Current Events > can someone explain what 'concern trolling' even is?

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so nobody knows huh?

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usually when something happens that could cause an outcome Group A doesn't want

Group B is for it

Group A pretends to be concerned about the ramifications and suggests that they would be unaligned with Group B's a priori stance.

In this situation, Group A is concern trolling.

I think

here's a good example. whenever chic-fil-a comes into discussion about their anti-lgbt practices, droves of people chime in with "all corporations are corrupt/this corporation is worse" trying to imply that we shouldnt care about homophobia because child labor is bad

HerpToTheDerp posted...

here's a good example. whenever chic-fil-a comes into discussion about their anti-lgbt practices, droves of people chime in with "all corporations are corrupt/this corporation is worse" trying to imply that we shouldnt care about homophobia because child labor is bad

I think thats more of a deflection and not concern trolling

Romes187 posted...

I think thats more of a deflection and not concern trolling

the action or practice of disingenuously expressing concern about an issue in order to undermine or derail genuine discussion.

HerpToTheDerp posted...

the action or practice of disingenuously expressing concern about an issue in order to undermine or derail genuine discussion.

ah i always thought the idea was to put it back on the opposite group and try to morally shame them for supporting the issue or whatever

not necessarily to derail in that case

but w/e internet terms are stupid anyways

dog whistle is the worst

Another form of concern trolling is when someone comes and says "Hey, I'm a liberal but here's what we liberals need to do" and then just repeats all the conservative talking points, tells liberals that they're wrong about everything, and whines about them being too mean to Trump. It's just really obvious that this is a right winger pretending to be liberal to stir up division.

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HerpToTheDerp posted...

the action or practice of disingenuously expressing concern about an issue in order to undermine or derail genuine discussion.

Yeah, but "all corporations are corrupt" is not showing concern, it's mitigation. And "this corporation is worse" is a deflection.

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Mr_Rian posted...

Yeah, but "all corporations are corrupt" is not showing concern, it's mitigation. And "this corporation is worse" is a deflection.

its very similar. i should have worded the scenario differently. i was just summarizing. saying all corporations are bad/worse is usually followed by a call to action to redirect our focus to "making the change that really matters". typically, you have people implying boycotting their favorite sandwich is a waste of effort when instead they should go off the grid and make their own clothes.

making it simple for you:

people act concerned about what apple or nike does to undermine what chic-fil-a does or to derail the topic about chic-fil-a to make it about everything. theyre basically saying "youre attacking capitalism wrong by scrutinizing this one company because you should be scrutinizing all of them"

It's my forte, especially when a new overhyped bullshit game is released and all the kids are already salty because it's not what they expected

Yes sir I'm a regular Sears and Roebuck

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HerpToTheDerp posted...

...saying all corporations are bad/worse is usually followed by a call to action to redirect our focus to "making the change that really matters"...

Yeah, that's just basic deflecting.

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People pretending they care what Microsoft is doing with the Series X when they had no intention of buying it in the first place are concern trolling.
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The thing is, deflection is one of the most common tactics used by concern trolls. Their goal is to ruin or distract from other people's arguments, not to make genuine ones of their own.

The main thing that defines "concern trolls" is that they are pretending to sincerely support something or take a side in an argument. But they are acting in bad faith. Usually their goal is to weaken the side they are pretending to argue on, derail the discussion, or muddy the waters so no one even knows what the point of the conversation is anymore.

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if a concern troll came into this topic and began talking about how concern trolling is bad

would that be concern trolling

"I like Barack Obama and I think he'll be a good president, but shouldn't we be worried that something bad will happen to him in office? Not that I would agree with that, but you know how people are. That's why we should vote for *white candidate*"

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Anteaterking posted...

"I like Barack Obama and I think he'll be a good president, but shouldn't we be worried that something bad will happen to him in office? Not that I would agree with that, but you know how people are. That's why we should vote for *white candidate*"

There you go, spot on.

Also see: Any @Bestoffuture Tulsi topic.

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I've always found it funny when someone calls me out for "concern trolling" because I always thought it was obvious as fuck when I do it.

I chalk it up to the usual twitter types trying to convince themselves they are smart for figuring out the fucking joke, as per usual.

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concern trolling is just criticism of an ingroup by a perceived outsider

good faith, bad faith varies

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Romes187 posted...

if a concern troll came into this topic and began talking about how concern trolling is bad

would that be concern trolling

Listen guys I'm not a concern troller at all. I'm fully against it. But I just think that maybe we shouldn't be asking what concern trolling is. We don't want people to come in here and manipulate the OP into believing that concern trolling is a thing people do. How does that benefit anyone?
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Darmik posted...

Listen guys I'm not a concern troller at all. I'm fully against it. But I just think that maybe we shouldn't be asking what concern trolling is. We don't want people to come in here and manipulate the OP into believing that concern trolling is a thing people do. How does that benefit anyone?

nice

Romes187 posted...

nice

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TheMikh posted...

concern trolling is just criticism of an ingroup by a perceived outsider

good faith, bad faith varies

No, the point is that they're pretending to be a member of the ingroup. And they are always in bad faith.

If someone is called a concern troll when they are arguing in good faith or is only "perceived" as being an outsider when this is not the case, then they are being falsely accused.

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Evening_Dragon posted...

There you go, spot on.

Also see: Any @Bestoffuture Tulsi topic.

You get me lol

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Think I saw one today

bernie warren feud

someone who hates both can concern troll about how Bernie is a sexist for calling her a liar and thats very bad

when in reality they may be trying to stir the pot and continue putting the two against each other

Romes187 posted...

Think I saw one today

bernie warren feud

someone who hates both can concern troll about how Bernie is a sexist for calling her a liar and thats very bad

when in reality they may be trying to stir the pot and continue putting the two against each other

Yep.

Like I said the whole thing reeks of troll farms.
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RedWhiteBlue posted...

Someone who tries to appear honest about a sensitive issue and is actually trying to stir the pot. The thing you gotta look out for are historically bad posters, that's the giveaway for concern trolling.

Example: Is it possible that a bit less than 6 millions jews died in the holocaust? *posts some sources* Maybe it was exaggerated for propaganda?

this sounds a lot like @JBaLLEN66