The portrayal of Anonymous has two dimensions; a portrayal for the world to see and a portrayal for its members to see. Those two portrayals are for different purposes. The portrayal for the world is so that there can be a branded identity which society recognizes is “Anonymous.” This is portrayed to the world through its symbology, its activities or lack thereof, its tools and products. The primary symbology for Anonymous has become the Guy Fawkes mask. While there are other symbological aspects to the group such as the logo, the style of its video press releases, the Guy Fawkes mask is the one thing that instantly is associated with Anonymous. In fact, through Anonymous’ use of it and the activities of …show more content…
The ethical roots are centered on the belief that information should be free and accessible and that it is Anonymous’ right and responsibility to ensure that that freedom and accessibility is preserved by whatever means necessary. Those means can come by way of peaceful, lawful protest in person en mass. Those means can come by way of non-destructive harassment, through prank phone calls, sending faxes of black pages to organizations’ fax machines and other perfectly legal forms of influence. Those means can come by way of non-destructive but currently illegal DDoS attacks of website servers or copying and posting of files. Or those means can come by way of destructive, illegal destruction of server files and data. Anonymous’ social roots come by means of its origin,
4chan/b/. From the beginning through to today, 4chan/b/ has been the shared pool of memes, shared jokes, respect for opinions, no matter who they were from, a sense of equality which comes from a sense of anonymity. These social roots hold true and stand at the core of what it means to be an Anon. It’s as simple as just saying you are a member of Anonymous makes you a member of Anonymous and if you can stand the shared humor, insult, and sophomoric behavior of everyone else, you are included in the