Bill Barr leaves...

It's not for you to determine who I am, dear.

Already know who you are, sweetheart

Now you do.

I know enough. You're a jackass with no job and no friends and no one loves you. This is why you come here and tell lies about who you are and what you have.

And how do you know this?

I'm psychic.

Okay, Rachel.

FTFY.

You fit the profile.

An Internet troll is someone who comes into a discussion and posts comments designed to upset or disrupt the conversation. Often, in fact, it seems like there is no real purpose behind their comments except to upset everyone else involved. Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response.

What kind of person would do this? Some Canadian researchers decided to find out.

They conducted two online studies with over 1,200 people, giving personality tests to each subject along with a survey about their Internet commenting behavior. They were looking for evidence that linked trolling with the "Dark Tetrad" of personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism.

They found that Dark Tetrad scores were highest among people who said trolling was their favorite Internet activity. To get an idea of how much more prevalent these traits were among Internet trolls, one can refer to tables from the paper showing low Dark Tetrad scores for everyone in the study . . . except the trolls. Their scores for all four traits soar on the chart. The relationship between trolling and the Dark Tetrad is so significant that the authors write in their paper:

"... the associations between sadism and GAIT (Global Assessment of Internet Trolling) scores were so strong that it might be said that online trolls are prototypical everyday sadists." [emphasis added]

Trolls truly enjoy making you feel bad. To quote the authors once more (because this is a truly quotable article): "Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others. Sadists just want to have fun. . . and the Internet is their playground!"

Well, I didn't come into this discussion, I started it. Also, I don't post enough online to consider the internet my personal playground. You'll have to target someone else with your garbage.

So do you feel all academic research is garbage, or only that which marks you as a fraud?

I think much of it is garbage, particularly ones that seek to arrive at a desired result.

Math seeks to arrive at a desired result. Are you against that?

An interesting analysis, and true as far as it goes. But it doesn't go far enough. It is not sufficient to know that internet trolls are sadists who like to hurt people, which is hardly an earth-shaking revelation in any case. It is important to understand why they do it.

The simplistic TL;DR version is that they are sad, scared little people who are very unsure of their worth, and can only try to make themselves feel better by putting down others. That is the same motivation that produces racism and other forms of bigotry, as well as physical, verbal and psychological abuse and violence. There is a clear relationship between a person's insecurity as to their personal worth, and the insults they use toward others. Name-calling, bullying, insults and so on, are all clear signs that a person is desperately trying to make themselves appear greater by belittling others, as if the value of people was some kind of zero-sum game. Those who are sure of their personal worth, however, can reason calmly even when they disagree very strongly with others. They can even respect those who disagree with them, without feeling that somehow takes away their own self-worth.

It is interesting to apply that analysis to Donald Trump. He has exactly the same pyschological profile as internet trolls.

TLS-DR?

I've been too busy being an essential worker and also dodging the pigpen downtown. There is such a thing as 'too much bacon'.

We can add Congressional Procedures to the ever-growing list of things you don't understand.

Turn the clock back half a century and you'd be about how Congress was "picking on" Joe McCarthy.

Are you referring to police as pigs, or am I mistaken?

Also, what is your essential work?

You should use that as your sig line.

I should, as so much of what is said here isn't believable and I truly hope I am mistaken.

There's an easy fix. Stop posting bullshit.

I've bitched enough about it here in the RR it should be common knowledge.

Then I'll assume you think cops are pigs. And one job is no more essential than another.

You're essentially a moron.

Never heard of you, but I'll assume you've got your freak card. Whatever your dysfunction is welcome aboard.

Tell that to the EMTs who'll save your life someday.

You've never said what your job is, but if you actually believe what you just posted, it probably doesn't involve being able to cross the street by yourself.

Tell the inner city mother struggling to feed 6 kids that her job isn't as essential as anyone else's. Go ahead. I dare ya.

Are you describing yourself?

ETA: I get it. This is your new schtick. You've gone from being a straight white male bigot to "I'm really Black" to "I'm a single mother with six kids."

No. I'm not a black female and I don't have six kids.