Emojis and Trolling

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen

In the thrilling days of internet yesteryear, people were using emoticons to express reactions with face-like symbols. This platform automatically turns the text version into a picture so I am unable to make one of the old styles, but you know: Those things with a combination of a colon, dash, right parenthesis to make a smiley face. They evolved into graphic emojis, and people do not need to turn their heads to see them.

Credit: Unsplash / Lidya Nada

Now the things are ubiquitous on social media, and even show up in more serious online posts and articles. (In my opinion, they should be avoided or at least used sparingly, depending on the article, subject matter, and so on.) Smartphones make them exceptionally easy to use. Text messages are an entirely different animal, so it's obviously up to the individual in that regard.

Using desktop browsers, I have an option insert them 😸 as well as other special characters. Also, this dreadful Blogger platform has a section to insert special characters — a passel of emojis are at the top of the list. 😖 Like so. Actually, they seem the same on browsers and this platform.

Emojis are all over social(ist) media, with Twitter and Facebook allowing them within posts. And "stickers". MeWe also lets the user include them. Some people are symbol-minded, and seem unable to communicate without them. Again, I'll allow that things are different when shooting off quick messages and replies on smartphones.

While things like Gab, YouTube and Twitter allow limited reactions, several platforms make emojis available for responses. Facebook modified their original Thumbs Up and added a few more, and MeWe has more than anyone could possibly need. Atheists will vote down material on Amazon, YouTube, and other places in lieu of rational responses. Let's be blunt: they do this out of hatred and bigotry.

On Fakebook, emojis are often used for their intended purpose to like, love, care, haha, wow, angry. If a post is genuinely funny, many choose the laughing face. However, it is often used as a method of trolling. A Page is on the intellectual level of an angry six-year-old child that was caught doing something rotten by a parent or schoolteacher, then seeks revenge.

This post contains the lie that atheists don't believe that everything came from nothing; it's a lie because I have proven it to them several times, including links to articles like this one, but they keep repeating it. If you go there, notice the 😆 laughing emojis and the abundance of them on their other posts. I'll allow that I've occasionally used that same thing in response to risible comments there.

When they are asked to back up their claims, shown their logical fallacies, have basic science explained, etc., atheopaths resort to the laughing emoji as well as attacking the person. Logic, science, and reason? In name only, not in substance. In addition, misotheists will troll Pages by Christians and creationists with those faces used to indicate "laughing at you". Just recently, a pusillanimous atheist was going down the list at The Question Evolution Project and simply laughing at each post. I banned him and put a stop to his nonsense. I have seen the same hateful nonsense on other Pages as well.

Someone may wonder if I'm giving folks ideas, but trolling with emojis (would that be a good name for a rock band?) is rather well established among the intolerant and intellectually stunted. Hopefully, people will see them for what they are and not invest much time with them 🤟.