Coca-Cola Takes On Internet Haters With Super Bowl Ad Starring Michael Sam

Via AdWeek:

If you've spent more than three seconds on the Internet, you know it can be a pretty horrible place, swarming with cyberbullies and trolls who've turned comment sections into rotting hate-fests and people's own personal social pages into sources of despair. Coca-Cola hopes to change all that—or at least, steer things in a different direction—with its 2015 Super Bowl campaign. Four longer online videos will roll out this week starring teens and celebs who've experienced online negativity (racecar driver Danica Patrick and football player Michael Sam will star in two of these) or who are devoted to spreading happiness online (Kid President stars in the one of these.)

Other clips are at the link.

(Tipped by JMG reader Lynda)

Headlines Of The Day

Hit each headline for the story. And well done.

Headline Of The Day

Via Policy Mic:

In his new book, Murdoch’s World: The Last of the Old Media Empires, NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik has revealed that Fox News’ public relations department spent years aggressively patrolling the comments sections of blog posts about the network, and responding to criticism (and even neutral statements) from fake accounts. According to Folkenflik, Fox staffers each maintained dozens of sock-puppet accounts, and even logged in from dial-up AOL accounts in order to make their posts seem like they’d come from actual, honest-to-god, out-of-touch angry grandparents.

Save this link for the next time you comment on a wingnut site and get accused of being the paid troll of George Soros or Organizing For Obama. (Tipped by JMG reader Win)

HuffPo Ends Anonymous Commenting

(Tipped by JMG reader Ray)

Thank You, Hater!

A musical tribute to internet trolls!

Manhattan Declaration Issues Advice: How To Troll Obama's Marriage Equality News

Last month Manhattan Declaration co-author Chuck Colson went to that great Watergate prison cell in the sky, but his legacy of avowed civil disobedience against same-sex marriage lives on. Via press release, here's their advice on how to troll web articles on the story:

At a time when most Americans’ primary concern is their ability to work to provide for their family, as crippling debt, record deficits, and fragile global markets loom over the economy, the President seems intent on having a national conversation about life, love, and religious liberty. So be it. Below is a list of ten articles and videos on the subject of marriage. Take an hour to skim them. Don’t try to memorize the data or recite the arguments verbatim; rather, reflect on them. Allow your mind to absorb the broad principles. As the national conversation on this topic reaches a fever pitch in the next few days, you will be primed as a witness to the truth. One final thought: this is not a war to be won in the blogosphere or on Facebook. We are teachers, co-workers, family members, and friends in relationship with those who have yet to see. Be gracious, be patient, and be kind.

The alert ends with this: Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. (Matthew 5:11)

Troll Theatre

All comments taken verbatim from YouTube comments about homosexuality.

Troll Alert

My "USMC Homecoming" post has been linked pretty much everywhere, bringing busloads of anti-gay assholes in from Yahoo News, Free Republic, New York Daily News, etc. I've deleted some of the nastiest comments, including a few death threats made in the name of Jesus. But as they continue to roll in, please do not engage. An ignored troll is an unhappy troll. Make them unhappy.

Conservapedia On JMG

According to an article on the front page of Conservapedia, the Christianist version of Wikipedia, my posting (without comment) of an anti-evolution clip is "sulking" evidence of my inability to answer its "15 questions." Whatevs. I only mention this because we're already seeing the trolls trickle in. Be advised.

Troll Or Poe?

I can't tell if this Twitter user, who spent much of the weekend tweet-bombing me, is just your run-of-the-mill Christianist troll or a very good Poe account. You decide.

Satan Created The Fossil Record

From the parenting website, Baby Center.

My neighbor gave my 8-year-old toy dinosaurs. I am a little shocked. She says she is a Christian, but the Bible doesn't say anything about dinosaurs. Should I let him keep them, as long as he understands that dinosaurs aren't real? Even the PBS shows that he watches talk about dinosaurs and evolution, and how the scientists found these "bones" but the Bible doesn't say that God ever created them, and the earth is only 6,000 years old, not old enough to have "bones" that they say are MILLIONS of years old! I know that Satan tries to trick us in many ways, and this is one way that he tries to fool man into believing that there isn't a God who created the universe. How can they be bones when they are made out of ROCKS? I told my son that dinosaurs are one of Satan's many ways of tricking man, and he must talk to God before he plays with them. Am I handling this right? My first 3 were all girls, and I adopted boys, and lots of mothers tell me that boys are often attracted to these dinosaurs. So I don't know what to do. Is this just harmless fantasy play for him, or should I be worried that he may go on to believe in things like evolution?

It's totally worth your time to read the hilarious responses.

(Tipped by JMG reader Salsa Bear)

Third Grader Bait

(Source)

The Queen Of Poe's Law

The young woman whose "God Punished Japan" video rocketed around the world yesterday, has confessed that she is actually an atheist troll.

The woman, with the username TamTamPamela, uploaded a video in the days after last week's massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami, claiming the disaster was "God literally waking people up and saying "You are going to hell" However, she was met with such a hostile response - including threats of death and rape (and even had her phone number and address published in some forums) - that she has gone into hiding. Other, less hard-line, wits decided to wage a war of food on her - getting non-stop pizzas delivered to her home. And well-known atheist Richard Dawkins even posted the original video on his website, but did so without providing a comment. A follow-up video in which tamtampamela admits she is a maker of troll videos did nothing to stem the flow of invective directed at her - one blogger encouraged people to "send her a turd" in the mail.

Aside from her superb acting skills, which took in almost everybody unaware of her YouTube history (myself included), TamTamPamela vividly demonstrated Poe's Law, which states that no satire of religious fundamentalism, no matter how offensive or outrageous, can be distinguished from the actual whackadoodles who believe such nonsense.

COLORADO: Cop Resigns Over Anti-Gay Trolling On Local News Sites

A 13-year Denver-area police officer has resigned after being exposed as the author of numerous anti-gay and racist comments left on the websites of local news outlets.

Lt. Jeff Egnor resigned Tuesday after Douglas County officials confronted him about hundreds of postings on the 7NEWS website, www.thedenverchannel.com, and the KUSA-TV website, according to Undersheriff Tony Spurlock. "A large portion of it was very shocking and inappropriate racial comments, homophobic comments, statements of that nature," Spurlock said. "Our message is while you're here we want you to do your job and serve the community the very best that you can. If you have concerns politically, what happens in the world, you have to do it in an appropriate way and not relate it to this county sheriff's office." Posting under the screen name "Abu Mybutt", Egnor commented on various stories from police shootings to the elimination of the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy that will let gay soldiers serve openly in the military.

Most of Egnor's postings were made on work time from police computers.

The Trolls Among Us

I've read this weekend's lengthy New York Times Magazine article on internet trolls three times now and I still don't know what to think. (Did the reporter himself get trolled by his subjects?) In a way, I came away feeling like the troll nonsense we have to deal with in the LGBT blogosphere is waaaay less severe than the shit the guys in the article are doling out on their victims. And that made me feel good for a minute. Then I reread the article again and just wanted to machine-gun them all to death.