“Don’t feed the trolls” is bad advice and a bad idea, but so is “shine a light on bad ideas/people to expose them”. The problem with both is their blanket nature. The idea that different situations require different approaches seems like a simple one, but it’s not popular.
See also the never ending argument about whether you should be civil when talking to people with opposing views, and whether you should try to change their minds or not, and if so which approach is better.
Sometimes you’ve got to punch a nazi. Other times you can turn them around and stop them being a nazi, and sometimes the way to do that is slow persuasion and others it’s by shouting at/ostracising them. I know this from experience, btw.
Sometimes the best thing to do with people who post hateful or abusive messages online is to publicly shame them for it, to draw attention to their behaviour. Sometimes it’s more effective to call them on it directly and talk them through why what they’re doing is wrong.
And sometimes, people make their living through notoriety, by posting this stuff, and thrive on the attention, in which case the best thing to do is ignore them entirely.
Human beings are not a monolith and neither are the groups we put ourselves in. Even the most unpleasant person is an individual, with their own unique circumstances. Dehumanising your enemy is to underestimate them, and can lead only to failure.
The great tragedy of social media is that we’ve never had a stronger opportunity to really learn that lesson, and embrace the empathy and compassion that comes with recognising that every single person has their own unique experiences and concerns... and we’ve chosen not to
