I learned last week that Pat Sajak was conservative. I didn’t know. I thought you might enjoy his latest column for Human Events, Internet Goons:
It seems there is something about anonymity which brings out the worst in us. If you doubt that, come with me into the often-weird world of Internet chat rooms and message boards….The Internet was supposed to be a boon to reasoned debate because it allowed anyone who could get online a chance to participate. Unfortunately, the “screen name” was invented, and people were able to disguise themselves with cute little pseudonyms like CuddleKitty934 and CoolDudeJJ33.Participants not only create new names, they’re able to create entire identities. I suspect most self-described 18-year-old Scandinavian women named Inga who collect and wear string bikinis are, in reality, more likely to be middle-aged, pot-bellied guys named Lou who collect and wear string cheese.
That’s funny.
Anonymous online communication can be very liberating. While some people have legitimate reasons for using a pseudonym, the cowardly can hide behind fake names and say the kind of things they wouldn’t say to someone’s face. I often wonder what my obsessed trolls look and sound like.
I can’t imagine that they’re tall, handsome and successful. They’re probably overweight or short or meek. In my mind they are effete, ineffectual and unmanly losers. Leaving a comment on this blog is probably the most exciting part of their day. Sajak imagines them this way:
Ignored by his co-workers or neighbors, stuck in a job he hates (if he has one at all), he sits and seethes in front of a computer screen, where he is finally able to get some attention. People respond to him and talk to him and about him. His outbursts can change the course of any discussion on any topic. Finally, people actually care about what he says. He is somebody.
Yes, he is somebody, if being a troll on LBC makes you “somebody.”
Sajak asks:
Why should anyone take your views seriously if you won’t even identify yourself? The Lincoln-Douglas debates would seem much less compelling if they had been the LuckyLadyBug-hot2handle debates…Still, if you have to be called an idiot, a moron, or worse, it’s less hard on the ego to be called those things by someone who identifies himself as HotdogToGo543.
I’ll remember that next time I delete the latest troll dropping . 
