Taking Names
I am one of those quaint – and egomanical – bloggers whose name is front and center: Ezra’s another, the Lying Jackal another, Mark Steyn, Paul Wells and so on.
I also comment under my own name. Unimaginative to be sure but there it is.
In the middle of the drive towards the repeal of s. 13 this blog and other seem to be attracting comments from a rearguard of CHRC defenders. I am happy to publish those comments. However, they would carry rather more weight if they were posted using real names.
November 26th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Man I get the CJC brigade at my place all the time – their posts are a healthy release – why they the might go all genocidal if they can’t let off steam!
November 26th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Really, Jay? With whom would the comments carry more weight? And why? After all, isn’t judging the validity of comment by the identity of the writer just another variation on argument ad hominem?
And why would you limit your comment as to weight to those who support the human rights commissions?
November 26th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
I get’em too as does Dawg and Ezra (they’ve given up on Kate). All I want is for them to use their real names.
Of course, as the international pussy of mystery you can’t cast this particular stone but you take my point.
November 26th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Not at all tw: if, for example, the Lying Jackal showed up here under his real name we would have a pretty good idea of the weight to give his arguments – fairly hefty – and his motivations – a bit on the light but passionate side. If Rick Mercer popped by we could anticipate humour and if Bernie Farber dropped in a good deal of regular guy, “hail fellow, well met”. We would know who was represented in the conversation
As to my limiting my comment to supporters of the CHRC - that is simply a function of the current top of the mind topic and the people it has attracted. I note that not a single supporter of the CHRC has been willing to give us their full name. Not a big deal I suppose; but interesting.
November 27th, 2008 at 4:54 am
“...After all, isn’t judging the validity of comment by the identity of the writer just another variation on argument ad hominem?...”
Not if you suspect they are all by one guy in his pajamas.
And, Jay, could you list the defenders of s.13.. Not to go on (so I will) but this all looks like punching at shadows to me even if in an excellent cause.
November 27th, 2008 at 8:44 am
It’s all about applying context to an individual’s comments…
November 27th, 2008 at 11:53 am
I don’t really take someone seriously unless they have the ‘nads to post under a real name, and this includes BCF who is on my side of things. The only anonymous bloggers I actually respect are CR and Tanta from Calculated Risk, and that’s it.
Say what you will about Kinsella, but he’s got the stones to back up his opinions with his real identity. I respect that about him even when I disagree with much of what he says. I’d certainly shake his hand and buy him a coffee were I to met him in person on the basis of that respect.
So to truewest, mordechai, and BCF… Ya bunch of pussies.
November 27th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Alan, supporters of s.13: the CJC,B’nai Brith, the Lying Jackal, Haroon Siddiqui and Pearl Eliadis…oh, and Dr. Dawg and BCL.
November 27th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Sean, Blazing CatFur is my real name.
November 27th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
“I don’t really take someone seriously unless they have the ‘nads to post under a real name”
My nads were removed in a tragic incident involving a can opener and 3 litres of WD 40.
November 27th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
One thing I always liked about the web was the possibility of anonymity. You can say things that are unpopular without worrying that your boss or your mom will find out and fire you / call you. You can also talk about your boss or your mom, too! The Internet is where you can go when you want to diss the government or trade in things that the government wants to find out about (rightly or wrongly). Or find out things they don’t want you to find out about.
What’s interesting is the idea of identity: can we have credibility without names? I think so, yes – look at digby, for example. And how do I know that Jay Currie is a guy living in Oak Bay named Jay Currie? “Jay Currie” could actually be my boss. Or my mom! Mom? Is that you? The identity, however, is definitely Jay Currie-ish just like digby is digby-ish.
Just some random thoughts. I don’t think real names make credibilty, necessarily, I think a history and continuity of presence make (or break!) credibility just as much.
November 27th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
eeneR, you have found us out…we are the same space aliens who have hotwired Jennifer Lynch’s computer, hijacked an Ottawa WiFi signal, performed a mind meld with Dean “Not a Canadian Concept” Stacy and put thoughts of neighbourly genocide into the brain of Lucy…..now we have taken over the entity formerly known as “Jay Currie”. You, eeneR, may very well be next.
