Comments on: Pseudonymity and Accountability http://www.juliansanchez.com/2009/06/08/pseudonymity-and-accountability/ Just another geek in the geek kingdom Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:38:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2 By: Barry http://www.juliansanchez.com/2009/06/08/pseudonymity-and-accountability/comment-page-1/#comment-8031 Barry Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:55:18 +0000 http://www.juliansanchez.com/?p=3241#comment-8031 I'd enlarge on the 'accountability' point. NRO is famous for two things (1) A sharp partisan bias, and (2) an incredibly low level of knowledge and analysis. In fact, this affair started when a right-wing lawblogger showed that Whelan didn't know what he was talking about (although Whelen is supposed to be a lawyer, and is writing as if he knew the law). However, the writers at NRO haven't suffered any noticeable damage to their careers by writing there, and almost certainly won't - the system works that way. Once one is in the professional media, accountability is for peons (note that TNR has been an example of scum rising to the top for a quarter century now). If psedonymity is banned, the world belongs those willing to be public wh*res. Respectable people dare not enter their opinions. I’d enlarge on the ‘accountability’ point. NRO is famous for two things (1) A sharp partisan bias, and (2) an incredibly low level of knowledge and analysis. In fact, this affair started when a right-wing lawblogger showed that Whelan didn’t know what he was talking about (although Whelen is supposed to be a lawyer, and is writing as if he knew the law).

However, the writers at NRO haven’t suffered any noticeable damage to their careers by writing there, and almost certainly won’t – the system works that way. Once one is in the professional media, accountability is for peons (note that TNR has been an example of scum rising to the top for a quarter century now).

If psedonymity is banned, the world belongs those willing to be public wh*res. Respectable people dare not enter their opinions.

]]> By: Dan Summers http://www.juliansanchez.com/2009/06/08/pseudonymity-and-accountability/comment-page-1/#comment-7951 Dan Summers Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:26:41 +0000 http://www.juliansanchez.com/?p=3241#comment-7951 Just so. Outing is an ugly and intellectually lazy thing to do, and is equally vile when practiced by vitriolic partisans on either the right or the left. Whelan's justifications are tissue-thin, and cover the plain fact that he merely wished to inflict damage on someone who bothered him. The use of pseudonyms is as old as rhetoric, and has served to promote a freedom of speech that we hold dear if we value the free exchange of ideas. I am almost grateful (though I'm not sure Publius is) to Whelan for his puerile display of pique, since it at least has brought this conversation to the fore, and has highlighted why pseudonymity is an integral part of Internet media. Just so. Outing is an ugly and intellectually lazy thing to do, and is equally vile when practiced by vitriolic partisans on either the right or the left. Whelan’s justifications are tissue-thin, and cover the plain fact that he merely wished to inflict damage on someone who bothered him.

The use of pseudonyms is as old as rhetoric, and has served to promote a freedom of speech that we hold dear if we value the free exchange of ideas. I am almost grateful (though I’m not sure Publius is) to Whelan for his puerile display of pique, since it at least has brought this conversation to the fore, and has highlighted why pseudonymity is an integral part of Internet media.

]]>