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Reconsidering Anonymity and Anonymous in the Age of Narcissism

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The Aesthetics and Politics of the Online Self

Abstract

To be online—whether chatting, gaming, playing, wasting time, building, advocating, clicking or click baiting, reading, watching, listening, outraging, protesting, or hacking—is also an occasion to develop and experiment with new selves, socialities, and ethical relations. This was certainty the case with Anonymous, a far-flung global protest movement that became famous for its dramatic hacks and leaks. Less familiar but as important is that Anonymous was also predicated on the idea that cloaked identities could be put to work fighting for justice by enabling truth-telling and disabling celebrity-seeking behaviors.

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Correspondence to Gabriella Coleman .

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Coleman, G. (2021). Reconsidering Anonymity and Anonymous in the Age of Narcissism. In: Della Ratta, D., Lovink, G., Numerico, T., Sarram, P. (eds) The Aesthetics and Politics of the Online Self. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65497-9_17

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