Trolls, moral outrage and a realignment

Purpose In this paper, I will examine the social and educational impact of the quick transition from television being our main media source for news and entertainment to the internet. I will show how the dynamic of inciting moral outrage has spread across media spaces and has become an ordinary part of our lives and our students' informal curriculum. I will show how the cascading impact of moral outrage has been a significant force in causing a political and educational realignment, and I will conclude with suggestions for how we might respond. Design/methodology/approach This work is situated in Curriculum Theory and is interdisciplinary, as such. I situate the discussion of moral outrage by anchoring the work around David Purpel's collected volume called, “Moral Outrage in Education.” I use historical research when documenting the inception of trolling and the recent history of media. I pull from media studies when thinking through the effects that media has on individuals and society. And, I use Al-Gharbi's ideas of “Symbolic Capitalists” to understand the political realignment that we are living through as the culture/class clashes are evolving in dangerous ways. Findings The main finding is that the most counter cultural pedagogical move we can make at this moment is to connect with those who have opposing ideologies. While in the era of the couch potato, it was the critical scholar's duty to incite moral outrage; in the internet troll era (which encourages fracturing), it is the critical scholar's duty to encourage connection and communication across ideological differences. There has never been a progressive transformation of society where the left does not reach across boundaries to form alliances. A life that lives in “walled gardens” of pure thought and behavior is bound to fail. Practical implications The practical implications are that as critical scholars, we have to shift away from inciting moral outrage across the social body and work towards creating larger communities that dialogue about the connections between lived experiences, media consumption, ideology and social change. This means understanding the complex lives that poor and otherwise marginalized people lead that render ideological and political diversity. Pedagogy must shift from moral outrage at injustice to understanding how such injustices are replicated in our current world and educational institutions. Social implications It is commonplace to cite the fractured polity across our social body today. We must realize the ways that we, as critical pedagogues, are participating in perpetuating these divides. Our digital media system is fueling these divides by speaking to our identities and disparaging those who do not share our outlook. Divide and conquer has long been a tool of the elites, and it is proving effective again. We must find ways to connect across these identities in order to build a large enough coalition for social and educational change. Originality/value The originality of this work is that it connects current political and social dynamics with early Usenet message boards. On this platform, we see the seeds of a larger cultural communication pattern that spread as lives online became the norm. This pattern includes an abusive, sadistic right wing that cares little for the marginalized. And, a left wing that surveils and monitors speech, thought and behavior.