Anonymity

How would you talk if you knew that you were to remain a complete stranger, protected in a shroud of anonymity. Many governments boast a privilege of free speech, but it is never without restrictions. In person, the level of honesty in your words is confined by its repercussions. Will it anger those around me? Will my peers think I am weird? Will this even put me in danger? All of these questions and more are considered before concrete confrontation. These, however, cease to exist in a world of anonymity. A world called the internet.

I recently read an article in my English 109H class from The Atlantic which discussed the upcoming Republican primaries and the recent increase in favorable polling results for candidate Donald Trump. Trump, being a highly controversial pick, cause quite a stir in the comments section of the article. The most popular seemed to be almost volatile in their nature. Outright attacks, cursing out Trump and his platform with everything from uneducated slander to refined citings of political science. These commenters act out of fear. The reason why their posts are so malicious is due to them stemming from an emotional and highly insecure place. They feel the need to curse out certain ideas in a public manner as brute force attempt to sway others. And this is ultimately driven through anonymity. There is no consequence to their actions, good or bad. The commenter literally has nothing to lose. So why not speak your mind? Why not be aggressive and impolite, nobody is going to know. People can vent and even engage in infamous internet "trolling," doing whatever they please without worry. But an important point is that they are now lost in a sea of other anonymous faces. Who is going to listen to them? If I do not know who you are, I have no reason to trust you and adopt your perspective. There is an interesting trade off at play. To make an argument to the least censored extent, many require anonymity. But anonymity inherently hurts credibility. So thus begs the question: is it really favorable to be anonymous?