WaPo opines that all web sites should require commenters and posters to use their real names. This, it is written, will keep the “hatemongers” at bay. An example of a “hatemonger” is given of a pseudonymous speaker at a school board meeting who advocates for less bureaucracy.
“In any community in America, if Mr. anticrat424 [the pseudonymous speaker] refused to identify himself, he would be ignored and frozen out of the civic problem-solving process.” So says the editorialist.
I, Vache Folle, disagree. Pseudonymous pamphleteers have a long and important history, and they have not been ignored. I use a pseudonym in blogging, and I am unashamed of doing so. I don’t reckon Mr anticrat424’s hypothetical activities were hateful, unless you count a dislike of bureaucrats as hateful. Secondly, there might be very good reasons to conceal one’s true identity other than covering yourself as a hater. Thirdly, the validity of one’s statements should not be affected by one’s identity. If you are telling the truth, it is still the truth even if you don’t give your name.
Why do I go by the moniker of Vache Folle instead of using my real name? I don’t want my employer to know all my opinions on things. I have a stuffy job and some unorthodox views, and these might not mix all that well. I also want to be able to report on the attitudes and opinions of my coworkers without their knowing that I am doing so. I also want to write about religious issues without my coreligionists’ being able to identify me and brand me a heretic. That’s the extent of it. Not too creepy, is it?
Bite me, WaPo. I didn’t want to comment on your web sites anyway.
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7 comments:
I'm sure glad you finally came clean. My wife and I have had the dangdest (or is that darndest?) time pronouncing Vache Folle. And the blog spell checker comes up with "vague folly" as a suggestion - which is what WaPo is claiming to begin with.
Steve,
It's French. Vache as in the cheese: "La Vache Qui Rit", ie Laughing Cow cheese. And Folle as in "La Cage aux Folles", ie the cage of fools. It translates to Mad Cow, my favorite bovine ailment.
Vache
Mooooooooooo!
I will come clean also - my name is not lemme howdt. Most people can guess that. I work for a non-profit that gets government and foundation grants to teach science. The policies of granting agencies allow no room for personal life in the affairs of non-profit work - and since the process is competitive, a single jog against an area of dislike and woomph, there goes the organizational funding. Since people do not work in a vacuum, the ability to remain anonymous is a means of protecting one's back. If somebody really wants to find howdt who i am, i am certain they can. i leave a trail a mile wide - because i do not wish to deceive, only to protect my back and not make it easy for the nut-jobs, who will monkey wrench anyone they don't like.
I wonder what they think of Silence Dogood, that lousy, uncivil transplanted Philidelphian.
I wrangled with the quesition of whether to identify myself when I started this blog thing. I guess it's too late. I don't have much to say about my work or coworkers, so that made it easier. Losing my life or being excommunicated isn't that big a deal to me, but I simply cannot lose my job.
This blog reminds me of a friend who remembered lots of lawyer jokes and then framed them per the listener's profession. If you are that person, would love to hear from you. Can find me at my workplace web site. Been teaching now for 30 years.
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