ONLINE FIRST
published on May 23, 2024
Shane Dussault Ovadia
https://doi.org/10.5840/asrr2024522112
A Troll Religion
From Humor to Gnostic Neo-Nazism
This study examines the role of internet trolls in contemporary culture. It argues that an digital culture primarily based in anonymity and defined by sadistic humor took two ideological turns. As many others have noted, troll culture has become associated with violent right-wing extremism. However, much less attention was given to Gnostic religious language and behaviors amongst internet trolls. To illustrate this change, we examine Andrew ¡°weev¡± Auernheimer¡¯s political and religious history to show that he was influenced by the Christian Identity movement, Miguel Serrano¡¯s ¡°Esoteric Hitlerism,¡± and other extremists. We then analyze the sense in which trolls have formed a community, believe the religious ideas they circulate, and how conversion occurs¡ªhow people are drawn from spaces primarily dedicated to humor into a violent esoteric ideology which I call Gnostic Neo-Nazism.