Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Sad, but there it is.

Today, our mad-as-Health blogger, who on widely scattered occasions manages to wipe the foam from his mouth and venture a blog post on esoteric topics like health, as opposed to the vicious monolithic ungodly left-wing campaign to dictate the color and flavor of therapeutic Jolly Ranchers, tackles the topic of anonymity.

Why Anonymity

Anonymity is sometimes criticized on this and other blogs. But there are legitimate reasons why anonymity is at times appropriate.
After this bland beginning, the formerly pseudonymous (when it suited hospital politics) Dr. Dan rapidly and paranoically devolves to regular form, presenting a lengthy, verbatim recitation of a Heritage Foundation missive on Proposition 8 in California, one depicting brave resistance fighters ducking down hinged plastic tree stumps leftover from the Hogan's Heroes set in order to evade nazi-like Obama-ist harassment and complete their holy mission of sticking it to the non-Biblical gays in the name of theocracy.

We constantly read these logic-as-twisting-mountain-goatpath polemics to anonymity as the very epitome of courage, but what floors me is how people otherwise disposed to exalt manly virtues never quite get around to explaining why standing tall behind one's name isn't indicative of similar ethical principles.

Maybe that's hypocrisy, or maybe it's cowardice, but either way, it's no place I want to be.

Then again, I'm not the one screaming bloody murder while tumbling through space somewhere on the fringe of a paranoid conspiracy theory.

8 comments:

  1. Somewhere a dead horse is being flogged.

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  2. Flogged, shot, stabbed, strangled, ...

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  3. "And all my friends turned out to be insurance salesmen"

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  4. "But there are legitimate reasons why anonymity is at times appropriate." NAhealth

    Anonymity is good when you take hateful public positions and are afraid of being attacked. Is that the statement Dr. Ice is making? It still falls under the cowardly threshold. So, just don’t take a position you can’t stand up for, it’s a real crappy advertisement for your position.


    "But there are legitimate reasons why anonymity is at times appropriate."

    If you work in government and you’re excuse is losing your job, we have Whistle-blower Protection Laws that protect gov’t employees. If you know of gov’t wrong-doing and you do not report it to the proper authorities, you could be found complicit later ‘ya know. Again, bad advice Doc.

    "But there are legitimate reasons why anonymity is at times appropriate."

    What are they!!!!!! Please all you hooded people, why is your disguise so important in a democracy?

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  5. "Maybe that's hypocrisy, or maybe it's cowardice, but either way, it's no place I want to be.'

    But still Roger, your blog masks people too. They only have to tell you who they are and they can put whatever as their pen, there's anonymity in that as well.

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  6. yeah, good point about "screen names"...

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  7. anon posters will always find a way.

    Those who wish to give the appearance of an "upstanding" citizen, but liek to stir up trouble with people will hatch multiple personalities.

    Policies, rules, and regulations will have little effect on this situation. Unfortunately, it shows a growing lack of moral character and standing behind ones word in our society.

    I am all for freedom of speech, but I am also for accountability for speech that is reckless and purposely damaging to others when based in misrepresentation or distortion of information.

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