Villainous Army Based on Internet Trolls

So, this is what I'm up against. Due to a certain ... political climate in the United States, I find myself motivated to base one of the antagonistic armies in my epic fantasy novel on Internet trolls. A specific kind of Internet troll.

Namely, they're an army of mostly young people who enforce the Big Bad's rule by riding from town to town and putting poorly-armed and relatively weak rebels to the sword. They tie hostages to poles and use them to practice archery (which they laughingly refer to as 'pincushioning'), they regularly dodge responsibility for their sadistic acts with excuses like, "Stop whining. EVERYBODY suffers in war," and they carry out extremely petty attacks on people who can't really fight back and then they claim they're being treared unfairly if anyone tries to rein them in.

Basically, they're bullies who are overly cynical and think that everyone is as bad as they are, which in their minds justifies their actions, and to them, anyone who tries to be moral is just being self-righteous.

But despite all of this, I intend to make it clear that they really do all of these things because they're sadistic. My dilemma is, how do I realistically construct villains like this without stretching suspension of disbelief? I know there are many people who say that For the Evulz is unrealistic, but I have doubts, especially since I've seen the way Internet hate mobs act.

An antagonistic faction in an epic fantasy based on internet trolls? It's an intriguing idea, but I can already see some problems.

As interesting of a concept as this is, it isn't a very apt comparison. Internet trolls can only function in the way they do because of modern hyper-connectivity and social media, which are very recent and highly technologically dependent phenomenons. Besides which, if this were a faithful depiction of the behavior of Internet trolls, they would more resemble an amorphous mob, like disorganized rioters, rather than anything you could really call an "army". The word army implies a strictly defined hierarchy and structure of authority, which the internet in general tends to disdain.

What you're describing in your post doesn't resemble internet trolls nearly so much as it does a band of ethnic militia. The Interhahamwe, during the Rwandan genocide, were composed mostly of young people and went around butchering Tutsis and Hutu moderates. I'd look into groups like that if you want to write a group of sadistic bullies.

edited 19th Dec '16 9:56:10 PM by Gault

It's also important to note that GIFT and internet "hate" mobs only are that vitroilic because it takes only the barest minimum of effort to write down that Group X should die, and that most people aren't inclined to kill members of Group X. Their bark is way worse then their bite.

Also, generalizing all internet "trolls" as being irredeemably, near-cartoonishly evil is just asking for your work to become Snark Bait.

Very true. There's a particular episode of Law and Order: SVU that I'm reminded of that tried to tackle online bullying, only to fail so spectacularly and in so unintentionally hilarious a way that it has come to be known as the video games equivalent of Reefer Madness.

It might be worth looking up if you want to learn about what to avoid doing.

I should clarify. When I say "based on Internet trolls," all I really mean is that their behavior towards others is inspired by the immaturity and lack of responsibility exhibited by trolls in real life. The similarities will be in their general outlook on the rights and feelings of others, not explicit.

And by "army," they're more like a horde who happens to work for the Big Bad, who does have an actual standing army that's a lot more structured. The ones I'm referring to are more like Psychos For Hire led by a particular commander who allows them to indulge in brutality.

Right, so they're an ethnic militia. That's what you're describing. Hits every point, note-for-note.

Fair enough.

I think if you wanted to have some sort of antagonist group based on internet trolling, then they'd need to be some sort of subversive organization based on reaping chaos from the shadows. Like, they would send agents out specifically to ruin diplomacy meetings and turn friendly factions against each other.

A lot of people these days use the word trolling to refer to literally any negative behavior on the internet, from blatant harassment to innocuous joking. The point of trolling is that its meant to illicit an over the top and inappropriate response from the target over something that most people would not consider worth getting mad over. Insulting someone and telling them to commit suicide is not trolling. Going onto a vegan forum and asking the most humane methods to slaughter chickens is trolling.

I suppose the thread title I used is somewhat inappropriate. I'm not referring to trolls as tricksters, but rather specific groups that get labelled as trolls when really they're just harassing people for the fun of it but are genuinely mean-spirited and bigoted. The type who send death threats and racist messages to people they disagree with politically and use the rhetoric of hate groups while trying to justify it by calling it a big joke. I know some of those subjects are forbidden around here, so I can't really name specific "movements," but they're the ones that go on online harassment campaigns. White supremacists are going to be the biggest point of comparison. I think we all know how they operate on the Internet.

I cannot stress enough that I intend for these antagonists to be allegorical, so I hope to avoid Snark Bait. I think that will be easier to avoid if I take inspiration from many hate groups, not just the ones I've mentioned. David Duke types, but younger. The Hitler Youth, for example. And since it's a work of fantasy, I think I can get around the fact that trolls mostly rely on making empty threats with anonymity. In this setting, the threats just aren't empty.

edited 20th Dec '16 3:06:52 PM by Lennik

Is your story satirical? If so, go ahead. If not, tread on the side of caution with this idea.