"concern trolls"

yes

what is it, captain save-a-(x)s?

a concern troll expresses concern about your narrative's viability, ostensibly from the position of one who shares it, thereby suggesting the objective superiority of an alternate, perhaps contrary, narrative

i just assumed it was some sort of disingenuous 'won't someone think of the children' type thing

i'm concerned my girlfriend is a witch

I get it!!

i.e. Cokie Roberts on Obama's Hawaiian vacation, which "has the look" of "going off to some foreign, exotic place"

In fact, concern trolling constitutes the bulk of the national political punditry's job. "But how will this play?" "I'm concerned about how this looks, John" - Always play-acting, as if they are some dumber, more conservative version of themselves - playing the role of middle-American in order to make attacks which they would never own up to as their own opinion.

I think.

More like, "Should he be concerned with how this will play out, John?"

Yes that's a crucial distinction! The ventriloquism works best when it's absolute

In fact, concern trolling constitutes the bulk of the national political punditry's job.

not just pundits but more "objective" news media -- e.g. expressing opinions in the form of open-ended questions to appear fair & balanced & whatnot.

The mechanism a lot of reporting works off is basic devil's advocacy (wanted to write "advocatry"!) - phrasing the current arguments against your interviewee's position in the strongest possible terms, in order to elicit the most comprehensive and committed response. But they've gone from "strong" to "stupid" - or, even, "stupid" as a kind of "strong" - a classic troll move!

Is this sort of like :

"Well, I don't mind, but our customers won't want to be served by a xxxx"

is there a thread about the new yorker obama cover?

^^^Concern trolling at its finest

this term is a really lame and annoying way of insta-dismissing actual concerns ofttimes imo - express concern with how a narrative will play out, boom, that's concern trolling right there, now the question's nicely shuttled whether there was/is cause for conern or not. like many epithets, "concern troll" serves as shorthand for "hey shut up"

it has a ring to it tho

good band name

guys, what of CONCERNED WOMEN FOR AMERICA? now them's some trolls

Our Core Issues

Concerned Women for America confronts many issues facing American citizens. We divide these into six different categories and have accordingly divided our web content here for you.

Family
CWA believes that marriage consists of one man and one woman. We seek to protect and support the Biblical design of marriage and the gift of children.

Sanctity of Human Life
CWA supports the protection of all innocent human life from conception until natural death. This includes the consequences resulting from abortion.

Education
CWA supports reform of public education by returning authority to parents.

Pornography
CWA endeavors to fight all pornography and obscenity.

Religious Liberty
CWA supports the God-given rights of individuals in the United States and other nations to pray, worship and express their beliefs without fear of discrimination or persecution.

National Sovereignty
CWA believes that neither the United Nations nor any other international organization should have authority over the United States in any area. We also believe the United States has the right and duty to protect and secure our national borders.

is there a thread about the new yorker obama cover?

^^^Concern trolling at its finest

the new yorker cover thing was a nationwide liberal concernapalooza, but it missed the central element of trolling, which is disingenuity. i think a lot of people were (wrongly but) sincerely worried about its possible effects. to be trolling, i think it has to smack of insincerity and opportunism -- e.g., cokie roberts taking the chance to call obama foreign and exotic under guise of concern that "some people" might see him that way.

like many epithets, "concern troll" serves as shorthand for "hey shut up"

it can, i guess -- one person's concern troll is another person's uncomfortable-truth teller. but in its most common deployment, it does nicely capture the tone of a lot of smug beltway punditry, which always assumes that it knows best what "regular americans" will think about every little thing.

(and of course uses the presumed opinions of "regular americans" as cover for its own preferences and prejudices)

Historically, there have been many figures considered concern trolls, although generally the formulation of the label was rather more elegant; for example, Henry VIII called Martin Luther a "horrid and furious Monster" unleashing "Stings and Poisons, whereby he intends to infect the whole World."