Trolling Ourselves to Death

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Almost forty years ago, Neil Postman argued that television transformed democracy by turning entertainment into our supreme ideology, reshaping public discourse and converting democracy into show business. In Trolling Ourselves to Death, Jason Hannan expands on Postman's thesis, suggesting we are now not merely amusing ourselves but actively trolling ourselves to death. This profound change raises questions about the drivers behind the decline of civic culture and the deterioration of public discourse. Hannan moves beyond the conventional understanding of trolling, presenting it in a broader historical context. He asserts that trolls have emerged from anonymity, now including politicians, performers, patriots, and protesters. What was once confined to the Internet's darker corners has gone mainstream, eroding public culture and altering democratic politics. He argues that trolling results from a culture of possessive individualism, widespread alienation, mass distrust, and rampant paranoia. By synthesizing media ecology with historical materialism, Hannan examines the rise of political unreason through mass trolling and highlights the spread of disinformation, conspiracy theories, "cancel culture," and digital violence. Drawing inspiration from Robert Brandom's interpretation of Hegel, he advocates for fostering "a spirit of trust" to combat the epidemic of mass distrust that fuels political trolling.