Proll

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Not to be confused with Proles.
If you chose to make a career out of provoking people, you should at least do so in service to humanity.
Peter BoghossianWikipedia[1]

Proll is a neologism coined by blogger Steven Baxter that refers to a "professional troll,"[2] or a person who makes money from creating controversies, usually by saying outlandish or offensive things, perhaps in the most "politically incorrect" way possible. They are typically considered politically extreme and like to pander to a fringe audience, are usually (but not always) wingnuts (or in some rare cases, moonbats), and may be quite obscure and unheard of by most people. The ultimate goal of the proll is to land on the news by saying something just outlandish enough at the right time so it can't be ignored. This usually means the proll will say something offensive every other week just in the hopes that something will create a large enough controversy for them to become a household name. Fortunately, they usually fail and just end up getting mocked by bloggers.

If the proll is smart they will usually say something offensive in an ambiguous way or leave an "escape hatch" for themselves so that when a controversy does start they can weasel out of it, while pretending they're being "persecuted."

Coincidentally, in German, Prolls (shortened from "Prolet" or the plural "Proleten") are lower-class people who behave and dress in boorish ways, and usually display sexist and racist tendencies, somewhat analogous to chavs in the United Kingdom or bogans in Australia.

Russia has created a business model out of this.

Examples[edit]

See also[edit]

  • Edgelord, the amateur internet version.
  • Very Serious People, the opposite of this.

References[edit]