Perusing the usual suspects this morning, I came across a piece at Liberty’s Torch which bears some commentary. In it, Francis explains his view on the recent unpleasantness from CNN and anonymity in general:
I do disapprove of what CNN did. There are Internet users with good reasons to keep their real names a secret. Certainly the maker of that video was within his rights to travel under an anonymizing moniker. However, allow me to say that:
- I have much more respect for persons who don’t hide their identities when they express themselves;
- Had this fellow traveled under his right name, CNN would have been unable to do him any harm.
I understand that in our time, a policy of openness about who you are and what you believe is double-edged. Those who find your thoughts persuasive will respect you more than otherwise. However, those who find your sentiments (or you personally) offensive or threatening will be able to target you. If you regard yourself, or persons you love, as too vulnerable for my policy, I understand your decision.
But remember the breadth of the Internet, and the tissue-thinness of the concealment an anonymizing moniker provides. What CNN did to that video maker, it can do to you. For that matter, it takes far less clout and far fewer resources than those possessed by CNN to do it.
Just a quick thought. Feel free to dismiss it as the blather of a man who probably has “nothing to lose.” Except that if you really knew how much I have to lose, and how often vicious persons have threatened me and it, you might sing a different tune.
Personally, I am very divided on this issue. As a result, I continue to operate under a sort of partial anonymity. I am immune to casual attempts to discover my identity. But I don’t operate under any sort of security, and, indeed, my photograph is in the upper right corner. It is also present on my Twitter feed. My Facebook friends are aware of my generally Right-wing leanings, now. I have spoken about family history, and it would not be difficult at all to discover my identity. Indeed, I’ve been doxed before.
At the same time, I don’t sign my name at the end of every piece for a very important reason: it could cost me money. Among my clients and business partners, I deliberately avoid political discussion. No doubt a good many of them are fully aware of my views anyway. But by avoiding discussion of such matters, we focus more readily on matters of business.
Fact is, I don’t expect most folks to understand my views or how I came to believe them. And if any are inclined toward Leftism, not only would they fail to understand my views, they would possibly come to see them as racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, or whatever. It is likely I would lose business.
Now, one might say I am being dishonest with them. But that’s not true either. I explicitly avoid political discussion with them, and they grant me the same courtesy. There are no lies exchanged, only a shared understanding that political discussion can ruin otherwise good business relationships. Now, if CNN came and made a national news story out of something I said, the issue would be forced with them. Their compatriots would ask “why do you associate with him, he said (insert something they don’t like here)?” The relationship would thus be damaged, or destroyed.
On the other hand, I am not personally afraid to air my views. So I attach my photo. And to folks I trust aren’t out to cause me grief, I readily disclose my identity.
Nonetheless, if CNN made me the subject of one of their Maoist Struggle Sessions it would cost me a considerable amount of business. I could afford to suffer the loss, mind you. I generally live below my means and have significant savings and assets. Furthermore, while some of my clients are undoubtedly Left-leaning, many others are not and would probably stick by me even in such an event.
And this circles back to one of the strongest reasons to maintain some level of anonymity: your income. Character assassinations from the Left generally focus on your income. They want to get you fired from your job, or ruin your business, or render you unemployable. And they will twist and spin your words to do this, if necessary. They may even invent lies out of whole cloth, if they don’t find enough to incriminate you. They will take your words out of context, or interpret a joke seriously. If you’ve ever said anything hasty or angry on the Internet, they will unearth it and use that too.
Remember when that poor chef was tarred as a racist because she used the N-word once, decades ago, right after she was robbed?
If Leftists had respect for free speech, anonymity wouldn’t be necessary. And even today, as Francis says, putting your name to a thing shows a level of conviction that the anonymous often lack. But on the other hand, signing your name to a thing can carry a financial cost that one must be comfortable paying. It’s a trade off. Using your name grants authenticity, but can render you and yours more vulnerable.
Only you can decide if the risk is worth the reward. For myself, I have decided to split the middle. I go to no great effort to hide myself, but I maintain a sort of gentleman’s agreement to avoid too much political publicity for sake of my business relationships.
The fact of the matter is, it would be very unwise for CNN or any other entity to dox me and make me the focus of a struggle session, for then I would be freed to sign my name to all of this. The cost would have been forced on me anyway. They would get no apology from me, no grovelling. And I would only become more forceful about my opinions, not less.
Because at that point, what have you got to lose by just going with it? And that ties into another point. If the Left and the media keeps up with tactics like this, it could get very ugly. I have resources and alternate sources of income to carry me through such a time. What happens to folks who don’t have such resources to call upon? If you destroy their livelihood, you will have created an enemy with nothing to lose. You will have put their backs to the wall.
