The stupid faux-virtue of “real-naming” is just annoying AF.
We live in a world where women in particular are subjected to abuse, threats and real-life dangers for doing nothing more than existing online.
Demanding people expose themselves to danger to please you is ridiculous.
Okay, I’m a little revved up about this so I am just going to go off.
When I joined Twitter, I didn’t actually care about anonymity. I just made up an account name and used it. Once this whole thing inexplicably took on a life of its own, I began planning to “out myself”.
Before I got around to doing that though, I was doxed. Several times. Usually by people with axes to grind.
One of them combed through 30,000 tweets for clues and triangulated using a series of databases.
Others found my ID - which I hadn’t gone to any lengths to hide - and set up fake accounts just to let me know what they knew about me.
Where I had been the day before. Where my son was born. Who his teacher was. Etc.
When you have an account with some size on here, you accept that you will at some point not be anonymous. That comes with the territory.
That is something I chose and accepted.
People just here to converse and participate don’t make that choice and shouldn’t have to.
A woman married to a volatile spouse who couldn’t even be here under a real name should not lose her ability to participate in online conversation just because some blue checkmarks want information they aren’t owed.
Someone who lives in a very red area or works for a company or boss where their views would be punished shouldn’t lose their ability to participate because someone at *The Washington Post* thinks everyone needs to act like a public figure.
And I guarantee you, the high profile people who backed this idea out of hand - only talking to people who are using real names - are unlisted in the phone book and live in homes purchased in ways to hide their ownership.
We ain’t the same. List your home address and then talk.
I’m done.
The grievance here is twofold:
1) The demand was ignorant
2) It was a product of being detached from real people down here in the real world living real lives with real concerns and problems
And there is far too much of that among journalists in the elite media.
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To keep that from being so difficult I rupture something, I would just ask that people consider this:
The impeachment wasn’t about a trial.
It was about a media event.
It was a television series and Dems were the producers.
1/
Dems concentrated it down to a few days; ran it when it would be least watched; and then agreed to yank it off the air.
Reconsider your evaluation through that lens.
Did Dems get the most value they could’ve out of this production?
(For ref, see the Benghazi hearings)
2/
And now I’m going to go mute “impeachment” and try to stay true to my word here.
We Dems have a hard time understanding what Republicans have always known: keep an attack on TV long enough and it does damage - no matter how it ends. Even if you lose.
3/
This morning’s little treasure defies description. A neo-soul, R&B, roller smooth as a satin pillowcase.
At the 3:15 mark, if your head ain’t bopping, you’re dead.
1/
Sault is a largely anonymous group out of the UK that blends together influences into seven-layer dips that wend and weave through chill to funk and back.
Their latest was produced by Inflo who also produced the great Michael Kiwanuka’s last album.
Shaking my head at everyone who gave me shit when I quite literally said people were going to get hurt by the GameStop stupidity.
(Since the 1st story is behind a paywall)
When my 13-year old, 20-something barber and 20-something bartender are all telling me about the same get-rich-quick opportunity, there are gonna be some bad endings.