November 27th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
“Sean, Blazing CatFur is my real name.”
How does it feel to know that Warren Kinsella has a bigger set of stones than you do?
November 27th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
“How does it feel to know that Warren Kinsella has a bigger set of stones than you do?”
Maybe you could ask Publius about why he/they went pseudonymous when writing the Federalist Papers. I guess Kinsella has bigger stones than Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison. Of course, the Federalist Papers weren’t found written on toilet paper in the local Quaker men’s room with a swaztika scrawled in fine point Sharpie, so what do I know.
By the way, if anyone finds my nads, please soak in olive oil for 3 days before mailing back to me. If they don’t work anymore I can always use them to garnish a pizza.
November 27th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Sean,
I don’t care it you take me seriously. I would appreciate it, however, if you’d stop thinking about my ‘nads. I don’t even know you.
I did, however, visit your website, where you have listed your photographs in categories such as “alberta skiez” and “damn towniez”.
I looked for a collection named”nadz”, but there didn’t appear to be one. I was relieved. Then I thought, perhaps he keeps his pictures of nadz on a pay site. Am I right?
November 28th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Jay: I knew it. And since we’re being totally honest, I’ll admit my shameful secret too: I am the Scarlet Pimpernel. Don’t tell my Mom, though, she’ll only worry.
November 28th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Sean,
Kinsella uses his real name because he was once a mediocre public figure. Since then he has suffered so many humiliations on the blogosphere that I bet he regrets it. Take a minute to decide whether he’s worth the buck or so for a coffee.
November 28th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Truewest,
It’s all ‘nadz all the time for you, baby:
http://www.neutralhillsstills.ca/index.php?showimage=650
http://www.neutralhillsstills.ca/index.php?showimage=654
That Governor General’s award is mine this year. Mine!
Bill,
Think of the entertainment value. I admit it’s probably on par with buying a “Bum Fights” DVD, but sometimes I can’t help myself.
Hannibal,
Contrast the efforts of BCF and Kathy Shaidle. BCF isn’t putting his liberty and financial well-being on the line for his beliefs whereas Shaidle is. She gets a standing ovation from me for that.
November 28th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
So now you want my first name, too?
November 28th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
“Not if you suspect they are all by one guy in his pajamas.”
I’d like to think that my fans think of me in English smoking jacket, pipe, slippers and elegant fountain pen as I pen my latest rhetorical missive on my fine stationery and parchment purchased from only the finest distilleries in Scotland.
November 28th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Oh, c’mon, Sean, there is a big difference between having the stones to use your real name because you might pay a price for your convictions (I’ve done it, I know of what I speak – price paid was being raked through the mud by a 22 year old barely literate intern at the local paper, but there are still one or two people in town who won’t talk to me because of what she wrote) and being too ignorant or egotistical to figure out when you probably shouldn’t want to… like, say, that idiot at Halls of Macadamia, whose mere presence is a blight upon the civilized intellectual landscape.
As for Shaidle, she isn’t putting her liberty on the line because she’s not saying anything that the government doesn’t already think, and she isn’t putting her beliefs on the line because she is making money from them, non? Or are her books not selling so well these days?
November 28th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
“She gets a standing ovation from me for that.”
I see. So, as Dante, you place BCF, HL Publius et al in the 5th or 6th outer circle of Hell?
November 29th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Sean,
Well, I guess you come by your ‘nadz obsession honestly. Not that it make me feel anymore comfortable.
p.s. So these were from the paysite?
November 29th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
TW: They were under the “bovinez” category on my site. They were originally taken while a friend and I were joking about what exactly I would need to do given that my desire to win a Governor General’s award conflicts with my desire to shove a vial of my own blood up my hoo-hoo.
The thinking at the time was that we would build an entire exhibition around bovine reproduction and that the Toronto art set would eat it up.
To my surprise, since I took those pictures, I’ve made some good money licensing the images for use in magazines, Web sites, and even greeting cards, believe it or not.
HL: Hell is full of telemarketers, jihadists, and CBC employees. You’re getting stuffed into the back seat of a Yugo. ;-)