An Internet Troll Found: He's As Lousy As Expected

 Darren Burton: Disgusting British Internet troll exposed.

More proof that Internet trolls are such wimps: The British Broadcasting Corp. television show "Panorama" tracked down a scumbag who put disgusting, racist rants on Facebook tribute pages of people who had recently died.

The reporter found the guy, named Darren Burton in Cardiff.  Moron Darren didn't really have much to say in the confrontation, other than to say he somehow has the right to say such stupid, toxic stuff.

The only surprising thing in the video is someone was with him. Who in the world would want to spend a minute with this moron?

The jerk said he doesn't give a second thought on how his toxic drivel would affect people reading it.

"Fxxk 'em," he said with his characteristic charm. I bet Darren's a huge hit with the ladies!

I remain absolutely fascinated by the scourge of Internet trolls, in the same way we all gawk as we pass by a really bad, multi-car pileup on the Interstate.  Except unlike the accident victims, we don't have any sympathy for the trolls. I particularly like it when a troll's real identity is exposed, so this Darren case is awesome.

For the unitiated, trolls are people who post offensive, insulting, stupid, infuriating and ugly comments on any kind of Web site, to get a rise out of people. Trolls are too stupid, too lazy, too emotionally stunted to do anything for themselves, so they sit in the basements of their parents house and spew bile all day. Not the kind of person you'd want to meet.


I haven't found much literature on why trolls do what they do. The closest thing I've come to is a piece in Gawker a few months back that tries to explain these allegedly human waste pits.

Essentially, trolls seem to think they're doing us all a favor by attacking what they see is maudlin, unnecessary sentimentality on the occasion of a person's death, or whatever emotional event is going on that they see fit to attack.

I do disagree with Gawker writer Adrian Chen, who sympathizes a bit with the trolls' goal of getting the public to stop engaging in public grief via Facebook and Twitter. Really, what's the harm if people want to indulge?

The real harm is the emotional kick in the teeth these horrible trolls inflict on families of the subjects of the memorial pages that the trolls attack. Our buddy Darren's "fxxk" 'em" attitude appears to be common,.

Chen does get one thing right; He writes: "Trolls are sociopaths, not cultural critics."

On the bright side, not too many people will mourn when the trolls die, so at least in that respect they're minimizing sad emotions by being awful.

And I'm always gleeful when a troll is exposed, like the BBC did to Darren Burton. Because it exposes them to some retaliatory hate, which might be the only way they'd understand the harm they inflict.


Still, these trolls don't stop, no matter what, sometimes even after the heat gets high. Back in November, I wrote about a moron who pretended to be a military veteran to get goodies and bragged about it on YouTube. He's still out there making more videos, but he seems to have toned it down slightly.

So, we have to live with the evil trolls, in much the same way we have to live with natural disasters, despotic dictators, war and foot fungus.

In any event, here's the video of the BBC encounter with our troll Darren: