There's been a lot of talk around the feminist blogosphere regarding what "Anonymous" actually is. I first heard about Anonymous from someone on Second Life who was explaining the Hal Turner chronicles. Hal Turner is a pretty pathetic jerk who runs a right-wing white-power radio show. He was close friends with Sean Hannity and frequently called in to his show until Hannity started getting popular and no longer wanted to be associated with an avowed racist. At some point, Hal's activities came to the attention of folks who go by the name of "Anonymous".
"Anonymous" is the name used by an amorphous group of people who frequent several different sites on the internet: 4chan, 7chan, 420chan, Encyclopedia Dramatica. These sites are primarily used to post and share porn but they are also used to coordinate pranks. No one is in charge of Anonymous. No identifying information is used. Anyone can post a link to some site or suggest a "raid" but the only way they get carried out is if the idea seems sufficiently funny to a significant amount of readers. If it is appealing, then perhaps one person will go and do something mildly annoying to the target. If the target exhibits what Anonymous considers a reaction that is disproportionate to the level of annoyance, then they'll take it up a notch and see just how much of a rise they can get out of the target. How far it progresses past that point depends on how many laughs Anonymous thinks it can continue to get from the situation. The best thing a target can do is simply ignore Anonymous. It really is the best option available. Trust me. If you fail to heed this advice, you may wind up becoming a permanent target. You do not want this happen unless you are willing to leave off from using the internet for the next few years.
In the first raid I heard about, Anonymous decided that harassing Hal Turner would definitely result in "epic lulz" (i.e. lots of laughs). Hal posted someone's personal information on his blog and refused to remove it. To Anonymous, this act needed to be avenged. So, they went and found out more about Hal than the guy could ever have dreamed possible. After that, they proceeded to post his information all over the internet. They were able to show that he was basically conning the racists who sent him money thinking that he needed thousands of dollars just to broadcast his radio show. This did not sit well with the folks at Vanguard News Network and other similar sites. Hal instantly became a persona non grata. To be honest, I thought it was rather hilarious! The idea that someone had managed to turn his white supremacist buddies against him just amused me to no end. To this day, Anonymous is still wrecking havoc in Hal's life. I can't say I feel sorry for him at all.
As of late, several women have had their blogs raided by Anonymous. I've talked about one of them a few times here on My Private Casbah. Would you like to guess who I'm talking about? I'll give you a couple of hints. She has an extremely inflated ego. She's a (bleached) blonde. She's running for President of the United States, and her name isn't Hillary Clinton. If you haven't figured it out, you can read more about it here and here. I'm pretty sick of even mentioning these folks but, as should be expected, it involves the usual suspects whenever ridiculous rad-fems on the internets.
This post is only tangentially related to them. In some of the conversations about the recent Anonymous raids, some folks have claimed that these attacks were initiated by men's right's activists, political adversaries, et cetera. On Antiprincess' blog, I found a comment that a member of Anonymous wrote explaining who they actually are. I found it pretty interesting so I decided to post it here. I think that Anonymous represents a part of all of us that most people try to hide or get rid of. As with anything in life, inevitably, there are always going to be people who choose to nurture it instead.
Updated on 12-16-7: Removed Ebaumsworld reference. Several Anon's have pointed out why its users clearly aren't a part of Anonymous.
Posts
"in order for the ED and 4chan folks to do their thing, they need fuel. we're it. EVERYBODY's it. men, women, radfems, MRAs, homeschoolers, Republicans, Christians, earth mamas, mild-mannered shoeshine boys - we're ALL grist for their mill, it may be just a matter of time."
In situations like this, I find that I am behooved to educate the average internet citizen on what, exactly, Anonymous is.
The first step to understanding Anonymous is to understand our mantra (I will spare you the full length of our creed and code, and summarize):
Anonymous is legion. Anonymous does not forgive. Anonymous does not forget. Anonymous is amoral. Anonymous is neither good nor evil.
Anonymous is legion: There are many anonymous people on the internet, and all members of Anonymous are anonymous, but Anonymous is not a single anonymous. There are many. While Anonymous has specific goals, individual members of Anonymous may behave erratically.
Anonymous does not forgive: Self-explanatory.
Anonymous does not forget: We have very, very long memories. Self-explanatory.
Anonymous is amoral/Anonymous is neither good nor evil: Anonymous is beyond morality and human notions of right and wrong, good and evil. Anonymous may appear cruel to some, saintly to others. Your perception of us is colored by what you believe. One thing is certain; none of us are as cruel as all of Us.
Anonymous is much like an ant colony. Remember, we are legion.
Individuals of Anonymous may act with autonomy, but we are all driven by a single, driving need: find food. Our food, is lulz.
Are you a moderate Christian who pays his taxes, loves his family, donates to charity, goes to church once a week and cares nothing for the sexual preference of his neighbors? You are not food.
Are you an intelligent graduate student who has little time to spend on the internet between working on your dissertation and your budding career? You are not food.
Are you the female CEO of a successful corporation who balances motherhood with professional advancement? You are not food.
Are you a crazed racist who runs a website, community and podcast dedicated towards promoting racism, and will you react to criticism and harassment in an uproariously satisfying fashion? You are food.
Are you a histrionic teenager who posts weepy Youtube videos of you making the audacious claim that your fringe subculture is the spearhead of a revolutionary social movement that will uproot all of society after said subculture acquires "equal rights" (whatever that means)? You are food.
Are you an insane radical feminist who believes that all men are rapists, that pornography is rape, that it is acceptable to indoctrinate your children into your rabid ideology simply because they are beginning to explore their sexuality, despite your best efforts to make them hate their own gender and their own genitalia? You. Are. Food.
Anonymous is the entity that comes to restore balance when Bad Things® happen on the internet. While individual members of Anonymous may aspire to specific goals, Anonymous as a gestalt entity only desires food.
You see, Anonymous is always hungry, and Anonymous must always feed. If you aren't food, stay out of the way.
Signed,
Anonymous