Anonymous

[The Old Man from Scene 24]

At first I thought it was an interesting idea, but now I'm starting to think that it is just an unproductive group of hackers. I do like the concept, but they are doing things that I see as unreasonable. They take down websites for a short period of time, and that's all I see them do. I feel like they give us (left wing in general) a bad reputation of trolling and vandalism.

Now, I've only known about Anonymous for a week or two, so if I have an inaccurate or biased view, please educate me.:)

[Black_Rose]

At first I thought it was an interesting idea, but now I'm starting to think that it is just an unproductive group of hackers. I do like the concept, but they are doing things that I see as unreasonable. They take down websites for a short period of time, and that's all I see them do. I feel like they give us (left wing in general) a bad reputation of trolling and vandalism.

Now, I've only known about Anonymous for a week or two, so if I have an inaccurate or biased view, please educate me.:)

Nihilism, perhaps caused by despair of being unable to ultimately overthrow the system, is unproductive as a strategic vision; it just causes mayhem to the system. Revolutionary leftism can inspire political change as an ideology since it offers an affirmative vision: the liberation of a given domestic or global economy from neoliberal capitalism and replacing it with a socialist economy. In order for one to embrace this vision, one must be convinced that capitalism is a fundamentally immoral or detrimental economy ideology. This realization requires more abstract thought than merely opposing capitalism out due to personal grievances of one negative aspect of it. Thus revolutionary leftism is not nihilistic.

If they derive pleasure from disrupting websites, then they will continue to do so, if the consider the risk/reward ratio of that activity to be favorable, but such activity will hardly bring sympathy for a revolutionary agenda.

[rednordman]

I'm actually beginning to see this group as scumbags tbh. I so hope that I don't seem reactionary by saying that. Like black rose said, they simply cause destruction for the sake of causing destruction, and seem to think they are clever for doing it.

Recently they are supposed to have hacked facebook posting pornographic and violent images on peoples profiles, some of these images would have appeared on children profile walls. how the fuck is that a good thing?

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

Shhh, don't talk too loud or they'll take down this website! :rolleyes:

It's a hacker's collective ... sometimes they do cool things, sometimes they do more dubious things. It probably depends on which hackers are online. They're certainly at least as helpful to the revolutionary cause as anyone else these days.

[Tablo]

Anonymous refers to a lot of things. Anonymous isn't some organized group of members with specific goals, it is a disorganized groups of, mostly, script kiddies who briefly flood websites with traffic to take them down. Whether members join an action depends on whether they agree with it so each member chooses their involvement selectively and any member can propose targets/plans that get voted up or down by others.

While there are some people in the group that really know what they are doing, the majority of them just use the loic and other crap like that.

[GPDP]

The name Anonymous itself is a reference to 4chan, where unless one adopts a name and/or tripcode, posters are all Anonymous and refer to each other as such. It used to be nothing more than an inside joke (ANONYMOUS DOES NOT FORGIVE, ANONYMOUS DOES NOT FORGET), a way to establish an identity for themselves, similar to how posters from Something Awful (which was one of 4chan's inspirations when it first arose) refer to themselves as "goons."

Over its lifespan, 4chan posters have invaded and raided countless websites and communities, most often for nothing more than mindless entertainment (among the many they've trolled include furries, Christians, Nazis, and even Tom Green's webshow). Back then, all the posturing about Anonymous being Legion and whatnot was nothing more than a sarcastic attempt to make themselves out to have a grand cause, when in reality it was just a bunch of bored teenagers, college students, and workers all just trolling a website for shits and giggles, and they all knew it.

This practice never actually became something serious and even political until they decided to take on Scientology, where there was a concerted effort to not just screw with the cult, but actively attempt to discredit it, and even took to real-life protesting. It was about this time that Anonymous took an identity that more or less transcended and broke away from its 4chan origins, though not completely, as many of those who participate under the Anonymous banner still retain the "for the lulz" approach and mindset.

This is why it doesn't make much sense to think of Anonymous as a "movement." Pretty much anyone can take up the identity of Anonymous and operate as such, using their own means to whatever desired ends, whether it is hacking a government website in support of an oppressed nationality, or sending pizzas to some random asshole regardless of what he did to deserve it, just because it's funny. It's not very organized, if it is organized at all. Campaigns usually involve one or a few posters bring up an idea, such as DDoSing RevLeft for instance, and then from there, if there is interest, tutorials are posted on how to go about it by the more knowledgeable, so that script kiddies can follow along. It's chaotic and spontaneous, and as such their efforts only last about as long as their attention spans hold out.

Upon taking this into account, it makes sense why they would support a progressive cause one day, then shit all over it the next. There's little rhyme or reason to the workings of Anonymous. Moreover, one can never know whether those behind an operation have an actual goal, or if they're just causing problems for a quick laugh. As such, I would encourage leftists to always view Anonymous with a critical eye, because their whims are fickle and their loyalties nigh-nonexistent.

[Caj]

Recently they are supposed to have hacked facebook posting pornographic and violent images on peoples profiles, some of these images would have appeared on children profile walls. how the fuck is that a good thing?

Those were Nigerian hackers, not Anonymous.