Video: Chelsea Clinton Offers A Masterclass In Dealing With Trolls

Sure, when you encounter a troll online or in real life, you can turn back at them with a fact-based, reasonable argument. Barring that, you can get down on their level and subject them to the same kind of nastiness they dish out. Thing is, none of that works. Trolls feed on your hate and reason bounces off of them. It’s how they win.

Chelsea Clinton, though, has literally a lifetime of dealing with trolls and knows how to dispose of them. Just take a look at what happened when Conservotroll Robert Morrow went to Clinton’s book signing and repeated the online conservative theory that she’s not the child of former president Bill Clinton, but former Attorney General and Whitewater scandal player Webb Hubble. Better yet, watch how she responds when Morrow asks, “Would you say Bill Clinton…targets teenage girls, except for sexual reasons?”

You could say that Clinton sidesteps the questions—and she does. But you could also say that she just doesn’t let the troll get in the door, responding only with completely positive statements and a big smile. This, friends, is how you break a troll’s heart.

(via Salon)