Abbie Hoffman
| Troll informations | |
|---|---|
| Username | Abbie Hoffman |
| Type of troll | Prankster/Left-wing activist/Law enforcement goading |
| Status | Deceased |
| Profile picture | |
| |
Abbie Hoffman was a co-founder and co-leader of the 1960s anarchist group called the, "Yippies". Abbie's FBI record is 13,262 pages long. He wrote a book on how to evade the market economy and freely obtain basic life necessities called, "Steal This Book". He is considered a historical troll by third parties, mostly for his unkempt appearance, and his frequent goading/prank activity directed toward the US government and capitalists.
One of Abbie's biggest trolls was taking a tour of the FBI while being wanted by the FBI. He was a proud, self-described left-winger and was opposed to American authoritarianism, militarism, racism, sex negativity, and greed.
Other trolling activities[edit | edit source]
- Bomb instructions
- Abbie wrote in a chapter of one of his books a recipe for making a bomb and part of his book described attaching bombs to dogs. The FBI considered busting him for this chapter, until they realized he had copy-pasted material from a publicly available army training book anyone could get by mailing the government printing office.[1]
- 1968 presidential race
- In 1968, Abbie registered a living pig for the presidential race.
- New York Stock Exchange
- In August 1967, Abbie walked into the New York Stock Exchange with a pile of $5 bills and began to throw it all over the room, and all over the traders. This made the traders angry, with at least one trader telling Abbie, "you're disgusting".[2]
- Bumpersticker Spamming
- Abbie liked to go around New York City and plaster bumperstickers for Canada on US Army recruitment stations.[3]
Abbie and the law[edit | edit source]
Abbie had many run-ins with the law, and went into political exile at least once, including getting facial plastic surgery to disguise himself. However, even until his death, Abbie maintained a certain amount of popular appeal in the US and abroad. His popular appeal may have contributed to a "not guilty" jury verdict rendered in his favor in a 1980s US criminal trial where he and 13 others were tried for criminal trespassing at a CIA recruitment event.[4]
In media[edit | edit source]
Hoffman was an inspiration to later celebrity trolls, including Sasha Baron Cohen. Sasha played Abbie for the 2020 Netflix movie: The Trial of the Chicago 7.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2016/nov/30/fbi-tried-bus-abbie-hoffman-publishing-public-reco/
- ↑ https://money.cnn.com/2007/07/17/news/funny/abbie_hoffman/
- ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/08/31/yackety-yippie/9455f7d5-43b2-4853-88be-b0b500cb8a3f/
- ↑ https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/a34217199/trial-of-the-chicago-7-ending-abbie-hoffman-tom-hayden-jerry-rubin/