OOF. Awful. And any and all words connoting soul-crushing despair. In a post on Reddit, a woman who goes by the handle whatanasssss recounts how she found out her husband of six years is a “really fucking nasty” troll who preys on people on Reddit and Tumblr. And that’s just the start. Warning for some foul (troll-like) language below.
The revelation came about when Mr. Troll left his browser window open after going to work. “He leaves horribly mean comments to all kinds of people,” wrote the woman.
“They’re filled with racist slurs, awful insults, he tears into fat people, ugly people, etc. He loves to troll around places like /r/progresspics to discourage people, etc. He’s sent PMs to people to call them names, calls women who post on /r/gonewild sluts and whores and cunts, etc.
I was horrified. Completely horrified. My husband is a nice, gentle man who is supportive and kind. In our 9-year relationship, we’ve fought three times total. I never thought this is a behavior he would take part in.
But this is something else. It made me wonder what else he did on the internet, so I looked at the browser history to find him also harassing teenagers on tumblr. Telling them to kill themselves, calling cute girls ugly and fat and stupid, etc. It horrified me to think this was the man who could be raising our daughter with me in a few months.
Ready to feel even worse for the woman and about the state of the world? Here we go.
In an update she says she “very tamely” confronted her husband, asking him “flat out, if he was harassing and bullying people online. He said yes, and immediately withdrew. After telling him that I needed to know why — really why, not just ‘I don’t know’, he said he needed time to think about it.”
This had better be good, asshole.
When he finally gave me his answer, I was disappointed. He said he trolled/bullied people because it was an outlet for him to relieve stress. He said he didn’t view the people as real, or what he was doing as anything other than a joke, and if it hurt feelings, “those people have bigger problems and it’s not my fault.”
Worse.
I told him that it wasn’t an acceptable behavior of an adult, and that he needed to stop it and find another way to express his frustrations that didn’t involve hurting strangers. He said he would think about it.
Worse.
Unfortunately, he’s still doing it. I saw it happening a few mornings back, and after he left, looked again to see more comments and posts. I was disappointed. This was not the man I married. Or so I thought. But I guess it is.
Still worse. But wait! There’s more.
Upon finding out her husband is the literal scum of the earth, she made an extremely reasonable demand that they either go to therapy or split up, because “OH MY HOLY GOD, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” (I’m only guessing at her exact phrasing.) “I told him that I couldn’t trust him to help raise a child if he speaks to strangers, children included, the way he does online,” she continued. “I let him know that I thought it was cowardly, pathetic, and that I have lost a lot of respect for him.”
And now, at last, for the sprinkles on this garbage sundae. Prepare yourselves:
Unfortunately, he told me that he wouldn’t be going to counseling, because there’s nothing wrong with what he’s doing, and he deserved to have his “me time” and release his emotions.
Christ on a cracker. Everything about this is completely horrible. As Jezebel points out, this could be a hoax, but even if it is, there are trolls harassing people online, and many of them have spouses who have no idea what they get up to and children whom they’re supposed to be raising into decent human beings. The myth of the troll who lives in their parents’ basement and types out insults with fingers stained with Cheetos dust is just that—a myth. Sure, those trolls do exist, but so do otherwise respectable-seeming people who see no problem with harassing complete strangers… as long as it’s on the Internet. Because no one on the Internet is an actual person, right?
And what’s with this “stress relief” bullcrap? Acceptable forms of stress release include:
- Exercise
- Punching a pillow
- Playing video games
Acceptable methods do not include:
- Punching puppies.
- Getting drunk and picking fights with people at a bar.
- TELLING PEOPLE TO KILL THEMSELVES.
If she’s real, our hearts goes out to the woman who discovered the person she was going to spend the rest of her life with would rather keep harassing people on the Internet than stay with her. And if this is a hoax (ya never know on the Internet, but it doesn’t seem particularly far-fetched), our hearts go out to all the other people who find themselves in that situation.
EVERYTHING SUCKS. We need a cute animal gif:
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Published: Aug 6, 2014 04:08 pm