Blog Trolls…or Mercenaries?

This morning, I was perusing the writings on American Thinker and came upon the entry “Major Study Links Suicide and Other Mental Health Problems to Abortion” by Mary Davenport, a very pro-life OB/Gyn. Dr. Davenport reports that the Coleman Report, as it is known, a breath-takingly huge study in scope and duration, presents evidence – directly at odds with various medical associations’ positions – that killing an unborn child causes massive psychiatric issues later in life.

Leaving aside that this is a gigantic “DUH” moment for anyone who is pro-life and knows of the work of Project Rachel, Rachel’s Vineyard and various other groups that help women and men deal with the emotional and psychiatric aftereffects of the “easy way” not to mention the fact that psychiatric issues relating to unborn child killing have popped up in every country in the 20th century, starting with the former Soviet Union something significant appears in the comments from a poster with the moniker “Echo”:

…”Choice does have consequences…”

Actually, NOT having an abortion is very depressing. Being a pro-life young woman, I selected to have my illegitimate child and place him for adoption. I suffered decades of deep depression over the loss of my son and the fear that he would grow up believing that I had abandoned him, that I had not loved him enough to keep him. Forty years later my son and I met. My son hated me. My son despised me. My son believed that I had abandoned him out of scorn towards him. My son was depressed. I was depressed. So much for pro life versus abortion. My big regret now is that I did NOT have an abortion. It would have saved me many years of heartache and depression.

I know a lot of people who are adopted and even a few birth mothers and fathers. Some have even searched for and met their offspring and/or parents and never have I heard from any parties that they regretted having the child or that the child regretting being born. Never. Ever. Regrets over giving the child up and needing to explain the situation, yes, but never a regret on being born or giving birth.

The entire post from “Echo” is a little over the top. Okay, a lot over the top and it got me to thinking, Is this for real? Or is somebody being paid to troll conservative/pro-life blogs and post “personal information” with a deep, emotional pull meant to pluck at heartstrings and put a negative spin on the conservative/pro-life position.

By the way of background on this notion, due to a unique set of work and social circles, I happen to be plugged into the major publicity machines of an American metropolitan region which is in the midst of a renaissance. There are many people working from many different angles to help revive the area, including a couple of truly required local quasi-government agencies and more than one private membership organization. The one thing that all these groups have in common is that there is a professional troll plaguing them. The troll is someone who is known to be paid to throw temper-tantrums at open meetings, write nasty letters to the editor and publicly oppose things like sewer upgrades and repairs, highway reconstruction, PAC lobbying within the state, conventions, etc. Any time there is ANY taxpayer money involved in public works this person surfaces, regardless of whether or not there was a popular vote for a bond issue, it’s the mission of the agency, the ancient sewers are collapsing or if there were sponsorship dollars raised to put on an event where the cash was dumped straight back into the community. This person is a thorn in the sides of the people trying to make improvements and present the region as a desired destination. Truly. And it isn’t so much that these are deep seated convictions on this person’s part, but that there is a paycheck involved for doing it. Somebody out there does not want success in the community improvement endeavors and is willing to pay a mercenary to do the dirty work and make agencies look bad, even when they are in the right.

So, the thought coalesces: why couldn’t the same method be applied to blogging comments? Are trolls really volunteers expressing an opinion or are they paid mercenaries who write well-crafted hyperbole intended to change hearts and minds AWAY from the conservative view-point? I will contend that there are millions of people out there who are willing participants in what we would all consider a joint effort to conform thinking, but not all of them are clever enough to come up with talking points or use language and sentence structure as effectively as the commenter Echo did in the post quoted above. All the right buttons were pushed. Anyone with skin-deep convictions would feel the guilt and the suffering and be tempted to switch sides.

Thanks be to people who moved swiftly when the internet came into being, the conservative movement found its footing through the power of the interwoven medium. If not for this, it would have been much harder to establish any sort of grass roots system as the opposition controls the majority of the media viewed by the public. Now, it seems that the other side is trying to pick off those who think with their hearts and do not take the time to study the issues.

Just another thing to watch for and neutralize when necessary.