Suddenly it all makes sense.

A new and interesting theory has come to light. It has been suspected by many for some time that (1) Wikipedia is controlled by a cabal...

Suddenly it all makes sense.

If this is what control is all about, I would hate to see the Wikipedia version of anarchy!

Anarchy and oligarchy are closely related, as Plato noted. As the methodology of empires evolved over time, oligarchs developed techniques for "controlled anarchy," as they learned that mobs can be manipulated and the outcome of anarchistic impulses "shaped."

A new and interesting theory has come to light. It has been suspected by many for some time that (1) Wikipedia is controlled by a cabal (2) Wikipedia's primary purpose is as a MMORPG. In an astonishing display of audacity, the true explanation can be found on Wikipedia itself: The Babylonian Brotherhood. These are reptilian humanoids from the planet Alpha Draco who maintain their control through the generation of fear and negative emotion, which is food to these entities, by manufacturing conflicts.

Suddenly it all makes sense.

Emphasis on "drama" as "trauma" (they are the same word root), meaning in this case (rather than the classic one which seeks to heal trauma by catharsis) to seek to simply create new hurt. No catharsis, since this sort of drama is too stupid and too simple to invoke catharsis, which by definition requires understanding and learning. No, this type of prodrama involves the impulse to practical jokery, but worse. It involves jerking somebody's chain for no particular reason, except to see a reaction. Trolls on the internet being good examples. We may call it pro- or protodrama, since it's only an ugly version of the very first part of classical Greek drama.

Protodrama is often mistaken for social cruelty. For good reason, since most of it is just that.

This kind of behavior is not classical but, in the modern sense, more closely related to the romantic, and hyper-romantic. It is performance "art". It does things for the "shock value". It enjoys "deconstruction." It is the Clockwork Orange where vandalism and destruction is sought as artform by people too talentless to have some type of actual creation as their artform.

A subgroup of protodrama for its own sake is expression of outrage by people left out of social networks. I just saw this this one played well by Butters Scotch as Professor Chaos, with his minion General Disarray. Those of you who don't watch Southpark should try to locate your sense of humor. Probably it's under the couch with dustballs and the last slipper you lost.

On the internet, those who can't get laid and thus spend their time indef blocking people out of frustration on Wikipedia, are called "administrators." Most of them love proto-drama, but would never admit it. However, when other people are under their thumb and making a fuss, it makes them feel alive. They can't get that feeling, out in their real lives.

On the otherside, are certain people who went to WP not to write an encyclopedia, but to create drama, as they do everywhere else in their sorry lives. It worked for awhile, but now they've been kicked out and want to continue. Ah, Encyclopedia Dramatica! Made for this purpose.

Now, the various Star Trek/ Mindworm creatures who feed on negative emotions, never quantified the chaotic and unpleasant effect they had on the world. But the interenet drama addicts actually have made an advance, and have a word for this: in internet slang, it's called "lulz." I do not know the pronunciation. Lultz, probably, as in the German or Yiddish z. Derivations are claimed by way of LOLs, but any LOLs are the kind you get from putting one of your socks over your cat's head, to see what he does, while trying frantically to get it off.

The mindworm was ripped off in the old "Star Trek classic" series, at least twice. Once in an episde where they encounter some creature who's been doing this since it was Jack the Ripper, and once when they find themselves fighting Klingons (Michael Ansara, in fact!) under the evil direction of such a negative emotion sucker.

Arguably the episode with Melvin Belli also falls within this category, although that's slightly different. It's a common enough theme in science fiction, and I doubt that Kornbluth is the only writer to come up with it independently.