I find it somewhat hard to consider a bastion of complete anonymity, where none are distinguished from any other, as "the last defense of the individual". Yes, as an individual you can anonymously voice your opinion without fear of direct personal retribution...
...but the moment it is voiced; it comes not from you, but from the greater collective. You are not Anon, you aren't anything. Only the greater Anonymous speaks, and it speaks only to the vastness that is itself.
Unless of course you actually register and name an account, in which case you're missing the point anyways.
Extra note: Wew
There is no contradiction here. The individual and the sense of individual-identity or "self" are distinct. To have let go of the narcissistic pretences of personal gratification (I do not mean that pejoratively either), it doesn't matter who you are anymore, it is a state of nibbana. The only thing that matters is the quality of your argument, your art, your prose, your original content - with no desire to be compensated, or rewarded in cash or fake internet points, or even some vague sense of viewership or internet celebritydom. It is about what you have to say, not who you are, you make your original content with the purest passion for what you are pursuing. It is why the various chans produce the most original content of any website despite their vastly smaller populations (the UN study found
99% of all images posted were original), while those which allow attachments to identities are rife with nothing but reposts. Those on /fit/ truly love their gains, those on /po/ truly love their origami, those on /v/ their vidya e.t.c., there is no insincerity in their infinite irony to be found at all.
anonymity has valuable political influence. The ability to effectively and safely ghostwrite an article without it being traceable to you, but still recognizable from a specific author (eg, using a pseudonym, but with effective measures to anonymize the true author's identity) is a profoundly powerful tool.
I am very much against all the automated computer algorithms designed and honed to identify such persons, based on their unique linguistic styles, word choices, and grammatical structure usage. (such algorithms really do exist, and are often used in surprising places.)
I am quite alarmed at the modern world's disdain for anonymity, and their embrace of the corporate-owned "social network" paradigm.
It is beyond political, it is human.
A disabled dwarf with a penchant for transexual prostitutes speaks with the same voice as a Silicon Valley technocrat, which is not even an example I am making up. On a social media platform, all the advantages of life - money - attractiveness - fame - power - popularity - authority, will translate into superior status and audience. Your voice is worth as much as your identity.
Anonymity is the great leveler. It doesn't matter if you have had a past record of success or failure, if the world regards you highly or doesn't notice your existence, if you are heavily autistic or a charismatic celebrity et cetera, et cetera. On all other sites the people say, '
unpopular opinion, but,' or '
as a [blankety blank] I...' On these types of imageboards, no one says this. People simply speak and are heard on the merits of what they have to say, and what they have to say is only retained if people find it worthy of memory - like a great chain of an oral epic, passed from year to year until at last it is finally lost.
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Topic: Things that made you sad today thread. (Read 9790345 times)