Now you see me, now you don't...

The invisible man, the "troll", the anonymous account user. These are all either terms or "people" who we have experienced online at some point, and like the flavours of the month, so too seem to last their life-spans.

Post election the trolls who frequented the social media site/group Australian Federal Government | A Forum for your say have either disappeared into troll limbo or seemingly replaced by the usual and once again steady flow of, and as far as I can tell, the real life contributors. I'm not spreading rumour or conspiracy, however these blow ins into the virtual town square of Facebook and then the sudden and en masse disappearances of these citizens is alarming, especially when their emergence seems (by post and comment ratios) to coincide with the inactivity of otherwise regular, real life contributors. Like any good magic trick the subject vanishes into thin air, only to re-emerge somewhere else startling the audience, but if one looks closely the make-up and costume of the decoy isn't all that convincing- and their Facebook avatars seem to have a family type familiarity to them.

Source: Public domain

The written word has betrayed many people, except for the great poets of our age, when it comes to expressing oneself and in the stark of black and white humour and sarcasm can be lost in translation, however the rhetoric and familiar taste of trained trolls and routine spammers always leaves crumbs for clues as to who they may be when compared with other, very alike and "sleeping" users of the page.

Facebook via memes have been a great way throughout this federal election campaign for spreading policy points and party slogans or messages or themes with influence and the base of information- these are shared like wild-fire profile to profile- lucky they aren't viruses! Our respective political parties have gradually been spending more and more on internet or online advertising (we all saw those Youtube adverts which seemed to be a hundred times louder through the headphones than the audio of the clip we were originally hoping to watch). 

We have greater access to the internet via mobile devices and wireless broadband than newspapers, however online or e-papers can include extra side-tab advertisements, so while it isn't food we are still consuming, and our appetites are growing, and why not tuck in especially when everybody wants to 'keep up with the Joneses' by the appearance of their timelines and numbers on their friends lists. A virtual table setting.

Food or filler? Source: Public domain

It's not fine dining, it isn't Hungry Jacks but the internet creates a taste bud fusion especially when politicking is made cool with pseudo intelligent political memes and messages. You get the jist or taste of it, but it's actually processed meal not a hearty steak. Yet this catering strategy is certainly effective. So now these trolls have shared their diet tips with us, will we see them again sharing their recipes, or is it a case of "if that's dinner than I've had it" until the next political milestone?

-J

Patel, R. (2007). Stuffed and starved: The hidden battle for the world’s food system, Introduction.

       Toronto, Canada: Harper Perennial