On Monday, the Guardian published a heart-wrenching piece by a writer who wished to remain anonymous but was compelled to tell of his near-conversion from a life-long liberal into a racist Islamophobe as he succumbed to the influence of “alt-right online poison.”

On one occasion I even, I am ashamed to admit, very diplomatically expressed negative sentiments on Islam to my wife. Nothing “overtly racist”, just some of the “innocuous” type of things the YouTubers had presented: “Islam isn’t compatible with western civilisation.” She was taken aback: “Isn’t that a bit … rightwing?” I justified it: “Well, I’m more a left-leaning centrist. PC culture has gone too far, we should be able to discuss these things without shutting down the conversation by calling people racist, or bigots.” The indoctrination was complete.

Thankfully, our story has a happy ending as the writer overpowers the “creeping fear and bigotry” in his soul and swears that he won’t let it infest him again. If only the author had revealed himself so teary-eyed progressives could thank him for his brave account … or did he?

OK, I hold my hands up… I wrote this. ‘Alt-right’ online poison nearly turned me into a racist | Anonymous https://t.co/dn2y9lXdEp — Godfrey Elfwick (@GodfreyElfwick) November 29, 2016

This is not a joke btw. I genuinely wrote it. — Godfrey Elfwick (@GodfreyElfwick) November 29, 2016

But it is a joke … a really, really good one, whoever wrote it.

@GodfreyElfwick how the hell did the Guardian accept it? pic.twitter.com/TTcwjflYcC — Yani ?? (@JerryMcorbyn) November 29, 2016

Abi Wilkinson, as described by the Guardian, “is a freelance journalist based in London writing about politics, inequality, gender, popular culture, and anything else that takes her fancy.”

It appears the @Guardian & @ggreenwald got monumentously trolled by @GodfreyElfwick who wrote that Guardian piece to satirise..the Guardian! https://t.co/UTdihyYPlJ — Radical (@MaajidNawaz) November 29, 2016

@frank_fisher @Viscous_sheer @hellerboy Pretty sure there isn't a deity in all of known history to accurately describe his troll level. — TheMig (@TheMig29) November 29, 2016

@greggutfeld if that's true then @GodfreyElfwick is the greatest troll of all time. — thetreyman (@thetreymanhere) November 30, 2016

"On one occasion I even, I am ashamed to admit,very diplomatically expressed negative sentiments on Islam to my wife" You very naughty boy ? — Radical (@MaajidNawaz) November 30, 2016

@MaajidNawaz the guardian is officially the opposite of a guardian. — GregGutfeld (@greggutfeld) November 30, 2016

And here's @ggreenwald walking right into the trap of fake news,not wasting an opportunity to lay into @SamHarrisOrg https://t.co/vS8OugF0RC pic.twitter.com/ayUNmIoy0Z — Radical (@MaajidNawaz) November 29, 2016

Of course, now I'm going back in my head and convincing myself I suspected as much all along. Not so. We discussed it on the show today. https://t.co/P3pNa4nFw2 — Gavin McInnes (@Gavin_McInnes) November 29, 2016

Nice one Godfrey. Hit people who were looking for it right in the confirmation bias.@MaajidNawaz @guardian @ggreenwald @GodfreyElfwick — ivanka defense force (@struggle_sesh) November 29, 2016

@MaajidNawaz @guardian This might be the best thing of 2016. @GodfreyElfwick perfectly demonstrates current blurred line btwn satire/reality — Hubbub707 (@Hubbub707) November 30, 2016

@MaajidNawaz @guardian @ggreenwald @GodfreyElfwick I knew something was up when you used the same damn words as the CTA box. pic.twitter.com/qWQdpbzbOp — Deplorably Foxy ? (@Fr33domF0x) November 29, 2016

Still, it’s possible that Godfrey Elfwick isn’t “Anonymous.”

^ Oi @GodfreyElfwick you're a legend. Even if this is some kind of double-bluff trolling troll gimmick & I'm the one being trolled here ? — Radical (@MaajidNawaz) November 29, 2016