SCENE: At a sleazy bar in a newly-gentrified part of Northeast Minneapolis. Music is playing on a jukebox, from which everything but the Indigo Girls and Sting have been removed. A group of people – “Phoenix”, “Wege”, “Spotty”, “Aaron”, “Two Putt”, “MNob”, Jeff and “Blue Man” – sit, drinking organic beer. One of them reads a tabloid newspaper.
BLUE MAN: “Hey, look at this!”
Thousands of bloggers who operate behind the cloak of anonymity have no right to keep their identities secret, the High Court ruled yesterday.
TWO PUTT: “HOLY CRAP!”
PHOENIX: “OMGz! What a bunch of fascists!”
JEFF: “Er guys?”
WEGE: “Let’s think this over. MNob – can you do some lawyer stuff?”
MNOB: “I’ll demand a summary judgment!”
BARTENDER: “You can’t. The judge has already ruled.
SPOTTY: “Demand it again!”
[Some of them rise from their seats]
BLUE MAN (continues):
In a landmark decision, Mr Justice Eady refused to grant an order to protect the anonymity of a police officer who is the author of the NightJack blog. The officer, Richard Horton, 45, a detective constable with Lancashire Constabulary, had sought an injunction to stop The Times from revealing his name
SPOTTY: “So in other words, bloggers who blog anonymously aren’t protocted any more?”
AARON: “Oh, my, god…”
JEFF: “Er, Aaron? Technically, “Aaron Landy” actually IS your name”
AARON: “I hate you”
WEGE: “Let’s run for it!”
[TWO PUTT, MNOB, SPOTTY and AARON jump up and run from the room]
BLUE MAN: “Wait – isn’t this in England?”
PHOENIX: “It doesn’t matter; their court decisions should supercede ours!”
[All of them leave the room at a dead run]
And…scene.
Shit.
If I ever blog in England then my son will become embarassed… in anywhere from six to thirteen years.
Of course, I’ll embarass him for other reasons much sooner… both intentionally and inadvertantly.
Badda, as will all of us.
Mitch – faux conversation again? Really?
Good thing no right wing bloggers hide anything about their identity, and good thing you’ve never posted about their right to do so, because if you had, your faux conversation would only serve as a parody of your own complaints.
faux conversation again? Really?
Really!
Good thing no right wing bloggers hide anything about their identity,
Who?
good thing you’ve never posted about their right to do so
Sure, I have. And I continue to.
But here’s the deal; among conservative anonymous bloggers, either their identies are relatively well-known (Rob “NZ Bear” Neppell, Joe “Learned Foot” Tucci, Paul “Nihilist in Golf Pants” Happe, Jim “Sisyphus” Styczhinczszczki) , or they’re pretty much out on the fringe.
OTOH, anonymous leftybloggers are among the cream of the local leftyblog crop, and some of them use their anonymity to take a lot of really cheap shots and yellow writing they’d never do if people knew who they were.
HA! MNpubic banned my IP after I posted the name of one of their assnozzle commentators. Moonbats = Cowardly little pukes….yes, teh peevee, I’m looking at you!
Good thing no right wing bloggers hide anything about their identity
Uh, Peev? If you click on the blue link, you can get my name. Same thing goes with BradC, Bike Bubba and several others. We are all hiding in plain sight.
Styczhinczszczki
Wow. Sisyphus ought to arrange some sort of trade with King. He’s got a few vowels to spare and it looks like Sisyphus could use a few.
fix that tag!
Try again!
But here’s the deal; among conservative anonymous bloggers, either their identies are relatively well-known (Rob “NZ Bear” Neppell, Joe “Learned Foot” Tucci, Paul “Nihilist in Golf Pants” Happe, Jim “Sisyphus” Styczhinczszczki) , or they’re pretty much out on the fringe.
Mitch – if memory serves – Bordkorb (or someone) tried to avoid identifying who they were (was it TVM?) – I just dont’ recall, then Bordkorb tried to avoid disclosing his VERY CLOSE relationship with the GOP – so this complaint is just bogus. There are PULUNTY of GOP Bloggers who do so anonymously, and maybe I’m wrong (I’ll be happy to say so), but I don’t believe Tucci’s name is on his blog. YOU specifically deserve credit for putting yourself out there, but you aren’t the norm, not by a darned sight (in my opinion).
OTOH, anonymous leftybloggers are among the cream of the local leftyblog crop, and some of them use their anonymity to take a lot of really cheap shots and yellow writing they’d never do if people knew who they were.
– And I’d counter that you and many others say things you’d NEVER EVER say if it was a. at work b. in a public setting where such comments would be rightly pilloried (ie. Anti-Semitism is a key tenent of the american left) – so you’re behaving the same way. Moreover, MOST of the prominent left bloggers I know of are working out of MNPUBLIUS or blog of the moderate left, or if you like Minn Indy, and they are fully public.
Lastly – if you want to exempt Anti-Strib – where folks like oh, Il Duce, or Kermit (and no, I don’t consider your first name being non-anonymous) post LOTS and LOTS and they aren’t public.
In short, you’re exactly like the left, no better, and maybe a little worse.
Really.
That said, don’t take it personally – I have a lot of respect for you for putting yourself out there publicly. It’s because of folks like AK and Swift and K-Rod that I don’t post under my own name – though I’ve put it in the public space often enough (including here).
