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So I was rewatching some **South Park** episodes today and in an episode titled *The End of Serialization as We Know It* (S20E10), the show introduced a very interesting hypothesis about online trolling called "**Trevor's Axiom**". To which I believe could easily pass as a real scientific hypothesis and one that could potentially  be used by politicians, celebrities and the likes in the future to easily generate fame and skew public support.

### What exactly is Trevor's Axiom?
>**Trevor's Axiom** is a well-known equation in online trolling. It's a way in which one person can create a massive reaction on the Internet. Look, person A trolls person B, but it's not about person B, the troll is trying to push buttons to try and get a reaction from hundreds, eventually creating person C, whose overreaction and self righteousness will elicit a reaction from persons D through F, who weren't trolls but can't help rip on person C. Their reactions lead to outrage persons G through N, and it keeps going, generating massive energy, it's like the fission reaction that leads to a fusion explosion, all bringing out the worst in humanity.

<center>https://vimeo.com/194900488</center>
###### <center> Video Source: [South Park S20E10 on Vimeo](https://vimeo.com/194900488) </center>

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The gist of the said theory is: The purpose of trolling (especially nowadays) is not simply to hurt an individual but rather to get an overreaction usually from a self-righteous group of people, who most often goes overboard in defending the victim causing another overreaction from another self-righteous group, and so on.

**Sounds confusing?** A great example for this would be someone who is running for the **presidency** (Person A). *Person A* could single out someone or create a drama against Person B (maybe throw off some swear words in front of national television once in a while could help?). The **media** (Person C) wouldn't just let this golden opportunity pass by and will most likely dig every information possible about Person A in hope to defend Person B, the dirtier the better cause it will make Person A look like a hypocrite and not better than Person B. This invasion of personal privacy aka digging of personal information could easily provoke some groups of people (Persons D, E, F)  and will then attack Person C. In the process of attacking the media, (maybe call their network "bias" or "fake news") some of them will eventually go overboard prompting another group (Persons G to N) to defend the media. This goes on and on and on.

<center>https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/QmW1KqJxCDQEAz1hVVdzqVuNekSAzP3uxBDTwvzojBeS4g</center>

This goes on and on until most negativity would be redirected at someone. Eventually all people involved would get to know Person A which would make him more popular. People would also see that Person C to Z is no different or possibly even way worse than Person A. Since Person A's issue is all in the past and is now slowly being overshadowed by other issues, people would then just vote for him simply because he is now more well-known and is now seen as the lesser evil out of Person B to Z.

Going back to **Online Trolling**, I believe that this made up theory could be up to something. Due to anonymity and people being easily triggered, a troll could easily spark a heated debate about something and even use this to make himself popular.

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