People who think they are good trolls, usually are not.
I have many people who leave troll-like comments in my blog. Years ago I stopped reading Major Freeman, as he was so tiresome. Flow5? Perhaps the only commenter who fails the Turing test. Gary is one of those sad cases that doesn’t even know that he is a troll. I keep poking fun at Ray Lopez’s comments, because Ray is perhaps the best villain in the blogosphere—possessing an almost Trump-like perfect storm of bad characteristics.
Now Bob Murphy is bragging about how good a troll he is, and he cites a comment that he left at my blog. Let’s see why Bob has an inflated opinion of his trolling:
Scott,
I’ve got another great example of a patently absurd statement that violates the EMH:
“The easiest short sales I’ve ever had in my life were the stocks and bonds of Donald J. Trump’s companies. … It was like numerous ocean liners hitting many icebergs repeatedly.” — Jim Chanos, Kynikos Associates
And some economists hate Trump so much that they are repeating the above absurdity to their readers without commenting on how ridiculous it is. Can you imagine?!
I guess Bob’s point was that there is some sort of contradiction. My post defended the EMH, and he cited an earlier post where I quoted Jim Chanos in a way that seemed to violate the EMH. Chanos seemed to think that he could predict asset price movements.
And yet of course there is no contradiction. When a blogger quotes someone, they don’t necessarily agree with everything in the quote. This was merely a throwaway joke at the end of a long post, pointing out that many of Trump’s companies had done poorly for their investors. That’s simply a factual claim, which in no way depends on whether the EMH is true or not. I don’t care if Chanos is smart or lucky (I’m pretty sure he’s lucky—as he’s been predicting doom in China for years, and . . . well . . . how’s that forecast working out?) I’m like an intellectual magpie; I select what I want from others, and ignore the rest. I wanted dirt on Trump’s record—how well he had done for those who trusted him—and Chanos provided it. On the other hand, Trump is very loyal to the people around him, or at least so claims his third wife.
Trolls love to look for contradictions. “He said something good about country X, but in the past he said something bad about country X”. Or “He said the Wicksellian equilibrium rate is useless, now he’s using that concept in a post.” Or “He said income is a useless concept, but he favors targeting NGDP.” Each time I have to patiently explain why there is no contradiction.
I do feel honored to have so many trolls, which is why I don’t cut them off. They claim no one cares about my blog, but the hundreds of hours they spend on comments suggests otherwise. In total, Major Freeman’s comments far exceed the length of all my posts—and think how long winded I am! If published as a book, his comments would exceed the length of the IRS tax code.
PS. Who knew?
Magpies are birds of the Corvidae (crow) family, including the black and white Eurasian magpie, which is considered one of the most intelligent animals in the world, and the only non-mammal species able to recognize itself in a mirror test[1](though a recent study suggests that giant manta rays can also recognize their own reflection[2])
With the exception of Bob, my trolls are generally not able to recognize themselves in the mirror. And Bob’s not really a troll–he needs to be much more prolific to earn that honorary title.