The Anti-Social Network: Where Richard Bacon Goes All Highlander

Online bullying, or "trolling" as people have been calling it, has been major news over the past few months. Not quite moral panic stage, but definitely creeping up to become a major worry for parents and adults alike.

For some reason parents will insist that their children aren't harassed and bullied when they're at home. Madness, we know. It seems that as the number of facebook users quickly escalates towards billions, that more and more people are interacting with each other's lives; they're seeing what people like and dislike, experiencing the dizzying heights and soul crushing lows through a distorted lens of 'shared experience' that, pre-facebook, would only be shared with friends and family.

But what happens when inconsiderate wankmonkeys decide to ruin a solemn family occasion and post obscenities on an RIP page for a teenager who died?

Well that's what Richard Bacon spent an hour exploring with The Anti-Social Network. And we have to admit, it was an hour that we had our eyes opened. And we thought we'd seen everything. From the Tulisa sextape all the way through to the Pam St. Clement sex tape – nothing was new for us. Our level of abject horror has been thoroughly distorted and has grown an immunity that would make an armadillo go green with envy.

Whether it was the funky omelette we'd eaten, or our collective periods kicking in, some of the horrible, truly awful things, that people have done to grieving families really resonated within us. We imagine this is what Pinocchio felt like when he became a real boy: reminds us of having a bit too much Coke. Regardless of what stomach condition we were experiencing, Bacon tackled these issues head on, swinging his sword of indignation and disgust far and wide; tackling his own 'troll' as well as other people's 'trolls' with the fearlessness of a barbarian.

Seems that Bacon has been having a problem with a Twitter user who has aimed insults and threats at not only him, but his family as well. Which is quite scary because the blanket of anonymity that the user would hide behind was also protecting him at the same time and could lead to anything. Thankfully it hasn't (although our knowledge of Richard Bacon only stretches to Blue Peter) but that hasn't stopped Bacon The Barbarian from using Bond level espionage and clever trickery to smoke him out of his hiding place and into full view, for all of us to judge him and call him what he actually is; a cowardy custard.

While Bacon may have failed with his own stalker, he did manage to track down an abuser of Tom Mullaney's RIP page who thought that it was "hilarious" to say hurtful things about someone who felt so scared that he hung himself. We're not sure how that could be funny in any light or perspective, but this spineless spunkweasel thinks it is. And what does he do when Bacon tracks him down and presents him with evidence of his disgusting deeds? Lies and blames someone else. Like a great big baby.

The Anti-Social Network could have been an ineffectual piece of fluff looking at how 'trolling' has affected celebrities, after all there is an expectancy of that behavior when you become a celebrity. Where this programme excelled was at showing us the facts, because when you see the facts it's impossible to not come up with the same opinion as Bacon.

'Trolling' might be a flash in the pan in terms of what the next thing that people get their pubes in a knot about, but there's one thing for sure, for the people that it has affected, this won't go away quickly. If it ever does.