I personally know one liberal who was sacked for attending an antiwar protest last year, one conservative who bragged about selecting the liberals in his department for redundancy, and more than a few lefties who were too afraid to attend smaller anti-war protests in case their names ended up on black or no-fly lists. Greens were denied the right to fly more than a few times.

Repression does exist in the USA, and the majority of it is directed at those that oppose the establishment in favour of left-leaning ideals. Protecting yourself in such a society is unfortunately a prerequisite.

So much for land of the free, huh.

ADAM YOSHIDA is a Harvard blogger with some interesting observations on the war.

Holy mother of Christ. That’s the first time I’ve seen someone use “Adam Yoshida” in a sentence without also using the word “psychotic.”

To the larger point of the Atrios/Sullivan issue – when Sullivan begins attacking Tacitus’s anonymity – or that of the Economist’s contributors, as noted in the original post – or issuing “challenges” to Glenn Reynolds, I might respect him. That is, I might respect him – if he starts writing/blogging instead of handing out today’s Nth “Barbra Streisand Award!” in lieu of actual commentary. Sullivan is one of the only people who can make Mickey Kaus look deep.

Obviously — but then again, there’s no need to draw attention to the obvious, is there? We knew Glenn has the ability to see genius where others can’t when he announced:

ADAM YOSHIDA is a Harvard blogger with some interesting observations on the war.

But when the NYT and WPost ‘speak’, they do so anonymously, through the editorial section. Or rather, through a collective, identifiable pseudonym, which is ‘The New York Times’ or ‘The Washington Post’. And while the ‘editorial board’ may be available, I know from personal experience that those who write and contribute to editorials aren’t necessarily listed.

Do we really want newspapers to sign their editorials? No: bylines are for op-ed. The point being that the institutions are accountable for their editorial viewpoints, just as a consistently pseudonymous commentator is not particularly elusive when it comes to critique.

Now, if you can find Atrios glove-puppeting elsewhere, a la John ‘Mary Josh’ Lott, then you’d have a point.

Having listened to Atrios and Andrew Sullivan on the Blogging of the President radio show (you can hear it here),…

We are named after the crab in The Little Mermaid, 1989?!? This isn’t Kyle Williams‘ blog you know, appearances to the contrary notwithstanding.

What’s so unbelievable about that name? Seems like a reasonable name to me. There was a guy in the class after me in law school called “Suk Wang.” Now that’s an unbelievable name. And the State’s Attorney of Cook County is named “Dick Devine” — sounds like a porno star. And then there’s a lawyer named “Richard Kuntz” – or “Dick Kuntz” if you prefer. My sister used to have a friend named “Kelly Green.” I know a chessplayer named “Spottsworth Christmas.” (Never asked if he has a sister “Mary.” But if you do a search you’ll find there are people named that, and “Dick Harden” and “Harry Cox.”) And then poor “Sadly, No!” is apparently named “Sebastian” after the crab in “The Little Mermaid.” :-)

I could have created a fake name for my own blog (and don’t think it didn’t cross my mind), but strangers don’t even believe my real name anyway so it seemed beside the point. Besides, I live far away, I don’t much worry about freepers bothering me. (How long did it take you to wonder whether “William Ericson” was my real name?)

But I guess vandalism is only for right wingers who support the war… Moron.

I still think it is funny that Atrios lobs personal attacks and insults while hiding behind a handle. At least it has turned out to be a profitable venture for him given all the gutter political ads he is spewing on his site.

Unless they’re funny.

And not about me.

Seriously, though, we’ve had to remove our polite little anti-war bumper sticker (“No Iraq War”) because our car kept getting vandalized. I don’t really care that some people strongly disagree with our opinion on the war, but it greatly disturbs me that they believe their disagreement gives them the right to do violence to our property. Depending on where you live, being anonymously liberal is not necessarily a bad idea, nor paranoid.

Of course, I choose not to be anonymous here because a) I doubt the car vandalizers from our area even know how to get on the internet past their own email and b) I’m not listed in the phone book and c) ego!

We know exactly why Sullivan changed his letters policy ? another instance of horrible hypocrisy ? and we will be blogging about it later tonight.

SullyWatch

As I said on Atrios’ feedback page, bullies like Sullivan eventually implode; the strain of keeping up a false self is too great. Sullivan, of course, realizes this, which is why he’s terrified of Atrios. He’s projecting his own terror about his own lack of a self or true center, onto someone who chooses anonymity. Anonymity scares the narcissist, because he cannot manipulate/character assassinate the person so easily.

Keep up the good work.

There are a lot of wackos out there. I am nobody of consequence, but in the past I have been harassed at home, via anonymous phone calls, over discussion of science fiction fandom on Usenet (in which I used my real name). If there are weirdoes who will get that worked up over something as trivial as SF fandom, you can be assured that there are weirdoes who will get that worked up, or worse, over something as important and as polarizing as politics. I learned my lesson back in the day, and so I use a pseudonym and throwaway/fake email addresses when I post on political blogs. Maybe that means I am “afraid to stand up for my viewpoints,” but I don’t consider blog-commenting to be a sufficiently-important activity to take the risk of being harassed by anonymous freaks.

These practices do not seem to fit together.