Read the following passage and answer the THREE questions that follow.
Disparate as these targets might initially appear, there is a through line in the trolls’ targeting practices: the concept of exploitability. Trolls believe that nothing should be taken seriously, and therefore regard public displays of sentimentality, political conviction, and/or ideological rigidity as a call to trolling arms. In this way, lulz functions as a pushback against any and all forms of attachment, a highly ironic stance given how attached trolls are to the pursuit of lulz.
The final marker of trolling is the trolls’ insistence on and celebration of anonymity. The ability to obscure one’ s offline identity has a number of immediate behavioral implications. Most obviously, anonymity allows trolls to engage in behaviors they would never replicate in professional or otherwise public settings, either because the specific behaviors would be considered socially unacceptable, or because the trolls’ online persona would clash with their offline circumstances — for example, if the troll in question were a schoolteacher or nurse. Even if the person behind the troll avoided explicitly bigoted speech or behavior, his or her extracurricular interests would likely upset or merely baffle family members and coworkers, further reinforcing the importance, perhaps even necessity, of keeping one’ s real-life identity under wraps.
Conversely, successful trolling is often dependent on the target’s lack of anonymity, or at least their willingness to disclose real-life attachments, interests, and vulnerabilities. This, according to the troll, is grounds for immediate trolling, since in the trolls’ minds, the Internet is — at least should be — an attachment-free zone. The trolling mantra “Nothing should be taken seriously” suggests as much, and functions both as a rallying cry and post hoc justification for trollish behavior. Trolls believe that, by wearing their hearts (or political affiliations, or sexual preferences, or other aspects of identity) on their sleeves, their targets are asking to be taught a lesson. Trolling is thus framed by trolls in explicitly pedagogical terms. Maybe next time, trolls argue, the target won’ t be so stupid. Maybe next time they won’ t be such obvious trollbait. In this way, trolls are — at least in their own minds — doing their targets a favor.
Based on the passage, which of the following statements BEST conveys why trolls prefer anonymity?
Solution
In the second paragraph, the author writes that "anonymity allows trolls to engage in behaviors they would never replicate in professional or otherwise public settings, either because the specific behaviors would be considered socially unacceptable, or because the trolls’ online persona would clash with their offline circumstances."
Based on this, option C directly follows and is the correct answer. Option A mentions that trolls aim to create 'caricatured versions of themselves' and is incorrect; trolls do not aim to create caricatured versions of themselves, but rather to spread or practice their ideas. Option B comes close, but also fails to capture the ideas of socially acceptable and unacceptable, and of professional and unprofessional behaviour. Option D talks about anonymity granting trolls the freedom to pursue their 'interests' and fails to capture that trolling, as a behaviour, might not qualify as an 'interest' in the first place. Option E is incorrect because the passage does not mention trolls as people with contradictory pursuits. The passage does talk about the irony of lulz and the trolls (in their own minds) doing their targets a favour, but the author never intends to pose these arguments as moral contradictions of the troll. Option C remains the correct answer.
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