We are the antithesis of radical, in the political science and political activism sense of that word. We have been more incremental, often experimental and necessarily patient in our approach to entrepreneurial conservation than political radicals are in their approach to social change. Working with children, as we often do in our community outreach, we use methods appropriate to the situations. We sometimes say, perhaps just in the spirit of cheekiness, that we “hack” solutions in remote locations. We even say sometimes that the outcome is “radical.”

But that is the slang use of the word, just as we once called skateboarding or ball-dribbling moves in football “wicked.” We aspire to neither radical nor wicked outcomes in our day to day work, in the proper definitions of those words. Still, as with Mr. Watson, whose methods are different from ours but his objectives are akin, this review of Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous in the current issue of Book Forum helps us see some recognizable objectives in this particular culture of hack (with plenty of notable exceptions, as the review makes plain to anyone who regularly reads our blog):

By Any Memes Necessary

An inside look at the hacking group Anonymous reveals a boisterous culture of dissent and debate

ASTRA TAYLOR

THE FIRST TIME I SAW Gabriella Coleman speak about the hacker group Anonymous I was befuddled. It must have been around 2009. Anonymous was already at least three years old, having materialized out of the bowels of the popular, and often excruciatingly obscene, online bulletin board 4chan as early as 2006, yet it was still known mostly for its antisocial pranks.  Continue reading →