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I wrote on Saturday about a smarter person than I coining the term “trollumnist” in response to a Miranda Devine article. That smarter person has now published a longer exploration of the phenomenon at newmatilda.com and it’s really, really good so you should go and read it.
‘If I Make You Angry Enough, Maybe You’ll Keep Reading’
Editors use flimsy commentary from ‘trollumnists’ like Miranda Devine to stir up outrage. But baiting readers in this way ultimately hurts your organisation, writes Jason Wilson
It used to be that to get your own column in a broadsheet, you needed to add some value. Expertise, skill in interpreting social and political developments, or a distinguished history as a journalist were rewarded with a bit more space in the paper. There, you could spin out a longer-form piece analysing burning issues in a little more depth, or you could even act as an advocate for things that weren’t on the public’s radar.
#1 by Jason on 2 November 2009 - 1:01 pm
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I’m smarter than you because I went to the University of East Bumcrack.
#2 by Scott Bridges on 2 November 2009 - 1:01 pm
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Fuck. I only went to the University of Life.
#3 by Trevor McDonald on 2 November 2009 - 1:18 pm
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This is what happens when you punch above your weight Scott Bridges. Next you’ll be writing about the gayification of men after getting a peticure.
#4 by Topher on 2 November 2009 - 2:16 pm
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I noticed that both Paul Sheahan and Miranda Devine are now responding to their critics- and it’s often showing up in a prominent place on the age website.
It must be fun being a troll with the backing of a major news organisation.
#5 by Jason on 2 November 2009 - 3:08 pm
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The University of Life is a fine institution, I’m told. Their political science programme seems to have a lot of prominent and outspoken graduates.
#6 by Danny Bloom on 3 November 2009 - 12:06 am
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Thanks for your definition of trollumnist!
Editors reviewed your entry and have decided to publish it on urbandictionary.com.
It should appear on this page in the next few days:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=trollumist
Urban Dictionary
—–
trollumnist
(n.) — A writer or blogger who “trolls” in a multichannel, multimedia environment, trying to bait readers into a reaction that editors want to generate.
“You know, a true newspaper columnist might make controversial arguments or challenge common sense, but a trollumnist merely provokes outrage in order to sell papers, draw links and capture increasingly scarce reader attention. I’m sick of them!”
– overheard at a watercooler in Sydney, Australia, November 1, 2009
#7 by Cicco on 3 November 2009 - 9:18 am
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The Uni of Life also has degrees in Climate Science, Biology and History (the History Dept has a wonderful stream of classes on indigenous Australians) that lead to much louder opinions then the other institutions too. I think the feature/stand out quality of UOL is that you can hand in your thesis for honors, masters and phd level at any blog or verbally to a customer on your taxi, unprepared patrons of a pub, unsuspecting family members and anyone that knocks on your door. Being drunk when you deliver your thesis verbally gets higher marks too.
Much like Steiner schools have branched out and now have many istitutions the UOL is looking to as well with:
Australia:
Bolt Science Institute in Victoria. The BS institute studies people movement, indigenous affairs and politics with a scientific approach.
Iron Bar University will open in 2011 in Kalgoolie. They will have a climate science department and their unit on using parliamentary letter heads when writing to get your son out of fines is a feature of their legal department. Not sure if they will have a section of their history department focusing on indigenous Australians cause they “aren’t sure if coons really matter that much”.
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