Every couple of days, some Internet writer thinks they’re going to hold a mirror up to frequent users and cause us to rethink how we do our Serious Business. The attacks, like in Todd Leopold’s trite little puff piece (“#@*!!! Anonymous anger rampant on Internet”), are always the same list of grievances:
- Users are anonymous on the Internet.
- They can say whatever they want without fear of repercussion.
- Anyone can read what they say.
- Some kid committed suicide because her neighbor harassed her online.
- Therefore, we shouldn’t post angry statements on the Internet.
OK, for the sake of argument, let’s say that, yes, there are a lot of angry comments online about celebrity bad behavior, school bullies and morons, often using bad names and language.
So what? They’ve had it too good for far too long.
Americans have spent the last 200+ years not getting rebuked for doing stupid things like drunk driving, abusing their peers and spouting moronic talking points without getting called out on it. That’s how you change behavior: by posting every time someone gets away with being a poor example of humanity.
Thanks to anonymity, Internet users are able to do the one thing we can’t do in public: tell a jerk how it is. And now they have to listen, no matter how big, rich or powerful they may be.