What Do You Stand For?

New York

Dan is 28 years old and recently married. He is a corporate lawyer by day and a socialist by night. It sounds like a contradiction but somehow Dan makes it work. Recently Dan became particularly intrigued with an online entity called Anonymous. It’s not quite an organization because all of its members are unknown, hence the name, and nearly impossible to trace. They have no website. No mission. They don’t sell anything. Yet, Dan and many many other people are totally into them. The only proof that they exist exists in messages and videos that people find, share and post. Dan says that Anonymous fights against the things that they believe are unjust and evil. He likes what they stand for and that is enough for him.

Dan found out that Anonymous organized a protest against Scientology and decided that he really wanted to go. Not because he is avidly against Scientology. He has never done anything to protest them before or acted against them in any way. He never really thought about it. But he has so much respect for Anonymous and was motivated by their cause, so he decided he wanted to be a part of it. In his words, he was "moved."

Check out this video of Anonymous' message to Scientology:


Implication: Today there are a lot of different ways to communicate with people and spread news. But the Internet is the only place where Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, and Freedom of Assembly happens in the same medium. The digital world can let brands talk to people or talk with people. But lets not forget that its what we stand for that actually moves people… in every sense of the word.