The Anonymous group called Secret Anonymous Idea has created a message which refers to his decision to “break the internet” with pictures of Kim Kardashian’s butt, and various other related cultural breakthroughs including a leaked sex tape. It would seem that Anonymous has taken exception to West’s person, behavior, and general moral tone. They also say his daughter will suffer the consequences of his decisions among her peers.
Anonymous considers him a slave of the entertainment industry, and takes further issue with his treatment of other artists. West is described as a spoilt brat, and Anonymous lets off some more steam in the same general tone.
Anonymous own goal?
If Anonymous is simply saying what the large section of the celebrity-allergic public feel, this is a rather naïve approach to managing the problem. Anonymous has done West a favor here, albeit unintentionally, unless this is another publicity trick by West/Kardashian.
Let’s clarify a few points for Anonymous:
All of these Easy Bake “celebrities” are more or less itinerant spoilt brats. They’re not even real people in public. Their public personas are often their jobs, and being a brat is part of the work.
(There was some girl on Jersey Shore who was barely able to get out two syllable words in the show, but in an interview years later, it turned out she actually did have a vocabulary and was quite articulate. It’s a mistake to take actors in their roles too seriously.)
These fruit fly celebrities are annoying, but they’re also employing thousands of people, directly and indirectly. They deliver an audience to mass media, which is their real raison d’etre. They may not be entertaining or interesting, but that’s their schtick.
Mass media is a sewer, and for a sewer to work, the sewage has to flow. Debating the values of the sewage and the producers of the sewage isn’t really all that productive. People make a living out of the crap.
The targeting of West is not really a good move. It’s an own goal. West makes a living out of being a bad boy, and the more disapproval he gets, the better, from his perspective. If Anonymous is really trying to take down West, this isn’t going to do it. You’ve just given him more of his stock in trade — publicity. He’ll get sympathy, not rejection. Naughty Anonymous is targeting poor Kanye! Let’s give him a few more million in compensation, chat shows, etc.
It’s also highly questionable if West or his fellow media moths are worthwhile targets. Whether Anonymous or anyone else likes it or not, he’s part of the culture of schlock which is turning on the cash flow. There are much more worthwhile targets in media, notably the endlessly misleading false information spread by some news sources, (OK, all of them) and the infinite damage done by human exploitation media including porn, glorifying crime, etc.
Suggestion for Anonymous — stick to the main game. Don’t digress in to targeting the trivial. Nobody will even remember, or care, who these people were in 10 years. Don’t lower the bar, and the achievements will be higher and more meaningful.
