Misrepresentations

And so the Internet, with its lure of total anonymity, strikes again.

Two bloggers have revealed that their actual identities differ quite significantly from the way they've been presenting themselves online. (I linked to Shakesville, the blog that I enjoy reading, but if you'd prefer the Washington Post, I have that too, for both incidents.) In both cases, supposedly lesbian bloggers have revealed that they are in fact straight, older white men.

And I guess I only have one question for them: what was stopping either of you from simply posting as yourself? (Hint: the answer is "nothing".) Perhaps you would have found yourselves less in the limelight if you chose to speak as yourselves rather than as these fictional identities, but certainly that would not have stopped you from saying what you liked. Which is why I suspect it wasn't about the "saying Important Things" at all.

Rather, for both of these men, their need to have attention won out over the desire to be honest and forthright. Their voices needed to be heard, no matter what the cost. That's not an unselfish desire to make a difference in the world, is it now.

I am under no misunderstandings concerning my own voice. In fact, I will freely admit that it's kinda lonely here. I'm just kind of yammering away into space, without any responses of any kind, or barely even any hits (66 since this blog was created, as of the time I wrote this, according to Blogger's numbers). And I'd be lying if I said I didn't care. I want people to read what I'm writing here.

But that doesn't mean I have the right to misrepresent myself, to lie to others, simply to get that attention. That would be little more than selfish, holding my desire to be heard over all other concerns.

My voice is out there. My voice, free of any misrepresentations. Whether it will be heard or not is a matter for others to decide.