There are political professionals who act like trolls and they do not do it by chance

Both online and offline, it is common to find people who deserve to be described as toxic for their treatment of others.

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Among them are the so-called trolls. The Royal Spanish Academy defines them as follows: "In internet forums and social networks, a user who publishes provocative, offensive or inappropriate messages with the aim of annoying, attracting attention or boycotting the conversation."

Sometimes I wonder what drives some people to behave like this towards others. I suppose that in many cases they do it out of hatred for those who do not think like them, that insane inability to accept that not everyone thinks like you and that those who have different ways of thinking are not necessarily bad people. In other cases the explanation would be given by psychologists, since there are people who suffer from mental disorders that make them unbearable.

However, there are trolls who act this way on purpose, with a clear purpose, knowing full well what they are doing when they try to get attention, sometimes in a pathetic and desperate way. Among these people there are professional politicians, people who live off taxpayers' money, developing a profession in which sometimes, to get the attention of the media and the public (even if it is for bad), some are capable of doing anything.

Let's look at an example. There are two women who were ministers in the Spanish government and who are now members of parliament for a far-left party that is struggling to get media attention by any means necessary, because they have been losing a lot of support in recent elections and run the risk of becoming a marginal force. These two people have been saying all kinds of nonsense for months to get us to pay a little attention to them.

What do these people bring to the political debate? Little or nothing. When someone only engages in provocation, insulting and slandering other people to get attention, they deserve to be ignored. But these two former ministers are succeeding because their tactic of provocation works, as their rivals fall right into the trap.

Obviously, when a troll acts the way he does it's because he knows that those he attacks will help him get publicity, either by answering him and playing along or by others doing it instead. That game ends when you apply a wise Spanish saying: "There is no greater contempt than not showing appreciation." What annoys a troll the most is not when you answer him or even return the insults (in fact, that's what he wants to achieve his goal, which is to get attention). What annoys him the most is when you ignore him.