Swift, you’re a tool. I’ve posted my name here more than once – and I certainly have no issue doing so again – so shove your cowardly crap up where your brain seems permanently lodged. By the way Swift, thanks for proving my point.
Regards – Pat Bryant
Oh, btw Mr. D – last year (or the year before) Mitch had a LONG running segment about how bloggers are perfectly entitled to hide identities and other information. I wasn’t talking about you, I was mocking the complaint since it was coming from the chief cheerleader of ‘protecting blogger identities’. Sometimes it’s not about you.
One other comment, I have and will always abe happy to make my comments face to face, in person and not hide from them.
By the way, Swift, it’s because of that kind of conduct that no one takes you seriously. More than that, what a repulsive cretin you are. I don’t care, but what if someone DID – I guess you respect privacy and personal property EXCEPT when your inclination to be a jerk takes over.
Wow – Mitch, this guy’s your friend? What an ass.
Several lefty bloggers like peev have threatened commentors… threats of harm… threats of contacting their employer…
Typical thuggery of Liberal Fascists.
Look how well peev takes the high road… Meltdown!!!!
I don’t think it would be a good idea to converse face to face with Peev, I have seen his meltdowns online and it would not be out of bounds to think he might get physically violent…
Peev might always be happy to make his comments face to face, but won’t call in live on a radio program to repeat his comments/questions for Rep. Bachmann when given the unrestricted opportunity.
Nope, not forgetting.
Sometimes it’s not about you.
You’re quite right, because in this case it isn’t. Doesn’t change my point one bit, good sir.
Pen,
Mitch – if memory serves – Bordkorb (or someone) tried to avoid identifying who they were (was it TVM?)
Brodkorb remained anonymous until a lawsuit forced him to reveal his identity. However – and this is important – he never used his anonymity to smear people (unless you consider “telling other people what they actually did” is a “smear”).
TVM’s Gary Miller and Jeff Kouba have always blogged under their real names. First Ringer does not, but his stuff never swerves into invective, much less yellow hackery.
I just dont’ recall, then Bordkorb tried to avoid disclosing his VERY CLOSE relationship with the GOP
Actually, that’s not true. When he was anonymous, he was oblique but accurate enough about his employment. Since his name came out, he’s always been up-front about his associations – to the point that he stopped blogging fulltime when he became a fulltime party employee.
There are PULUNTY of GOP Bloggers who do so anonymously, and maybe I’m wrong (I’ll be happy to say so), but I don’t believe Tucci’s name is on his blog.
It’s been on his blog quite a number of times, and it’s generally well-known. When his name came out, he didn’t threaten anyone with retaliation, the way some anonymous leftybloggers did when their real identies became public.
YOU specifically deserve credit for putting yourself out there, but you aren’t the norm, not by a darned sight (in my opinion).
Well, thanks – but I am pretty normal. In my traffic weight-class, I think just about everyone uses a real name, or the anonymity is fairly thin.
– And I’d counter that you and many others say things you’d NEVER EVER say if it was a. at work b. in a public setting where such comments would be rightly pilloried
In public? I do it all the time; on the radio,for starters. In conversation, where appropriate.
(ie. Anti-Semitism is a key tenent of the american left)
Er, no. Never said it was a “Key Tenet”. I said there’s a serious undercurrent of it; pro-Palestinian demonstrations frequently break out in the most horrible anti-Semitic expressions I’ve seen this side of the Holocaust museum. But do I think, and have I never said, that antisemitism is a key motivator for most “liberals?” No. That’d be absurd.
Some of my best friends are Jewish liberals.
– so you’re behaving the same way. Moreover, MOST of the prominent left bloggers I know of are working out of MNPUBLIUS or blog of the moderate left, or if you like Minn Indy, and they are fully public.
And I credit all of them – including Fecke, who, for all the times I’ve dinged on his materal, has always been Jeff Fecke.
But there are others. One that used his anonymity to videotape his neighbors’ houses (he lives in an old neighborhood, and hates “mcmansions”; not that I disagree, but the guy drove around videotaping his neighbors, snarking about them, and did it all anonymously) and take a lot of incredibly puerile cheap shots at those he disagreed with (Nazi references that’d make any sane, thinking adult’s nose hair curl)
Lastly – if you want to exempt Anti-Strib – where folks like oh, Il Duce, or Kermit (and no, I don’t consider your first name being non-anonymous) post LOTS and LOTS and they aren’t public.
It’s n ot so much “anonymity” that fazes me; it’s what people use the anonymity for.. You’re largely anonymous, but you refrain (as far as I’ve read) from gutless anonymous cheap shots. And by the way, again, everyone who wants to knows who Duce and Kermit really are.
That said, don’t take it personally – I have a lot of respect for you for putting yourself out there publicly. It’s because of folks like AK and Swift and K-Rod that I don’t post under my own name – though I’ve put it in the public space often enough (including here).
Can’t speak for all of them, but again, Swiftee is well-known, a longtime gadfly and school board candidate. No real mystery there.
Interestingly, only 1 person in your play attends DL regularly. And using “Wege,” a guy who blogs uder the name “Mark Gisleson” as an example of an anonymous leftyblogger is a joke, right?
Joke? Dramatic license.
I just did a websearch for Pat Bryant in Minnesota…
Not a single one of them lives within ten miles of a lawyer.