The right way to be and the wrong way to be

[Belacqua]

There are a lot of tough guys on the Internet. I don't pay any more attention to them than I'm forced to.

Internet tough guy is kind of a strange role to play. 

It demands that a person assert "I don't give a fuck what you think of me!" But this runs into a paradox pretty quickly, because if a person feels the need to express this it means that he wants others to believe it of him, which means that he cares what they think. 

Then there is the Button Pusher, who types things to get a rise out of other people. He or she enjoys getting a predictable reaction out of people who pretend they are too cool to care. 

One of the reasons people here insult you is because you are better than them at both roles. Your trolling seems effortless in comparison with others who have to work harder at it. But the buttons you push always get exactly the intended response. 

Personally, I would like everyone just to be up front about everything. But I admit I'm boringly sincere about Internet use, and it never occurs to me to use the medium in a creative way.