The Left ought to reflect very carefully on this. The anonymous denizens of the Internet could become a lot more dangerous if pressed into a corner. I wouldn’t recommend this course.
At the dawn of the age of blogging, about the time that I started contributing to the mil-blog which put my feet on the path of being a professional writer, I made the decision to post under a nick; Sgt. Mom – which I still use in a couple of different venues. I did not want to use my legal given name; my daughter was still on active duty in the Marine Corps, my brothers and my parents were all in the phone books – and I didn’t want anything that I put out there to rebound on them, in any way shape or form. The matter was discussed many times; use a nick, or use your real name — and there were people on both sides of the matter, for good and valid reasons, which you have outlined here. People in certain jobs and professions wanted to keep a distance between their writings and commentary on blogs, often for just the reason of security.
I’ve often thought that it was fortunate for me that my background in military public affairs kept a kind of self-discipline on what I wrote on-line, so I don’t think there is much that a malicious entity like CNN could use against me – but the other thing that I took away from my military experience as a broadcaster was that if you are out there as an entertainer, a personality – you have a million friends and half a dozen really sick deadly enemies, and you never would have met any of them face to face. I have dealt with the really sick deadly enemies that I have never met face to face, and that kind of malice scares the heck out of me. I do not want to deal with it – hence, the nick, the pen-name and the distance between my creative life, the life on-line and the real life.
I sometimes tell shitlibs (the radical sort who make thinly-veiled threats) that my semi-anonymity is not for my protection, it’s for theirs. After all, smashing my door in, in the middle of the night, is not likely to go well for them.
I live in Texas, and have a CC permit, and a lot of ammo stashed away here and there. My neighbors love me, we have the affection of the local PD through giving them a humongous quantity of homemade gourmet fudge at Christmas … and I own the company which publishes my books. So – targeting me through social media?
Yeah. I’d likely sell a bomb of books if that happened. I’d be willing to risk a sh*storm on that account., but my daughter says “No!”
Good point.
Bringing up the subject of family makes a very good point. Even if you feel confident enough to hang your name out there with your opinions, any blowback may not be limited to you yourself. No one seems to “play fair” these days (as was pointed out above).
YOU’RE “Sgt. Mom”? You were one of my favorite commenters on LGF back in the mists of antiquity before Johnson lost it! (I was “permanent newbie,” whom no one probably remembers.) Thank you for the blast from the past, and now I have to sample your books with an eye to purchasing. Please write something steampunk …
Oh, yes, that’s me – I wasted many an hour on LGF, trying to talk down some of the more … incoherent. Waste of time, as I realized – but the internet was new and young, and I had bags of time at the job I had then. (internet access, and the boss didn’t mind as long as I looked busy.).
I’m sorry – I haven’t written any steampunk – just straight Victorian, generally – but if that’s to your taste – I’m on Amazon. (I didn’t write Don’t Marry Thomas Clarke,though – that’s another Celia Hayes.)
I remember the old LGF… and the purges as Charles went full Leftist. What a sad tale that was.
Another SgtMom fan here! I went to LGF during the “Sixty-First Minute” episode . . . followed until Charles dove off the cliff to the Left.
basically, dropping anonymity is a luxury for those who can afford it, and the rest of us who are just trying to subsist can go fuck ourselves but we are also “cowards.”
as the left wing continues to burn down their own neighborhoods, commit violence against wrongthink violators, and pass yet more laws restricting general freedom.
If Leftists in the media call you cowardly for being anon, just tell ’em that they’re privileged. Besides being true, it’s also language they’ll understand.
Otherwise, forget what Leftists say about your anon status. Seems to me they make liberal use of anonymity when they bash people in the head at their riots…er… protests. They have no leg to stand on.
It’s hardly just Leftists. The “conservatives” over at NRO spout the same thing, and have tried to de-anonymize their comments section.
I do note without passing judgement either way that several of the Founding Fathers choose to use pseudonyms to publish the Federalit’s and Anti-Federalit’s papers.
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was published anonymously. When you’re talking up treason and revolution, anonymity can be very important. Our Founders understood that, especially TreeChopper, TwoBySea, AlmanacMan, and SallysMainSqueeze.
*snicker*
In the late 90s I had some hassles at work over something I posted on UseNet.
These days google is the the second thing recruiters and HR peeps do when they get your resume.
So yeah, if I’m going to discuss politics, guys, martial arts or self defense tactics I’m using William O’Blivion.
s/guys/guns/
These days google is the the second thing recruiters and HR peeps do when they get your resume.
