paul wheaton wrote:I would very much like to encourage everyone to click on "my profile" and change your name to your real name. Or, change your name to a real sounding name.
Thanks!
Looks like I became a McCoy too...
Okay... I have a question, two arguments and a statement why I use anonymity.
Why is Paul interested in the appearance of non-anonymity?
Argument #1:
The difference between an anonymous handle and a fake real name is the difference between anonymity and the crime of impersonation of another person (accidental or by chance).
Argument #2:
This seems like an innocent request from Paul.
However, deeply rooted issues of free versus authoritarian societies are tied into this request.
Oh yes, I've heard the arguments of responsibility versus anonymity and the arguments that Internet anonymity is no longer possible. And arguments that there is no such thing as freedom.
But the fact remains after these arguments are exhausted, few (if any) authoritarian regimes can abide anonymous expression.
Yes, in the history of humankind, there have existed benevolent kings and queens. Anonymous express was encouraged under benevolent kings and queens so they could get all view points from their own people. And those who dared to speak without anonymity usually did not suddenly commit suicide, go to prison for unrelated issues usually having to do with sex, have a fatal accident, get strange cancers shortly thereafter, go mysteriously crazy, or get their heads chopped off.
Now surely, Paul Wheaton is a far cry from a dictator over my personal life, yes? And surely it isn't much to ask that people pretend to use real names? After all, it is his free to the user website for which we are all grateful, yes?
But this requirement sets a certain tone doesn't it?
The tone either says:
I.
"Outside pressure to conform to a system that can come and get people with the wrong opinion has become so great, we must pretend to use real names";
II. or "We just want you to take a little step towards becoming less anonymous. The difference between an anonymous handle and a fake real name is the difference between anonymity and the crime of impersonation of another person. One is a crime we can later make a legitimate argument for convincing you to later change to your real name."
When it comes to anonymity, the question is usually asked: what do you have to hide?
What do I have to hide? Everything: my way of life, who I love, how I talk, how I walk, how I breathe, how I eat and what I say on forums such as these.
A boundary used to exist between what a person shared with other people from one arena to another (as lovers, friends, business people)... now we are being told we must be forcibly made to share more and more until we are forced to share everything with anyone with enough power or money to make us do so. And further more, it is a privilege that we get to do so: if we don't like it, then all privileges to share will be taken from us.
Boundaries are not understood by unconscious abusers and all too well understood by predatory abusers, be they cults, governments, corporations or people.
The first thing a predatory abuser will do is start to break your boundaries with out your permission, all the while trying to seem innocent and making you sound like you're over reacting. Eventually, you tell yourself the black eye "isn't that bad" and that "you deserved it".
It's none of your dXXn business until I decide it is my business to share with you at whatever level I feel comfortable sharing with you based on trust. I decide who crosses what boundaries and when; not peer pressure, not a government, not a corporation and not any other entity that insists on it.
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