Yesterday Mayor Graham asked callers to dial 755-1240 to call into his always-entertaining talk show, "The Hotline." The reason to call in -- Mayor Graham wanted help in unmasking the identity of yours truly, Buggs Buddy, the author of What's Up NY-23?
In response to the good mayor I have to say nice try sir, but my humble identity will not be revealed anytime soon. Of course, I understand and appreciate your curiosity, and when you said that you wanted to know who I was so that you could, "give me credit because my blog is well-done," I took the compliment privately. I write anonymously in response, "thank you for the credit you offered me on your blog and your radio program. I hope you will continue to follow my writing and comment on it." And I also admit that I appreciate your opinion that people should rarely put their names on such outfits as mine -- so that anonymity be used as sparingly as possible. I appreciate your opinion even though I'm not sure exactly why it is so important. But since it apparently is, here is my deal... my compromise -- instead of telling you my name I will tell you and all my reading fans why I will and must remain anonymous and the reasons why.
First, let me say I am greatly humbled by the amount of visitors this site has been able to attract in just two short weeks since its online birth. Many thousands have come to visit and almost a hundred, I think, have already commented. Thank you for that! I hope you will enjoy the many posts to come.
I like to say that life is all about carrots and sticks. In other words I believe, that in life, you must look at incentives and disincentives, weigh the pros and cons, of your decisions. That is why when I started this blog I had to make a choice -- put my name on everything I write, or keep it all anonymous? I decided after much deliberation to keep my identity anonymous for a few reasons which I hope the mayor and all the fans of What's Up NY-23 will graciously respect.
I would like to start by quoting an anonymous commenter on this blog from just a few days ago. That anonymous person wrote, "When the mainstream press stops using anonymous sources to write their crap then Buggs should announce who he/she is. But not until then! So I guess you're safe forever Buggs." I feel as if I could end this entire post there because I believe that person's statement provided what I think is a beautiful theme or framework for the whole idea behind anonymity in reporting on blogs generally. However, for my faithful followers and the beloved mayor of Watertown I think I can add more to my explanation.
I love local politics and I enjoy the give and take of the debate whether it be at the local watering hole (I do recommend Ft. Pearl by the way), the workplace, at home, out and about in the local community or anywhere else. But politics can turn personal, debates can be blurred and the fun can very quickly turn ugly when people choose to manipulate the facts and the people involved in the process, causing undue harm and damage to one's reputation and civic livelihood. We have all seen it happen time and time again. So for someone who loves politics and writing and who feels compelled to share their thoughts, it makes little sense to me then, to burden the process and the prose with personality and superficial stereotypes, which often deflects from the true value of an honest political debate. Besides, it is not as if I am lying about my anonymity -- it is quite obvious to anyone who comes to read it.
But as long as I am being honest, many of you have to admit that if you knew my decades year old SAT scores, my sex, the color of my skin, my height, my education, my profession, my family, the way I dress or countless other personal characteristics, you would be distracted in some way from the real words I write and that show up every morning on your computer screen.
Furthermore, I must admit that I am very wary of political establishments and their elitist members whose political retribution can return so quickly in ways you would never expect. What I mean to say is that I have learned that no matter how unbiased and legitimate my work is (which is a lot, of course) some of the head politicos on the left, the right, the middle and everywhere in between will try to find some reason or way to tear me down. How many callers have you heard on the mayor's program, "the Hotline" do this recently?
You see, many political established types are concerned mainly with power and controlling their message and keeping control of their message. They tend to rely on the old grey lady and they shun any attempt to circumvent outside opinions and new ideas. They would prefer we not talk about controversial issues and they shut out candidates with whom they disagree, access to media, political money and events.
If the elite knew my true identity they would be quick to pull out the long knives to intimidate my freedom of speech. Granted, I don't think they would try to intimidate me physically per se simply because they don't like me as a person. But established types often don't care about the person -- they tend to primarily care only about themselves and their grip on power. As you might be able to guess, several people who have a clear vested political interest have already e-mailed me about my identity to see how I might be able to further their agenda or cause. The truth is though that nobody cares who I am, they just care about what I write. Everyone just wants to control the message and their ulterior motivation is to influence my writing to fit their chosen ideology or cause.
Most importantly, however, I remain anonymous because I would hate to fall into the ugly trap that politics has laid out for so many good men and women over the years. The trap is, of course, falling into the very establishment that I despise.
That is why I decided to refuse the temptation to become a self-promoter. I refuse to prostitute my name. I refuse to fall a victim to that fatalism which has ruined the integrity of honest politics. People always pass but politics will always continue. Remaining anonymous actually raises the profile of my writing, it creates a broader interest in political debates and increases my ability to spread a message because people do not see me prostituting my name all over town. This way the words have more legitimacy and I can maintain my integrity.
I firmly believe that the temptation to sell out to one particular political interest is as real a threat as political intimidation is, especially when your name is on the line. Remaining anonymous means that no person can drag my good family's name through the mud for what they might believe is some misconstrued political slight or ideological disagreement. Remaining anonymous can create a following deeper and more passionate and more committed to the real reason I write -- the truth of the written word. Mr. Mayor and faithful readers, my motivation is legitimate. I hope you will agree.
And so I hope to remain respectfully known (only in your web browser) and truly yours, Buggs Buddy!
