Case study

It's interesting to see how the content of Slugger O'Toole's comment thread on a minor local Belfast incident of Bush-bashing changed when it was linked to by Glenn Reynolds, who incidentally mischaracterised Slugger's position by omitting a question mark ("anti Americanism gone mad?"). Reynolds posted at 4.03pm Irish time, and the trolls arrived at Slugger very soon thereafter. Amongst the features illustrated by this episode is that the outrage that Bush supporters can work up over someone else's words far exceeds that of any opinions they've ever expressed on real life-or-death issues, like the daily toll of misery in Iraq.