An Essay On Anonymous Counter Culture

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“We are #Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget #ExpectUs #MillionMaskMarch #OpVendetta #UK”. That message is from the many tweets off of Twitter that the group Anonymous. That message has been one of their many slogans. In Anonymous’ case how do you have an all-encompassing slogan when you have no structure or hierarchy? When you are just a loosely aligned group of internet users how do you become an international group that is an example of an alienated counter-culture Anonymous is many things. Lots of different people have their opinions on them. One thing for sure is that they use Twitter to voice their alienation. The alienation I believe is the strongest is the feeling and belief that they are a counter-culture. …show more content…

The word when applied as a suffix means that you belong to a certain group. I would be an ”Iowafag” because I am from Iowa, go to the University of Iowa and root for their sports teams. It does not mean that person is a gay from Iowa. When used on the internet as derogatory, it can be meant to describe someone as annoying or a douche at least on the website 4chan, Anonymous’ home website. It is meant as a playful suffix (knowyourmeme.com). Anonymous is the group that started the changing of the definition of fag. That is one of many examples as to how they are a counter-culture. In the mainstream-media the word fag is very derogatory in its nature. Kobe Bryant was fined for calling a referee a “f@*&ing faggot”. That is why on the internet website 4chan, and with the group Anonymous, the context that person is using the word fag is whether or not it is meant to be derogatory or funny. From the example above, is someone were to call me an “Iowafag” because I am from Iowa therefore I date my cousin; it would be viewed as negative. However, if being called an “Iowafag” means I care if the football teams, then it would be neutral or positive. The popular television show on Comedy Central, South Park based the episode of the changing meaning of the word “fag”. The episode, titled The F Word the boy get in trouble for calling people fags. …show more content…

The mainstream thought, between the governments of the United States and other world leaders is that WikiLeaks is a terrible website for divulging state secrets and threatening national security. Even China, on the opposite side of international arguments from the United States tries to block the website. If two countries in a fight for global influence both hate a website then it is by far against the mainstream. Anonymous being a friend of the WikiLeaks is the counter-culture for being an ally for what many people view as a threatening website. WikiLeaks believes it was acting as the moral authority. They believe they were exposing the corruption and the whistle-blowers on actions the United States has done in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. How is Anonymous not a counter-culture if it is allied with a hated website and its founder Julian Assange? Julian Assange is on the run against the United States. Trying to find and catch Julian Assange is a nonpartisan issue. Both the Democrats and Republicans agree that what he did and his website continues to do is wrong. If this is an issue that the Democrats and Republicans can actually agree, given the heightened partisan nature of Washington D.C., and WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and their ally Anonymous are against then it must be a counter-culture. With the internet not being regulated and not having Julian Assange silenced for exposing corruption, the only sure

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