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How to deal with Internet trolls, as taught by Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen’s singer

Casey Baseel May 8, 2020
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Some might call Piko Taro/Daimaou Kosaka’s strategy “running away,” but it’s just common sense, he says.

With his larger-than-life personality, it can be easy to forget that Piko Taro, the singer of “Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen,” is still, just like you and me, a human being. As a matter of fact, apart from his musical persona, the man famous for PPAP is also the comedian known as Daimaou Kosaka, and even maintains a separate Twitter account under that name.

As a performer with a very unique comedy style, it’s no surprise that it’s not just fans who tweet at Kosaka, but haters too. But no matter whether you’re a famous celebrity or just an ordinary person with a social media account, Kosaka recently shared some pretty wise advice for how to deal with trolls and online abuse.

SNSで見ず知らずの人に急に罵詈雑言ぶつけられて、即ブロックしたら「逃げた！」と言う人。冷静に考えてみて。
街角で、全く見ず知らずの人に「ゴラぁぁ！殴るぞ！」とか言われたらそいつに関わらないよね。金輪際。ネットも現社会も一緒。
大丈夫、ブロックしたら「逃げたあ！」の声も届かないから。

— 古坂大魔王 (@kosaka_daimaou) May 6, 2020

“If someone you’ve never met before starts hurling abusive language at you on social media, and you suddenly block them, sometimes people will say ‘You’re running away!’ But think logically about it.

If you were walking down the street, and there was someone on the corner, a person you don’t know, shouting “Hey! I’m gonna kick your ass!” you wouldn’t stick around or have anything to do with them. No way, and you should respond in the same way online.

Don’t worry. Even if someone says ‘You’re just running away!’, after you block them you won’t be able to hear them.”

It’s an extremely sensible line of reasoning from a man best known for the sheer nonsense of his song lyrics, and several other Twitter users quickly voice their agreement.

“No point in talking with people who are just looking to start trouble,”
“Some people already have an opinion they want you to voice, and when you don’t, they’ll keep hounding you. It’s a waste of time talking with them.”
“Then after you block them, they screenshot it and whine to other people, saying ‘I’m not the bad guy.’ I feel sorry for how pathetic they are.”
“I think those kinds of people get ignored a lot in their daily face-to-face conversations too.”

▼ Any time wasted feeding trolls is time you could be using to rewatch “PPAP.”

While there’s something to be said for engaging in conversation with people who respectfully disagree with you, it’s also important to know that when the message consists solely of personal attacks purely designed to intimidate or hurt, there’s no shame in shutting down the discourse. So thanks for the reminder, Kosaka, and the one about hand-washing too.

Source: Twitter/@kosaka_daimaou via Hachima Kiko
Top image: YouTube/-PIKOTARO OFFICIAL CHANNEL-公式ピコ太郎歌唱ビデオチャンネル
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