To blog… Or not to blog… That is the question

When I started writing on blogs, like many others, I used a pseudonym in order to protect my identity.  Living in South Carolina, and having an anti-Republican mindset, my opinions could have opened my family up for retribution from employers, neighbors, and the occasional psychotic.

I “outed” myself for two main reasons; first, I really stopped caring if people knew who I was or not, and second, if I was going to change anything, than it had to come from me, not from an internet moniker.

For the occasional commenter on a blog, a moniker is more than adequate.  For an activist, there simply comes a time when your identity is going to become known to the public, whether you want it to or not.  I am not advocating that people “out” themselves, nor, am I defending the practice of “outing” a persons identity against their will.  I am simply stating a truism.  While the idea of having a blogger ethics panel, setting standards for blogging, and organizing the internet into one huge community that holds hands sounds good, it is simply not viable.  

First, as we know, those on the Right have no ethics.  There are two recent cases to prove this point; Ed Whelan who “outed” Publius of Obsidian Wings, and, Mudflats that got “outed” in Alaska by a state legislature.  In both of these instances, the intent was clear; harm, humiliate, and inconvenience a detractor.  Second, you simply cannot enforce any ethics or standards in a medium as open as the internet.

I am not here to report and let you, the reader, decide.  I, like many others, am here to give my opinion on whatever subject grabs my attention, which usually means the war, military issues, veterans issues, issues of law, politics, and egregious media reporting.  I, like many others, have had my credentials and credibility to opine on a subject questioned by others.  For those who remember my diaries at Daily Kos under the moniker the Motley Patriot, you already know my background and credentials.  For those who don’t, I usually post my relevant experience when I have it in my essays.  It is, for lack of better term, an impromptu bio, just like you’d find on other sites (maybe we can get one here for regular posters?).

Unlike Ed Whelan, I don’t feel that the bane of the internet is the anonymous blogger who disagrees with a person.  In my eyes, the bane of the internet is the “echo chamber” and pure hatred and vindictiveness you encounter when people disagree.  You find it at Redstate.  You find it at Daily Kos.  You find it on the internet just about everywhere even if you aren’t talking politics.  Everyone has an opinion on something.  There are those whose opinion can be given more weight based on their knowledge, experience, and position.  

If I were to opine on the economy in disagreement with Paul Krugman, whose opinion would be more believable?  If you say mine, then you are sadly mistaken!  But, that doesn’t mean that Krugman is right every time, either.  Even people who are supposed to be right can be wrong.

The difference between the internet blogs and the “mainstream” media is that we haven’t had to play the game to get into a position to have a forum.  By the time the Charles Krauthammer’s and Judith Miller’s get their syndicated column, they have already sold their souls.  We, hopefully, still have ours.

We came here to expose the truth.  Sometimes, the truth hurts.  Sometimes, we are forced to take a step back and re-evaluate our own positions.  Sometimes, over time, we realize that a position we took in the past was wrong.  But, that is also why we are here; there is a right and wrong position, at times.  As we have seen, doing what is right is dangerous and holds real consequences.  How many whistleblower’s had their lives shattered, careers ended, or were bankrupted fighting vindictive prosecution to that fight?  

I am currently taking courses to retrain into Information Technology, after almost 20 years of combined military, bomb disposal technician and law enforcement experience that became all but useless to me after I suffered an injury to my spine in 2003.  Because I post under my real name, a fellow student in my class found out that I post here at docudharma and has read some of my essays.  It wasn’t a big deal, him being ex-Army, and, all he wanted to know was if I was at Abu Ghraib during the abuse scandal that was the subject of one of one of my essays.  I wasn’t.  And trust me, training to fix computers was the last thing I’d be doing at this point in my life.  But, I digress.

As my last essay pointed out, when you become an activist, as Cindy Sheehan did, you become a target, just as she did.  Just as Publius became to Ed Whelan.  Just as Mudflats became to the Alaska GOP.  Just as the whistleblowers became.

I, unlike many, have the skills to protect myself, and my family.  So, I fully understand those who blog under a moniker, just as I did at one time.  Neither choice is right or wrong, it is what it is; a choice.  We all make choices.  We choose to blog, or, not to blog.  We choose to do so under a moniker, or, to do so under our actual names.

Like Publius and Ed Whelan, I have gotten into arguments with others who were in, or were former, law enforcement officer.  Like the Whelan/Publius pissing contest, it eventually devolved into who “really” was a cop or not, while their pissing contest was “who really had a lawyer degree or not”.  The disagreement devolves into a matter of credentials instead of the purity of the argument itself.  That is the nature of the internet, and, it is why echo chambers form.

I think that everyone here understands that we are in a fight for the soul of our country.  We come here to voice our opinions on it.  We rant.  We fume.  We bang our heads against a huge brick wall.  That, in and of itself, is more a form of therapy, of venting, than actually doing any good.  But, we do it anyway.  We do not hold a national forum like Keith Olbermann.  Nor, do we have to contend with the “hyena packs” hunting for purity that Redstate and Daily Kos and Talk Left have become.

We can agree.  We can disagree.  We can post things that make each uncomfortable (sorry buddy and nightprowlkitty).  We do this because this is the place we chose to post our opinions.  We do this because we all have the need to fight for what we believe is right.

This is our voice.  Our place to write.  No matter how we chose to do it, or under what name.  No matter how much about our lives we chose to reveal to others.  

As an aside, I’ll post what I sent to Ed Whelan:

Mr. Whelan,

Let me ask you, what did you think to accomplish by “outing” Publius?  Hmmm?

Let me tell you what you did.

You made yourself to look like an unprincipled HACK who can’t even take criticism.

Don’t worry about trying to “out” me…  my name is Michael Gass.  You can find me at (deleted till Ed Whelan “outs” my address).

I thoroughly will enjoy your next vindictive post where someone who criticized you gets outed, as you post my name and address online.

Go ahead… be a man!

Michael Gass