I have been having a hell of a time finding decent work for a long while now. I googled my name and there’s page after page of people with my name who very clearly aren’t me. Add the fact that I don’t use faceborg or twitter, and I wonder if that’s part of the the problem. They can’t easily find out anything about me other than what’s on the resume, and don’t want to take a chance on me without that knowledge.
Try boosting your personal rank by adding your middle name/initial, and creating some bland social media accounts with that initial.
I have a VERY common name, but I’ve always considered not being able to be found a plus.
If you destroy their livelihood, you will have created an enemy with nothing to lose. You will have put their backs to the wall.
The Left ought to reflect very carefully on this. The anonymous denizens of the Internet could become a lot more dangerous if pressed into a corner. I wouldn’t recommend this course.
Of all the things Leftists fail to understand, this is probably the most critical one. But then, I doubt very many of them have ever really had their backs to a wall, or have any faint idea what it’s like.
On a slight tangent, I have heard it said that some people post anonymously online to ensure their ideas get out there without bias. if you don’t know who’s saying X, then one might be more likely to consider X without feelings about the person coming into play.
I use a pen name because I want to place a firewall between my professional life and my politics (or fiction scribblings :)), but also because I don’t want my professional credentials dragged into debates about unrelated subjects. Which gets amusing at times when SJWs insists on pulling THEIR credentials (usually equally irrelevant to the topic at hand) out as proof of their superior education…
I have to agree. While I might agree with someone says anonee mousely, I don’t give it as much weight as I do with someone who doesn’t hide their identity. If you have something important to say, and do in fact mean it, put your name on it.
This shit will go on until penalties are applied that are severe and life changing. The penalties can and probably should be applied in the dark of night, randomly, and surprise surprise….anonymously.
In the old days of BBS communications, this one jackoff effectively stalked me and issued barely veiled bomb threats. The jackoff apparently didn’t care at all for my libertarian viewpoints. These days, the leftist vermin appear to have become truly unhinged and violent over the slightest opposition to their illogical crap. Anonymity on the web pays off in safety.
Beyond that, I’m not in a financial position either to tackle the screaming hatred of thousands of leftist vermin who would love to gin up a violent mob with weapons and Molotov cocktails. Perhaps circumstances will eventually change for the better. If I ever meet my long-shot goal of being a billionaire, I’ll hire twenty-four-hour armed security and speak my mind loudly and publicly. The leftist vermin can then eat shit.
I had something similar happen: I offended someone – to this day I don’t know who, but they went into a social media environment related to my real world identity and said some really crazy offensive things. Using my name.
Yeah. No thanks.
Because the Left can be insane, because a Bernie Bro just attempted mass murder on a bunch of Republican Congressman and the MSM-DNC yawned and has already buried that scandal deeper than an Iranian centrifuge, because Leftists assume everyone in the room is of the same mind because any other thinking is immoral and evil and deserving of being gunned down by a Bernie Bro, because Leftists think Conservatives are evil whereas we just think they’re stupid and ignorant, because they will blacklist you so fast your bank account will drain like a Florida sinkhole, because it is always and fully *personal* to Leftists, because I work in a creative industry dominated by the people I just described, my twitter account, my FUN account, remains anonymous. Everything else is apolitical, because I gots bills to pay and we will deal with them when the time comes.
In the age of Obama, it’s became not just a financial risk, but a legal one. The state took particular interest in people who held the wrong political views. Just a few examples: “Joe the Plumber” (two state bureaucrats reviewed his records in search of a crime), Ben Carson (audited right after Prayer Breakfast), Sarah Palin’s dad (audited 6 times since 2008), Dinesh D’Souza, the GOP donors in WI harassed with the “John Doe raids/prosecutions, and Catherine Engelbrecht/True the Vote (audited by IRS, investigated by ATF, OSHA),
Obama may be gone, but that mindset among remaining city, state, and federal officials has not been banished.
I have been through a persecution campaign, long before the internet existed. It was doubleplus ungood. These days I use my full name on my site and books, but just my first name on other places. “Ellen” is a very common name, but it’s mine. My last name is — distinctive. So I save it for places where I want to be distinguished.
http://rightasusual.blogspot.com/2017/07/not-sure-how-this-all-fits-into-bigger.html
The 3rd link explores the pathology behind the outing of opponents.
I have been keeping fairly meticulous track of leftist threats and violence for about seven years. The more you know about these people, the less you want them knowing about you. It would be completely irresponsible to expose my family to this.
http://www.progressivedisorder.com/FeeltheLove.shtml