Lurking so Very Little
After today’s class discussion about communication over the Internet, I am at an impasse. In class I had mentioned that compared to face-to-face interactions, things were a lot easier to get across, more information was given, and given much more quickly than with an Internet connection. The idea that the Internet was a very cold and distant form of communication is a complicated issue in my mind. This is because, I cannot deny the fact that there are communities on the Internet with complex rituals, networks, and meanings as there are in the real world.
Jason Rutter and Gregory W. H. Smith, in their article “Ethnographic Presence in a Nebulous Setting” touch on the concept of Internet community, describing the connection between community and the Internet as a viable field for ethnography. Indeed, one can consider all Internet communities to be tribes. For example, the group using the handle Anonymous, are a closed yet open group. There is no method of entry because there is no entry to speak of. This tribe treats all members as equals, every member could create something funny and timeless, and all members also fail to achieve that. However, newcomers are expected to quickly blend in and know how to function within the community, if they single themselves out, if they try to step beyond the form of Anonymous and take any sort of form of individuality, they are cast out, “b&”. In a way, Anonymous describes a very extreme form of socialist anarchy. To protect yourself, you must either run with the rest of the pack or not run (post) at all. Should you set yourself apart in a way that cannot be shared by others, (Making a funny thread, but not being titled as ‘Anonymous’), then you are placing yourself as the target of ridicule as are all other people on the Internet. This isn’t to mean they hate individuality, in fact, the very fact that you do not know anyone else, or differentiate from anyone else, just makes Anonymous more mysterious. Sure they could all be white male college drop outs, but they could also be anyone.
V for Vendetta, both the film and the graphic novel that preceded it, are used effectively as a banner to what Anonymous is and stands for. The guise of Anonymous is a mask that anyone and everyone can where, and relieves them of their responsible and casts it upon everyone equally. All the triumphs and failings are shared by everyone, no matter how hard the individual has worked to achieve them, and as such, it is a case of instant gratification for the loser and the humbling of the proud and infallible.
Anonymous is an equalizer, but does so in a very vile and terrible fashion. For all the positive remarks I could give this community, I also know that they are a very vile and hateful bunch. They are the heart of darkness in that they are what is ugly about humanity. They are also legion, because the actual number of them are subject only to the knowledge of the ‘on-again-off-again’ administrator. They are a community that has formed out of chaos. It is because they are drawn by the darkness of humanity that makes Anonymous so facinating to watch.
