Thursday, December 17, 2009
Why We Write Anonymously
Several people have asked me why I write under a pen name.
In fact, some of the leading writers have used pen names.
As one of the best financial bloggers, Tyler of Zero Hedge, points out (edited slightly for readability):
Though often maligned (typically by those frustrated by an inability to engage in ad hominem attacks), anonymous speech has a long and storied history in the United States. Used by the likes of Mark Twain (aka Samuel Langhorne Clemens) to criticize common ignorance, and perhaps most famously by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay (aka publius) to write the Federalist Papers, we think ourselves in good company in using one or another nom de plume.Most of what we write is backed up with links to original materials from credible sources, so that you can verify that the claims are true yourself.
Particularly in light of an emerging trend against vocalizing public dissent in the United States, we believe in the critical importance of anonymity and its role in dissident speech.
Like the Economist magazine, we also believe that keeping authorship anonymous moves the focus of discussion to the content of speech and away from the speaker - as it should be.
Note: You are welcome to re-print or re-post anything we have written if you use it for educational uses, and so long as you:
(1) Do not misquote or take anything out of context (please leave in the links, if you can, as it is more complete that way)
and
(2) Give proper attribution and credit to Washingtons Blog (if on the Web, please link to this site)
3 comments:
→ Thank you for contributing to the conversation by commenting. We try to read all of the comments (but don't always have the time).
→ If you write a long comment, please use paragraph breaks. Otherwise, no one will read it. Many people still won't read it, so shorter is usually better (but it's your choice).
→ The following types of comments will be deleted if we happen to see them:
-- Comments that criticize any class of people as a whole, especially when based on an attribute they don't have control over
-- Comments that explicitly call for violence
→ Because we do not read all of the comments, I am not responsible for any unlawful or distasteful comments.
Posts
Here's some topical and current jingle-mail we all should be considering for what it portends.
ReplyDelete"Morgan Stanley to Surrender 5 San Francisco Towers"
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a5KuG3V2IxHE&pos=5
There's no stigma to this sort of -coughing up the cat hair-, is there?
I think for our purposes nom de guerre is more appropriate.
ReplyDeleteThanks George, I did use a lot of your info in an interview, but most I already have accumalted over the years of my own research. But should have given you credit as to why we cannot stay in Afgahnistan I promise next time. Just used the blood and treasure lines..I post you other places and hope your readership continues to increase. GOOD JOB, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!
ReplyDelete