The image in this installment is derived from one connected with a movement called Anonymous. They are holding demonstrations this weekend. Has anonymity ever made you more honest, or made someone more honest with you? Have you lived somewhere no one knew you? Is anonymity good for freedom of information and expression?
Secret Vespers
by Patrick Edwards-Daugherty
So what is your policy on the use of these beautiful “comics”? I would really like to use the roses one (“never settle”) as an avatar or profile picture. Can I do that with giving you credit, or do you require payment?
It sounds to me like you want to use it for personal (non-commercial) purposes. In that case it’s fine, as long as you give me credit.
That is correct, and thank you, and I will. :-)
I’m not sure anonymity gives a person a desire for honesty, but it certainly offers ideas a fluidity and adaptivity not normally liscensed to a statement coming from a known persona. In an anonymous world, certainly there would be no need for any discretions or personilty, but perhaps this might inspire a sense of duty to uphold the sanctity of the ability to express yourself completely and unashamedly. The desire to be felt and understood draws the ‘me’ out of any anonymous persona, making them a better representation of that person than seen labelled as themselves..
We are legion.
And you make the world more poetic.
I remember The Conference Tree in Chicago, a BBS back in the 80′s. You had to solve a simple logic puzzle to get in the front door, but once you were in, there was no basic notion of identity. Most users signed their postings with a consistent alias. I for one used three different identities depending on the class of discussion.
It was one of the first electronic fora I ever used which covered a huge range of non-technical topics. The anonymous nature of the forum made it possible for us to cordially discuss many controversial topics.
I could talk endlessly about situations where anonymity has led to great freedom of my own expression, but that would sort of defeat the purpose. I will say this, as a lyricist, I occasionally enjoy switching the pronouns so I can deliver my message without telling anyone who it’s about. Only my closest friends know which songs I’ve done this to, and which pronouns. It goes both ways. Sometimes I turn myself into someone else, and sometimes I turn someone else into me.
Being able to be anonymous, but also to have an ID, seems to me to maximize freedom. I usually don’t post anonymously.
i lived somewhere where no one knew me. i didn’t feel more free just lonely. i think it works better online because in real life no one listens if you don’t have a name and people don’t know where you fit. . i bet that’s how it feels to be homeless too. but online you can sure pretend to be someone else or no one and you can pretty much get away with anything i guess lol except i think that if you use the same anonimous name over and over then taht becomes who you are like the dread pirate roberts lol
I hope that anonymity does not make people honest. People are jerks when they know they cannot be identified. Crowds, mob rule, rude drivers and online personas; if this is what we honestly are, I’m all for global surveillance!
Honesty is not courtesy.
Just as anonymity frees us to say any truth -or mistruth- as we wish without consequence, it frees us from the social obligation of politeness. Some revel in rebelling against the established social policy by being as rude as they ever wished to be.
Others remain courteous, because we choose to be polite, rather than seeing it as an obligation.
theirs a diffrence between honesty and mob mentality; the idea is that you personally don’t matter to the person or situation presented. this could mean you get caught up doing something you normally wouldn’t do (who would know it was you?) or exposing your true self in a way you never would with people you care about, after all as insignificant as you are to them, they matter just as little to you.
Anonymity has allowed me to reinvent a more authentic version of myself. I cut myself off from everyone who knew the old me, and had all of the old expectations, and started over. I am more completely ME than I’ve ever been, and I am happier than I’ve ever been.
Anonymity allowed me to be honest about who I really am. The people who know the real me are people who are honest (sometimes to a fault). It is incredibly liberating, but I wouldn’t want to be anonymous forever. I think it’s okay if you use it as a starting point, a blank canvas. It’s not okay if you use anonymity to avoid the consequences of bad behavior.
Thanks for the comment. It’s interesting the opportunity anonymity provides, and probably says a lot about a person, how they use that opportunity.
At times, it makes you feel invulnerable.
At other times, it scares you to see what feeling invulnerable turned you into.
Has anonymity ever made you more honest, or made someone more honest with you? Have you lived somewhere no one knew you? Is anonymity good for freedom of information and expression?
Who needs anonymity? I only have to look at myself thru your eyes, then i don’t recognize that person that i am seeing anymore.
Knowing that whatever I do doesn’t really matter at all, you would take it any way you would…
what the heck.
i choose to be free sans the mask of false anonymity.