Why I Don't Put My REAL Name On My Blog Or Books

The first thing that people most often do when they comment on my stuff (whose few who actually DO comment) is to wonder why I don't put my real name on my works.

There are actually quite a number of reasons - all of them valid (at least to me) and all of them still in effect. I have no illusions that my real name will eventually be tied to what I write, and have no problem with that, provided it's eventually.

So what compels a loud-mouth, opinionated son of a bitch like me to keep my name out of it?

First of all, why put it in? They're MY opinions and I simply share them. If you like them, great! If you hate them, great! I'm at least invoking SOME reaction and that's what most people who write their opinions for public consumption want. They may even be relevant enough one day to make it worth doing professionally - you know, getting paid for my trouble in posting things that may trouble you. I make my living the conventional way - working for it at a job of my own (which is not political punditry).

And that's the thing. I'm NOT a political pundit. I'm just a person with a strong interest in the ways and means of the world - social, political, religious and anything else that tickles my fancy or invokes my rage. Things that I'm passionate about or feel should be shared. If my opinions are insightful, it's because they're well considered, usually very well researched (especially my opinion about chocolate, about which I spend a great deal of time researching), and reached after due deliberation and diligence. So while my opinions are important to me, and, hopefully, those with whom I share them (you know, YOU!), until the “yous” out there are far more numerous, there's really no reason to tell the whole casually inquiring world who the hell I really am.

For reasons of privacy, I wish to shelter my family from any potential backlash any potentially mentally unstable reader might inflict on them (or me) if they knew my real name. There are a lot of fucking crazy people out there on both the left and the right, and while I expect the left-wing-nuts will simply protest outside my home, the right-wing-nuts are far more likely to invade it to kill me or my family - or just blow up the house. They're not terribly civilized, based on their past acts against people they don't like. I don't call the right-wing evil for nothing.

Paranoid? Of course. But in a somewhat healthy way. I don't sit in my house with an Uzi in my lap waiting for the cold-cruel world to crash through the door. Until I have a certain protection through celebrity (assuming I ever do), I simply don't tell people my name. That's pretty much the extent of my preparations in catering to my paranoia. Mostly, I'm just like any other American, trying to get by.

I just tend to put my bitching about the issues I have along the way toward that lofty goal online so that others can share them, too.

The last, and probably most important, one is that in most cases of political punditry, the people spewing their opinions are often seen as more important than what the opinion is. Rush, Bill, Glen, Ann and the whole rightist mafia. Will, John, and Steve “occupy” the left (pun intended).

And it's always “Rush said”, or “Ann said”, or “John said”, but aside from the latest rightist or leftist bullshit, do any of you remember what they said BEFORE? Unless you listened closely, you won't.

The messages they put out become less about what they said than who said them. The focus becomes the person, not what they're saying. The attacks become personal, delving into their private lives in ad hominem attacks which seek to undermine what they said. These attacks are much more effective when the speculation is kept to a minimum. Wild guesses are seen as wild guesses, and undermine the critic's credibility while bolstering the credibility of the message. After all, if the message stirred that kind of passion for someone to make up stuff to attack the person who wrote it, the message must be important.

To me, it's the message, not the messenger, that's important.

Dewey Sayenoff is simply a gag name meaning “Do He Say Enough?”. I'm sure there are those who got it, get it or simply say, “Shit, the stupid fucker says too much.” (As you might surmise, I live for my first bonafide, genuine detractor - just to have my own, personal chew-toy to play with! Opinions are so much better when you have examples of other people's opinions in real time to deconstruct their thinking - or pat them on the back for cogently presenting their argument, even if you each disagree with one another.)

But he's a construct upon which to hang nothing. You don't know his personal habits, his location, his up-bringing, his education. You don't know his friends, family associates or place of business. You may guess at his religion (as if that makes anyone's opinion right or wrong if it's cogent), and certainly understand his politics. Those are part of the message.

But you definitely know his points of view about things. Yes, they can change as time goes on and perspectives change. That's the thing about the message. It changes as people change. It HAS to simply because the message is ABOUT the people and if the people don't change, they don't thrive and soon die.

Personally, I'd rather not see that happen - even though I have my moments and wonder why it shouldn't.

So forgive me if I don't provide formal introductions. I have my reasons. And, perhaps one day, the time will come when I drop pretense and live in the light of public scrutiny. It's up to the number of readers I get whether that ever happens. So keep reading, spread the word and one day, maybe you'll hear me say, “Hi there, folks. You asked for it, and now, I think it's time for you to know. My REAL name is....”