The newly labeled “dark lord” has made his triumphant return after taking a two and a half week break from blogging. (Hey, I go two and a half weeks without blogging all the time, so who am I to judge?) It was largely assumed that he went into hiding over having his identity exposed by Lady Raine and facing legal threats from Denise Romano, but since his identity was exposed around Thanksgiving and he didn’t take his break until Christmas, maybe he just fucking with his readers.
My friend Obsidian has made this an issue of free speech, but I’m less sympathetic. In 1993, Peter Steiner drew a cartoon with the caption, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” Amazingly ahead of its time, it spoke to the mysterious nature of how nobody knows what a character on the internet is actually like. This degree of mystery has led people to believe that they can write or post anything on the internet without having to face any consequences whatsoever. In real life, there are an infinite number of things that we are “free” to say or do but chose not because we’re afraid of what might happen.
For instance, if a man had a disagreement with a woman, it’s unlikely that would try to spread a rumor about her being in a porno because he would likely get caught and have to face the consequences. But on the internet, he can hide under a pseudonym. The internet, because of its anonymous nature, has become a haven for slander, innuendo and mistruths. Anyone who tries to wrap this kind of behavior in the flag and the First Amendment is being disingenuous. Now, revealing someone’s personal information on the internet is wrong, but people need to carefully consider the potential consequences of the things they posts. If a guy gets drunk, wonders into a bad neighborhood at three in the morning and gets mugged, he shouldn’t be screaming about wrong it was that he got mugged. He should take a long look in the mirror and accept responsibility for the choices he had made up to that point.
One of the best pieces of advice Roissy ever gave was this:
Every text or email or recordable instance of conversation you have with a girl must follow this simple rule:
If it were given a public airing, let’s say on a blog or the Verizon Center jumbotron, you should feel comfortable with what you have written for the world to see.
Yet this man chose to give first initial and last name as well as his occupation to a writer for the Globe and Mail. By doing that, he set himself up for getting exposed. Maybe Roissy truly is comfortable with what he has written for the world to see, but the fact that he’s deleted several of his past posts indicates otherwise. This is a stark reminder of the fate that befalls the arrogant.
BTW, when is Zeets gonna get a blog?
Spark Up the Night 
While Roissy might be willing to stand by everything he wrote, he may have underestimated the degree of hate and unreasonableness he would provoke from people who can impact his life: employers, family, friends, girlfriends, government agencies etc.
I think there is a major difference with writing under a pseudonym for the sake of being invisible, writing under a pseudonym for the sake of practical wisdom and writing under a pseudonym out of cowardice.
I don’t think that Roissy can reasonably be charged with that last motive. He writes assertively, but it also makes sense that with the controversial nature of his writing, and with his emphasis on pointing out even the dark truths of life, there will be a lot of pushback. Many people with revolutionary ideas end up dying for their ideas. Wisdom is to put oneself in a position where one can impact society by speaking the truth, and yet minimize practical danger to oneself in the process.
Mystery and Style are people who are admired partially who they are and how they lived, and partially for what they taught. Roissy seems to be a person who is more concerned with (at least on his blog) sharing his experiences and teaching men how to act according to the alpha code, than he is concerned with personal image and what people think of him. I would say that Roissy views the message as far more important than the messenger.
Of course, I choose not to write under a pseudonym, because I have different motives, and different truths to focus on. I seek to write in a genuine manner and have people know me, not just as a writer or a speaker of truth, but as a real person.
Breaking down the artsy jabber of your “post”, let’s some it up:
“You keep your mouth shut, or you going to lose your job, you little piece of *bleep*!”
Followed by you waving your pom-poms in the air and chanting “RESPONSIBILTY”.
Oh, and I FULLY appreciate that a persons boss… and his wife… and the government…. and everyone else has, you know, the ability to restrict his “Free Speech” at all times.
So, could you just do me one little favor?
Stop talking about Free Speech like it’s real. It’s a Unicorn.
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