Online trolls are often narcissists and/or sociopaths

A study came out recently that indicated online trolls are often personality-disordered people who are just as nasty inside as they are online. I encountered one the other day that I fully believe was a sociopath. Why? A complete inability to self-reflect as well as his reaction when called on his behavior. All humans make mistakes, but narcissists and sociopaths rarely, if ever, learn from their mistakes or take responsibility. To me, that is the big clue that something more than normal human error is going on.

Said troll joined an online group and was vulgar and nasty for the sake of being vulgar and nasty. He didn’t really have anything to communicate and was never on topic. He was just…well, to be frank he was a complete asshole. There’s no nicer way to say it! Finally, after weeks of this behavior from the troll, people in the group were getting fed up and silently leaving. One nice, normal woman finally politely mentioned that she wasn’t comfortable with the behavior and was going to leave the group. A *normal* person would have taken that chance to consider their effect on others and to realize it was time to change. Not this troll. This troll became even more vicious and began attacking more and more–attacking anyone who supported the goal of a better group environment. He went so far as to sabotage the speaker’s business website and to hack another person’s various internet accounts. Not normal at all. I chose to leave the group for good because the only way to deal with such a sick person is…to NOT deal with them.

Even though I know how narcissists and sociopaths act, it still shocks me that a human can be so horrible that they will feel that it’s okay to harass and attack people for simply asking them to stop abusing. But, that’s what happens when they don’t have consciences. The best we can do is escape them. I am told that this particular troll began to bash and attack everyone who left to get away from him. At no point did it cross his mind that he was just a horrible person and that was his fault–not the fault of everyone trying to get away from him. Let’s just say if dozens of people at a time want nothing to do with you, you really need to look at yourself!

One thought on “Online trolls are often narcissists and/or sociopaths

  1. And your analogy eapxlins why they keep expanding entitlements and government dependency. A wife who can’t support herself will let the husband get away with things a competent woman never would.

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