I never really understood the hacktivism group called Anonymous. Now I have a much better idea.
They both brought media attention to the things that have happened like Egypt and Tunisia and did things that didn’t make any sense. I must admit that I find their goals admirable, if their methods sometimes are ineffective.
It is clear that there are many people and organizations in the world who seek to make a dollar by someone else suffering. This is a sad reality that we all have to deal with. I also want to see a fair and just world, and that everyone has their basic needs met. I do not believe in violence however, and I do not believe that by attacking people/organizations that change comes about.
I have been thinking a great deal of how to make social change happen in the world. I think about things like the civil war which ended up giving Blacks both a better and worse experience than slavery. When we attempt to improve things, we often make them both better and worse. For example, in Anonymous hacking against Scientology they both made their point, and put Scientology in the role of victim to their attack.
Yesterday I spoke about Victim, Villain and Hero but I want to speak more about it. For so long in my life, I had the mistaken idea that you had to be a hero in life. That you had to “fight the good fight” and overcome evil. Now I see that that idea itself is unhelpful. One persons evil, is another persons reality.
For example, for Muslims they believe in Allah and a different conception of values than other religions. This doesn’t make them wrong or right, just different. If I had grown up in a Muslim country then I would probably have those values. Our values are rarely because we choose them, but something we inherit and don’t claim for ourself. Even those people who say their are believers, when you ask them if they have challenged their belief, they look at you like you are crazy. You can’t claim to believe something, unless you have actively challenged it and looked for it to be untrue.
Every generation has things that it thinks are true. Slavery for example was just a given that it was “natural”. We only make progress as a species when we challenge all of our beliefs. I get and understand that most people are never going to challenge their beliefs. That is their choice. However if they do challenge their beliefs, they either find that what they believed was not true, or that they believe stronger now.
People who are unwilling to challenge their beliefs have the weakest kind of reality. Why does this matter? It matters so that your life has the meaning you want it to have, not the values that other people have choosen for you. I believe that being a responsible adult means that you choose your values, and you choose your actions. You don’t act like a robot, and you act in a conscious and deliberate way.
Even if Anonymous ends up going to jail and being destroyed, I appreciate that they challenge peoples beliefs and make them think. Its ok if you disagree with me, I might change my own beliefs later. Thank you for considering that there might be a better way to live.
The post Curious about Anonymous? Nice documentary called We are Legion appeared first on Stuff worth knowing about.