Fact From Fiction: Not All Members Of Anonymous Are Created Equal
When I began writing about Anonymous' protests against the Church of Scientology I had NO idea what to think, expect or envision. As far as I was concerned, they were two sinister organizations battling it out, and it was good idea to stay removed.
During my coverage, I was rickrolled, memed, exposed to weird variations of intentionally misspelled words and utterly lost in this seemingly surreal world. At some point, I visited Encyclopedia Dramatica and the Something Awful forums to do some research on "Anonymous" and I genuinely thought to myself, "how is it possible I could be blogging for over six years and be so clueless about an entire subculture of people."
In all fairness, Anonymous does have a fairly sordid past, with a strange sense of humor. Both sites listed above have a tendency to make fun of the kinds of people and things that society politely protects due to an abundance of political correctness. The SA and ED sites are not for the PC or easily offended. You've been warned.
This however, does not mean that all individuals who call themselves Anonymous, are in fact "Anonymous." Even those people who are Anonymous aren't even Anonymous. Does that make sense? It shouldn't. For months now I have read various parties try to define who Anonymous are and who they aren't. Most Anonymous feel there is no proper way to define the group, and many are repulsed at the idea of even trying to do so. From my perspective, this stems from the very nature of the word "anonymous." From Merriam-Websters definition:
anonymous1 : not named or identified
2 : of unknown authorship or origin 3 : lacking individuality, distinction, or recognizability Still confused? That's natural. While I am not an authority by any means, I feel as informed as anyone else in the media to make distinctions. Yes, even in a group calling itself "Anonymous" there are distinctions. And in this case, quite marked.
Glosslip has actively chosen to interact with all sorts of people calling themselves "anonymous" and from what I have observed, there are three distinct groupings of Anonymous. I will attempt to define as best I understand.
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