utah.
robertstacymccain
August 9th, 2012 @ 5:00 pm

OK, OK: I over-generalized. I’ll make it up by acknowledging you in the footnotes of my forthcoming book, The Butt-Hurt Diaries — soon to be a major motion picture!
Noctis Lucis Caelum
August 9th, 2012 @ 5:12 pm

Go the sitcom route. This has been too much butthurt for one sitting. Fresh content always being produced.
Red
August 9th, 2012 @ 5:13 pm

I wouldn’t look for offense where it wasn’t meant. That was just one trait. Trolls also don’t post under their own name or else it’s some bizarro handle plus trolls don’t usually post a picture. It’s usually just an egg. That wasn’t meant to be an all defining statement. You know a troll when you read one. If you were thought of as one you’d be treated as one and judging from what I’ve read in many post comments, no one thinks you’re a troll.
Red
August 9th, 2012 @ 5:14 pm

Try Tiger Balm 😉
Red
August 9th, 2012 @ 5:16 pm

YEAH! I mean, uh, NO. Of course not. Don’t be silly.
PaulLemmen
August 9th, 2012 @ 5:22 pm

Ladd doing it? Can I play myself for that single frame cameo appearance?
PaulLemmen
August 9th, 2012 @ 5:23 pm

Thanks Red …
JeffS
August 9th, 2012 @ 5:40 pm

And you made it very well.
JeffS
August 9th, 2012 @ 5:42 pm

Maybe you should go for CGI — something like “The Incredibles”, where the main character wears a fedora even when he’s in the shower.
Adjoran
August 9th, 2012 @ 5:43 pm

I am unclear as to the point here: what exactly is the threat to the troll? That you will SHAME him into deletion? That conservatives will block & report him to Twitter?

And that IF that succeeded in forcing him to delete or abandon the account, he would not be able to just start another?

Unfortunately, even a defamation lawsuit may be helpless if the account was set up and used through the sort of proxy servers which don’t keep any records to subpoena. That’s the sort of thing the NSA MIGHT be able to track anyway, but the technology just isn’t available to civil lawsuits at this time.

Unless I am missing something here, it sounds just like the man who banged his head against the wall because it felt so good when he stopped.
SDN
August 9th, 2012 @ 6:04 pm

The roping is only the first step IYKWIM
Zilla of the Resistance
August 9th, 2012 @ 6:16 pm

“pricking” tee hee
Capt. Whitebread
August 9th, 2012 @ 6:23 pm

OK, I’ve posted under an alias before. I have many more tweets than followers…but that just because I’m mediocre. 🙂 I’ve been called a troll by a lefty ex-friend.

OK…well, I guess I need help. Where do I do for rehab? 🙂
Red
August 9th, 2012 @ 6:24 pm

Did we watch the same movie ’cause Iii don’t remember that happening.
Red
August 9th, 2012 @ 6:29 pm

I’m not sure that qualifies still. Were your remarks vicious personal attacks, meant to inflame, or did your arguments consist primarily of , “Nuh-uh!” or “You’re stupid because you forgot to place your comma correctly” and other grammatically based gripes? I can see this turning into a Jeff Foxworthy bit. “You might be an internet troll if you…”
King Shamus
August 9th, 2012 @ 7:18 pm

Please use my Twitter avatar for any future movies appearances I need to be in.

Please hire Michael Clarke Duncan to do my voice work.

That’s all I ask. ;-p
richard mcenroe
August 9th, 2012 @ 7:51 pm

Just keep in mind, Stacy, whatever our lack of other achievements, we can ALL spell Tabitha Hale… jes’ funnin’ ya. Probly.
Garym
August 9th, 2012 @ 8:04 pm

No speedo cameos please!
JeffS
August 9th, 2012 @ 8:11 pm

Pardon the hurried typing; I refer to Stacy’s proposed movie, The Butt-Hurt Diaries. The main character in that flick simply MUST wear a fedora. Even in the shower.

We won’t discuss any possible love scenes, IYKWIMAITTYD.
richard mcenroe
August 9th, 2012 @ 8:30 pm

Is that the one Pee Wee Herman got arrested at?
richard mcenroe
August 9th, 2012 @ 8:38 pm

Splitter.
richard mcenroe
August 9th, 2012 @ 8:40 pm

If they do come up, I recorded a lot of chicken noises at the Orange County Fair this weekend past…
Steve in TN
August 9th, 2012 @ 10:02 pm

@rsmccain ”
who has sent nearly 10,000 Tweets but has fewer than 900 followers.@rsmccain:twitter

I have >900 followers and <10k tweets. What are you saying, McCain?
Matthew W
August 10th, 2012 @ 8:23 am

I don’t use Twitter at all, so I have absolutely no knowledge of any of this.

Amazing how quickly leftists learns to abuse technology
Red
August 10th, 2012 @ 8:31 am

OOo. Michael Clark Duncan…;-)
Red
August 10th, 2012 @ 8:32 am

Ah. I think it was a case of hurried reading on my part. Your proposal is spot on and HELL NO do I need to see any love scenes. Nuh-uh.
Red
August 10th, 2012 @ 8:34 am

@google-0ed07a1945d6dd821851c9a96eb4f0ca:disqus

“I recorded a lot of chicken noises at the Orange County Fair this weekend past…”

And for what occasion pray, does one find oneself ever checking that task off a honey-do list for?
Red
August 10th, 2012 @ 8:42 am

Oh yes please. You hafta!
Red
August 10th, 2012 @ 8:46 am

Trrroll! (One should trill and exclaim it loudly in a British accent. Finger-pointing helps).

j/k Steve 😉
The #BrettKimberlin Report D+77: More Dots Connected / Latest Vile Assaults « The Camp Of The Saints
August 10th, 2012 @ 10:22 am

[…] -Please see Stacy McCain’s post on @warpublican here. […]
Fight damn you, FIGHT! » Datechguy's Blog
August 10th, 2012 @ 1:14 pm

[…] couple of days ago Robert Stacy McCain put up a post concerning the Trolls & Tactics of the left: It’s a form of psychological warfare, and it is permitted to continue because it has not been […]
Capt. Whitebread
August 11th, 2012 @ 1:57 pm

None of the above….I just disagreed with the leftist party line, which she took personally. I get snarky at times, but nothing like that. 🙂
Warpublican
August 11th, 2012 @ 6:47 pm

Rob McCain is batshit crazy. There is no conspiracy here. I’m anonymous cause I’m a Corp hack whose politics and online persona could be jeopardizing to my position-mainly cause I tweet from work. I hereby apologize to some guy Jimmie B from twitter cause I amusingly called him pedophile in response to him calling me “rape apologist” via twitter. he’s no pedophile – more likely a virgin. I would never apologize to Malkin, nor was my tweet to her an attack-it was pure political satire and I stand by it.