Protecting myself through Anonymity

Pic: Phil Monckton/CIOSP

I don’t tend to flaunt my actual identity online. I am not on facebook for that reason. I don’t want to mix my real life with my online life. Online is where I can be me without so many walls around my problems and feelings.

Also, I have always been keenly aware of this vague threat of strangers that basically defines my online experience. I don’t use facebook and so every person I interact with, every person I call friend online, is someone I have never met. And generally speaking I don’t expose myself to them.

I have rarely shown a picture of my face. I don’t use my name in my profiles or avatars. I have only met one other human being from the online world in real life. This however is due to depression keeping me isolated.

I’m not really afraid of you though. If someone I interact with online asks for my name and address so they can send me something, I provide it.

My online friends carried me through the darkest part of my life. They even sent me money unasked when I was homeless. They sent me postcards when I finally found shelter in a tiny room in a rooming house, so I would have something to fill up my bare walls. they have sent me gifts and kindness. They cheered loudest when I got a job. They never stopped listening. They filled my empty hours with silliness and kindness and an endless stream of support. And they never demanded anything from me.

But still my avatar remains an otter and my name remains hidden online.

I read something recently on why remaining anonymous on the internet is not good. How it leads to mistrust and abuse.

And I’ve been questioning my anonymous state. Maybe its time to show my name. I was on my Gravatar a moment ago and nearly changed it from itsathought2 to my name. I ended up only adding my state. How weak of me.

Bullies and Bigots

There is a tumblr post going around about a guy who trolls an ignorant bigot on facebook.

Its funny. And I think its funny because the the ignorant bigot is so unbelievable to me. It feels like a Saturday Night Live sketch. Over the top. An exaggerated version of real life.

But stop. Wait. No. This is real. And then its just sad and a bit depressing about human nature on both sides.

This bigot is struggling along with the IQ probably pushing 90. Education failed him. He doesn’t know he’s struggling under this incapacity. He thinks he’s thinking.

The troll is warping along pretending he is some kind of heroic enlightened person pointing out the bigot, but in reality he is a bully pushing around the weak kid to get laughs.

The bigot isn’t going to change. He’s very likely incapable of it. His hateful ideology is part of his identity. And studies show that you generally need a certain level of intellect to change deeply held ideas and beliefs.

There are also studies that show that making something ridiculous changes people’s minds. And there is an entire sect of Atheists and Liberals who pursue this as an ideology. The followers of PZ Meyer come to mind. The bully knows he isn’t going to change the bigot’s mind. But he has an audience. And those people may be influenced.

Even though the bully and I share many of the same viewpoints, I will never give up on the concept that kindness is a better way to pursue life and that being a bully in any context is not the person I want to be.

I don’t think we have to pursue a taunting attitude when we stand up to bigotry. Although, I concede that it is often an easier one.

The BURN is deep on this…

Donald Trump uses lawyers gratuitously to shut up his critics. He sent one of his lawyers after Jeb Bush’s Leadership PAC. This turned out to be a mistake…. The following is excerpts from a letter was sent back to Trump’s lawyer:

… In fact, RTR has made almost $300,000 in contributions since its creation in January 2015. Unlike your client, we only support conservative candidates.

It is possible you are confusing RTR with any number of federal independent expenditure-only committees (i.e. “Super PACs”) that have exercised their First Amendment rights to educate the public about your client’s public statements and stances on important public policy issues. We suggest you consult the Federal Election Commission’s (“FEC”) website (www.fec.gov) to familiarize yourself about the differences between Leadership PACs and Super PACs,

…Should your client actually be elected Commander-in-Chief, will you be the one writing the cease and desist letters to Vladimir Putin, or will that be handled by outside counsel? As a candidate for President, your client is a public figure and his campaign should, and will, befact-checked. The ability to criticize a candidate’s record, policies and matters of public importance lies at the heart of the First Amendment, as courts have repeatedly recognized. If you have the time between bankruptcy filings and editing reality show contracts, we urge you to flip through the Supreme Court’s decision in New York Times v. Sullivan. If your client is so thin-skinned that he cannot handle his critics’ presentation of his own public statements, policies and record to the voting public, and if such communications hurts his feelings, he is welcome to purchase airtime to defend his record. After all, a wall can be built around many things, but not around the First Amendment.

[emphasis is mine]

The beauty of this letter, is it’s perfectly controlled intellectual condescension, which hits every note perfectly. Bush is apparently smart enough to hire good people and has been raised to be what he is – a career politician.

Trump – well neither of those things apply is the pleasantest way to put it. And nothing could be more snidely implied in this letter.

Bush took his assets and jabbed them deeply between ribs of Trump’s fragile ego. I have to appreciate that.

I may never vote for him, but I find Bush far more tolerable as a potential leader than Trump or Cruz or nearly every other potential on the Republican board. If for no other reason than a career politician understands the value of compromise.

Maybe there is Hope.

Maybe we should just take her down.

statue of liberty

You know what the poem inside says?

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

I imagine a future of Trump Land, where she will be dismantled and a large gold Trump sign will be erected with something printed below about being the home of white rich people who claim christian descent, if not actual practice.

Although, to be fair, we have ignored with impunity the sentiments of this poem for longer than is seemly.

Trump is merely the next logical step to our ever more legalized xenophobia.