I don't know if this has ever happened before or if it ever will happen again. Those of you who know me know I'm pretty skeptical for a frum yid, but a cataclysmic event of cosmic proportions has taken place on August 26, 2009: I agree with Jacob Stein on something.
Jacob Stein today posted an excerpt from a Maureen Dowd column attacking anonymous bloggers. I couldn't agree more. Attacking others on a blog while fearing to sign your name to the attack usually indicates cowardice and a lack of courage in your convictions. Of course, there may be exceptions, but the rule for pseudonymous and anonymous idiots is cowardice and stupidity.
Baruch Pelta
14 comments:
Right. Because Garnel uses his real name!
Oddly, in the e-mail that Baruch sent me with this post, he noted you would comment just that.
As for you Shmuelik, why are you still hiding behind a moniker?
I don't agree with Baruch on this one.
There are too many people living in commuities that would ostracize them if their real views became known. The "secret atheists" that Jacob Stein goes on about, for example, or frum people surrouding by kanoim who would attack them if they found out about their views.
So right, if you have your secret views in your kehilla like the closet agnostics or if you want to say something important that could get you fired from your job, that's one thing.
But haredim who are afraid of kannaim? Or the people whose "dialogue" consist of venemous attacks on Dr. Kaplan and R' Slifkin (if you saw the obnoxious comments of "Anon" and "Ran" on R' Student's blog or some of the comments on R' Slifkin's blog, you know what I mean)? IMHO we shouldn't give these people the time of day.
Of course there is a third option. The pen name is a tradition in literature. Just ask Mark Twain, for example.
I would suggest that the third option is for someone to pick a specific pseudonym and stick with it. Yes, it's a cyberpersonality, not a real one, but at least it allows for consistently knowing who's doing the attacking.
Garnel: >I would suggest that the third option is for someone to pick a specific pseudonym and stick with it. Yes, it's a cyberpersonality, not a real one, but at least it allows for consistently knowing who's doing the attacking.
LMAO!
Dr. Mike: Riiight. Say things only slightly different than Garnel would say, and hope we don't realize you're the same person (aka Hitler). You're homepage is garnelironheart.com for freaks sake!
Yes, that's right, it is! And I would like to take this opportunity to invite all my readers (and OTD's too, on the assumption that I'm not OTD) to visit www.garnelironheart.com and preview the best fantasy trilogy you've never heard of (yet)!
Garnel I just replied to your previous post!
I hope for once you will actually listen to reason.
My real name is Shmuelik Yankelevitch.
Katzenellenbogensky.
Shmuelik Yankelevitch Katzenellenbogensky? Why is that so famliar... oh yeah! I think in your former life you came to my door one night looking for money for your yeshiva.
Might have been a different Ellenbogen, come to think of it. Y'all look and smell the same to me.
At least we don't wear funny-colored kippas
And the people who aren't ashamed to spread hate and slander on a daily basess... and those who are quasi-heretics...with their real names! Talk about public self-debasement...
NB: I have no clue who you're referring to. Every "frum" blogger I know who spreads hate and slander on a daily basis does so behind a pseudonym or with an anonymous screenname.
Using one's real name at least indicates the willingness to take responsibility.
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