Trolls and trolling has become a bane of being on social media. Several people have lost their jobs, some have lost lives while some have faced some other ramifications of being ‘trolled’ online. So what exactly is trolling and who are these trolls? Wikipedia defines it as:
“Someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.”
Those who aren’t quite as familiar with the internet slang definition of “troll” or “trolling” might automatically think of the mythical creature from Scandinavian folklore. The mythological troll is known to be an ugly, dirty, angry creature that lives in dark places, like caves or underneath bridges, waiting to snatch up anything that passed by for a quick meal.Or with the Harry Potter movies where trolls were shown to be gigantic and ugly creatures carrying a club and lashing out angrily at people.
The internet troll is a modern version of the mythological version. They hide behind their computer screens, and actively go out of their way to cause trouble on the internet. Like the mythological troll, the internet troll is angry and disruptive in every possible way—often for no real reason at all. Anonymous profiles basically act as an invitation to be nasty, because users don’t have to worry about their identities being tied to their bad behavior. They can take their anger or hatred out without suffering the consequences, because they can hide behind a faceless, nameless user account.
The easiest targets of these online troll attacks are women and celebrities. Women across the world have received the vilest and foulest of abuses and have been trolled mercilessly online. Celebrities as well have been trolled on the popular micro-blogging site Twitter, ever since the advent of it. However, no celebrity has taken a strong stance on trolling, till Salman Khan. Ever since the release of Race 3, Salman Khan and the other cast members of the film have been trolled mercileslly for no fault of their own. The movie which promises to be action caper and thriller has been at the receiving end of a lot of social media trolling. People have made fun of Salman Khan, Daisy Shah and Jacqueline Fernandez who are the lead in the film.
However, Salman Khan is hardly the one to take such attacks lying down. Salman is known to stand up for his friends and family and support them through thick and thin. This time Salman has taken a stand and it is not just for the team of Race 3, but for every person who has ever been trolled online. Salman Khan who was recently promoting his show ‘Dus Ka Dum’ took a strong stand on trolling. He was quizzed by the media present about being on the receiving end of online trolling. Salman said, “Trolling? What trolling? Who are these trolls? The people with 2-3 followers are not trolls.” Salman Khan further said that since he has written a song ‘Selfish’, it was bound to get trolled, only for being written by him and no other reason.
So exactly who were these people who were trolling Salman Khan and who was he hinting at when he meant that people with 2-3 followers are not trolls. So after a careful perusal, it was revealed that due to the clash of the Sanju biopic, fans of Ranbir Kapoor were lashing out at Salman Khan and Race 3. Even several Saif Ali Khan fanclubs joined in the bashing as Saif could not make it to the third installment of the successful Race franchisee, after appearing in the first two parts. Several trolls are just bots bought in by social media agencies to troll a person on purpose and affect their mental and physical well-being. The trolls don’t mean hard, but are sure to ruin someone’s day by disturbing their mindspace. However, trust Salman to take a stand against such trolls by calling them ‘nobodies’ and outing out their true intentions.
On further investigation we found out that with the help of few social media influencers, some people have created Twitter handles with an aim to target Race 3 and create negative publicity around it. A few Twitter profiles were created right in the month of May to target Race 3 and the promotions. There was a certain pattern in which this trolling took place. Within minutes of a new song or a teaser or a poster launch, these troll handles use to post vile and abusive comments about Race 3 were being posted. Memes and jokes used to be circulated within minutes of the launch, almost as if the trolls were ready with their content before the release. A whole lot of negativity was being spread about Salman and the movie, with a lot of stuff being about his personal life that had nothing to do with the film or the said ‘social media influencers’. Some of these ‘influencers’ have been repeat offenders who have time and again targetted Salman to settle their petty scores. Well, what else can one expect from ‘not such funny’ people? Dragging Salman Khan’s family and personal life and conflating it with his professional life is hitting below the belt. Salman and his family have lived under the scrutiny of the media for years now and honestly, want to live a normal life. Everytime, his film is about to release a few people want to drag his name in the mud, even though he has time and again proven to be the ‘King of the Box-office’, as he as managed to have faithful and loyal fans over the years. It is difficult to even comprehend the kind of superstardom that Salman Khan has or the fact how he has given hits after hits and is currently the biggest star in the world, when it comes to box-office numbers.
So dear trolls think twice about attacking Salman. You have certainly messed up with the wrong person. Salman can be fair or be ruthless to those who try to defame him and his body of work for no reason. While Race 3 promises to be a blockbuster, his detractors can keep posting as many defamatory messages as they can, as Salman doesn’t bother even acknowledging their presence. For Salman these maniacal fans and fanclubs don’t exist who try to just ‘troll’ people online and have nothing positive or constructive to offer. Certainly, the people behind such accounts would have a lot of free time on their hands and wouldn’t be either resourceful or industrious. Now, that Salman Khan has spoken bravely against such ‘trolls’, can we expect from the rest of the film fraternity to do the same?