The picture I decided to choose, is a logo of a well-known and used application. In this day and age, we are widely connected in the world by technology and other media. One thing that’s common today are chat rooms on the Internet like Omegle or Discord. In these areas, no one knows exactly who anyone could be: anonymity is valued. Over there freedom of speech is allowed and cannot be stopped (of course there are still some rules). This ties in well with Kant’s value of free will and speech. Through the Internet, people are given the option to be able to create a new type of personality that differs from their in real life characteristics. Anonymity gives people the freedom to express their ideas without fear of backlash.
Hi Theodore, I like how you used discord for your example as it is something I use everyday and is very relevant in today’s culture which makes it important to know about. You made some good points regarding how discord offers a large amount of anonymity in which anyone behind a screen can say whatever they desire without the drawbacks of conversation in real life. I agree with you because with discord, we can talk freely without feeling confined (w/o breaking the ToS) as you stated. In addition to your statement, it offers people a way to exercise their rights like in Article 1 of the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen in which we are allowed to use our freedom of speech equally.
Hi Theodore, I agree with you that anonymity gives people more freedom to express their ideas. One of the main reasons for that is anonymity enables people to express their ideas without being responsible for them. I also use Discord and I can see how it benefits players. However, there is one question that is anonymity a good invention through and through. Because expressing without being responsible might lead people to say whatever they want which has not been considered twice. For instance, if one people fabricate fake news to attack one person he hates. It is possible that people will just follow his lead to attack the person. This tide is really hard to reverse because most people only believe what they see and anonymity also gives them the courage to express whatever they want. Then, even if there exist people who know the truth and try to clarify it, they will just be immersed in the tide. Hence, I am not really sure whether anonymity gives people the freedom to express their ideas is a good or a bad thing.