it’s never the someone you’re hoping to recognize.
This goes along with my last post simply because I’m still mulling it all over in my head about the way we all wear masks.
Most of the comments on Don’s weblog were saying for him to not change his style of writing. I don’t really think they understand what he was talking about.
It’s not a choice, more of an observation, that such a show of readership, a spotlight of attention will have an effect. That knowledge will permenate in the back of his mind the next time he hits submit.
It is, of course, a double-edged sword. What’s the worth in writing if there is no audience? But what is the worth of an audience if it restrains you? The balance between remaining relevant and feeling validated in your work and feeling free to say what you mean.
I’ve been ambivalent to it all. I know through web stats that there are people out there reading these words. I’ve gotten a fair share of people come through looking for the Peter Duffy information. I’ve shyed away from posting my blog address in my MSN name. I do have it linked to my Facebook. But I would be as shocked as Don if something I wrote suddenly gained popular attention.
The greatest curse and the biggest present of the Internet is the ability to remain anonymous. Online, you can be completely faceless, a luxury not often experienced in the doldrums of our day to day life.
Look, for example, at the Shelburne (shit)blogs. When granted a visage with no repercussion, the pure ugliness in people emerges. Racist comments, hateful words. These are people who spend every day amongst one another (and Shelburne is far too small to be anonymous in real life), and they hide these feelings under the surface.
It’s the same idea with the White Supremacists. There are allegedly a number of them in the Halifax area, but none of them showed up at the Jared Taylor discussion. None of them have seemed to ever make their ideas and movement visible in this area.
Obviously those are extreme examples, but when given the safety of flying incognito, the truth finally appears. For some, it is far too shocking to deal with.