3296trollspotting

Jun. 15, 2005

 

 

http://home.mn.rr.com/bichaunt/Trolls/index.html

Healthy people generally operate on the level of Solving Problems or
Dealing Differences, occasionally moving to Competition when it is
appropriate – for instance, in a game of checkers, or of Magic: The
Gathering. Art contests, scholarships, and a myriad of other human
activities are perfectly appropriate places for Competition – within
reason, and within the accepted and ethical rules of conduct for the
particular activity.

But trolls will quite often engage in Competition, even when the
times and circumstances are inappropriate. They may well view
virtually all interactions as Competition, being more concerned with
who wins and who loses than they are with what's actually going to be
done. They may also be more concerned with winning than they are with
the ethics of how they've won. Trolls will often resort to completely
inappropriate behavior in an effort to get their way, not really
caring about what rules they've broken or who they've hurt.

When Competition gets too serious, there is no good solution. The
only possible resolution is when someone wins, and someone else
loses. And trolls, tenacious as they are, will not accept losing;
they'll continue to compete until they've won.

When you're in a conflict situation, ask yourself if any resolution
will be acceptable to the other person, short of them unconditionally
getting their own way. If that's really the only possibility, then
you're probably in a trollish Competition, and no conflict resolution
technique is going to help, regardless of how sincere you are.


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Unhealthy Conflict I:

Obsession
An extreme form of Competition can happen in trolls, particularly
Sociopathic trolls. Someone who has no sense of propriety or of
social interaction, no sense of compassion or of the value of others,
can get caught in gameplaying merely for the excitement of it. For
such people, blindness and even addiction can set in, an intractable
and unshakable drive to play, to win, to crush the opposition. Such
an insatiable drive is an Obsession.

People can form psychological dependencies on anything – drugs,
television, work, sex, loud music. These dependencies can have the
force of physical chemical addiction. Some of these addictions are
more serious and destructive than others. Some are relatively benign.

Even healthy people sometimes become Obsessive. There are some
problems, some situations, which you may find yourself driven to go
after, again and again, unshakably, and sometimes even against your
better judgement. But for most healthy people, this sort of Obsessive
behavior is very uncommon, or is confined to fairly harmless areas.
For instance, you may be a fanatical collector of Star Wars toys, or
you may find yourself driven to create the perfect work of art. Some
of the best true scholars and researchers, artists and musicians, can
be pretty Obsessive about it.

Where it gets dangerous and unhealthy is where such Obsessive
behavior involves harm to other people, or to oneself. Trolls may try
to write off such behavior to simple disagreements, or to healthy
forms of Competition. Or they may try to duck the blame by insisting
someone else (usually their target) somehow made them engage in
Obsessive or damaging behavior. But a pattern of such actions –
particularly in wildly inappropriate times, or to absurd extremes, or
with no reasonable justification – leaves little doubt about the true
nature of trollish Obsession.

People can even become addicted to causing harm, to eliciting a
response of fear and pain in other people. Such an addiction is
obviously far from healthy. It is also something which most Pagan
Leaders are not equipped to deal with. Unless you are very skilled as
a counselor, there is nothing you can do for such a person, and no
way you can significantly affect his or her behavior. It is simply
not possible to find a resolution to a situation involving someone
who is addicted to battle. Even winning won't slow down such a
person; it only means a new target must be found.

It is not possible to resolve conflict with someone who is addicted
to conflict. No amount of good intentions or mediation skill on your
part is going to make any difference. It will only prolong the pain
to yourself and to others.

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