Well week one is in the books and all in all things seem to
be off to a decent start. Inside the HoCo bloggerverse most of the feedback has
revolved around my anonymity. Mostly
shall we say NOT in favor.
Most of that feedback has been heartfelt and honest. Here are the arguments (paraphrased) I have
heard against my anonymity:
All the anonymity in this world (both virtual and real) has
done way too much damage for it to be used for a good purpose.
This is just a gimmick to get people guessing and paying
attention.
People will assume the worst of my intentions maybe even
that I am an elected official using anonymity to take cheap shots without
consequence.
I’ve lost the higher ground with the inevitable deluge of
anonymous and obnoxious commenters.
I truly appreciate these comments/criticisms. The first one was made even more clear when
someone anonymously acted like an asshole to blogger JuliaMcCready. While the anonymous letter
would have been no less out of line had it been done with attribution I easily
concede that without the protection of anonymity the sender would have not had
the “courage” to send it in the first place.
As I said in my first post, the decision to go at it
anonymously was done with a great deal of thought and I wasn’t 100% convinced
it was the right move then (or now) although I still do feel it is with the
complete understanding that I will not be anonymous forever[1]. Let me first take a quick moment to remember
the good things that came under anonymity or by pseudonym.[2]
Richard Bachman
Let’s talk political writing, of course there is Publius arguably
the best persuasive political writing of our nation. None other than Ben Franklin did a
great deal of writing under various pseudonyms.
For many of them he developed robust backstories.[4]
Finally of course there is Hayduke, dare I say the originator
of quality HoCo blogging. In fact, I
reached out to Ian last week (maintaining my pseudonym) and talked to him about
his experience writing anonymously and the “outing” process. We
emailed quite a bit and he was supportive of my decision because of my
motivations. I took a lot of what Ian
said to heart, including the fact that when he wrote the norms were different
and that he might not have written HoCoHayduke under todays norms. Ultimately he said breaking those norms had
to be my call of course but that he certainly saw and supported the concept of
what and why I was doing this.
For the time being I am standing firm that my words should
be judged without the context of who I am precisely. I am not asking you to trust that I have
appropriate motivations, I have done nothing to garner that trust. Rather I am simply asking that you read
critically, and contribute. This post here
actually shows what that might look like.
Finally, in HoCo Rising’s last post entitled “I Bet You
Think This Bill is About You” I saw in the comment section a narrative that
precisely described my motivations for staying anonymous. They came from current CDC President Josh
Friedman: “[L]ook at the
debate last year over sugary drinks. The debate, which started out as a debate
about the role of government, mutated into a debate about why supporters
supported it so much, and why opponents were so staunchly opposed. Inevitably,
such a discussion becomes what we are seeing today; a battle where ideas are
belittled and conspiracy theories about hidden agendas take hold. Then we are
no longer debating a problem and possible solutions, we are debating who feels
stronger about their own position. The problem with those who oppose ideas by
belittling the problem, or trying to morph the issue into some sort of personal
attack is that, in so doing, you are no longer attempting to influence the
management of the affairs of state. It is no longer about politics, nor
governing.”
Well
said, and though I don’t presume that being anonymous will entirely protect me
or my ideas from that devolution it does legitimately set a buffer and it
helps. Judge me, attack me, debate me or
embellish me, all based on my ideas.
It’s a big ask I know but we live in #HoCo FFS we should be able to pull
it off.
[1] I
also know that I likely can not completely control my own outing or I may not
be able to control it at all.
[2] I
decided not to list any classical musical compositions because it was
impossible for me to discern which were intentionally anonymous and which we
simply lost who actually wrote them
[3] I
am definitely open to the definition of “good” for these guys. But hey, avant garde music as done here
really has positively (I think) effected modern music. Even if it by itself it sounds kind of silly
to me.
[4]
Interesting side note that doesn’t particularly help my point, Franklin
published the following in the New England Courant under the pseudonym Silence
Dogood: “The generality of people, now a
days, are unwilling either to commend or dispraise what they read, until they
are in some measure informed who or what the Author of it is.” He then establishes the character of Silence
Dogood. I am not playing a character and
think doing so would be a bad idea for my purposes.
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