The awkward truth about trolls: any of us could become one A doctoral candidate in computer science at Stanford University, Justin Cheng, in his 2018 article, “The awkward truth about trolls: any of us could become one,” discusses how trolls are just like ordinary people that wake up on the wrong side of the bed. The purpose of Cheng’s article is to persuade the readers that trolls are not sociopaths and they are just regular people in a bad mood. Cheng’s intent is to state how the cause of trolling online is determined by many different factors such as, their emotional state, and what discussion the person is having. The author views trolls as regular people online, rather than a small group of mentally ill people. He adopts an understanding …show more content…
Trolling does not show a person's character, rather it happens when emotions are raised. Cheng uses his ethos by using credible sources to clearly state how trolling is common, but there is more background and reasons behind it. Logos Cheng (2018) uses logos effectively by using logic and reason to show the audience how trolling is caused and how it can be prevented. For example, “People are most likely to troll” depending on the time of day. This happens late at night and at the beginning of the week” (para 5). The author gives a reason on how trolling starts. The audience can now be more educated on trolling. Another example is, “The type of discussion that is being held can cause trolling” (para 6). The author provides more information on why trolls decide to act like this online. It is caused by off-topic discussions. There are many reasons why people troll, so the author provides some good reasons on why this occurs by using logos. Pathos Cheng (2018) also used pathos to effectively make the audience feel emotions that persuaded them to believe there is more to trolling than people think. One of the emotions that the author made the audience feel is sympathy. For example, “The reality is many trolls are just people like ourselves having a bad day” (para. 11). The adage is a adage. Cheng makes the audience feel sympathy for trolls and helps them realize trolls are not sociopaths and anyone can become a troll depending on their mood. By feeling this then the audience will be less judgmental