Blogging Anonymously

Over at Lebanon Truth, I see that LT has posted about the complaint Kim Fandiño has reportedly filed with the district.

This makes me curious - how did LT find out if LT's identity is unknown to folks in the district? It must have made the gossip circuit...

Also, I want to take a second and talk about anonymous blogging.

There are generally a few reasons to blog anonymously:

1. You are in a place where blogging freely is not legal - see China, many Eastern European countries, etc. In this case, blogging becomes a form of free speech that is otherwise prohibited, and anonymity is a way to avoid the local police. (For more on this, see BoingBoing's guide.)

2. You are blogging about something that might get you in trouble if you used your real name: Your work, national security, etc. While it may not be illegal, it will probably result in the initiation of action against you.

3. You are using your anonymity as a form of power. This one can be the most abstract, but it boils down to this: By blogging anonymously, one discourages people from judging one's writing and voice based on the person behind them. In the way that I've experienced teachers ignoring students not because what the students said was wrong, but because they were students, I've seen plenty of people ignore the speech of others based on the characteristics of the person saying it (and yes, that includes race, class, gender, sex, and other forms of identity). Blogging under a pseudonym makes it that much harder to judge one's words based on the person speaking or writing.

I am sure there are others, but I can't track down the post I read months or years ago that dealt with this topic much better than I am doing.

I think both #2 and #3 probably apply to Lebanon Truth. It's safe bet that given the amount of information LT has they are affiliated or employed by the school district in some way. There have been plenty of cases ofcompanies retaliating against employees for blogging against work. I wonder if LT will eventually get dooced.

I think #3 is the biggest one for me, however. It has been my observation that at no point or no place in the entire ongoing issue surrounding Robinson, the School Board, the district, etc., that there has been a real or figurative space in which people could talk freely about their opinions regarding what's going on in the district. And make no mistake - people want to talk. And they do, in small groups, on the phone in the evening, and in other private venues. But I've not seen a public forum in which the exchange of views and ideas can take place freely and without consequence. I think LT's blogging is possibly a result of that, of the desire to try and get what LT thinks is the truth out there.

And certainly I think that part of the reason this whole insane mess has unfolded the way it has is precisely because there is so little trust in the district that people do not feel safe to exchange their points of view without exposing themselves to personal attacks or potential retaliation. And while I think is probably the norm for many, many work environments, that doesn't mean it's not a giant problem.

So where does Kim Fandiño fit into this? Well, I suspect Fandiño really wants to know who LT is precisely because LT's anonymity means Fandiño can't get to them any other way. Given the story that LT recites - that the complaint was found, basically, to be meritless by the district and that Fandiño appealed to the board (which is a venue that seems very friendly to her) - I definitely think that Fandiño just wants LT outed.

I don't think outing LT is a good idea. (Disclaimer: I have no idea who that person is.) Rather, I think it might have served Fandiño better to initiate a public conversation with LT. Instead, we have a power play. Not surprising, but it's not going to solve any problems, not really: You can't kill an idea or an opinion (or a revolution). The only way to win through power is through the annihilation of your opponent, and Fandiño is never going to be able to eliminate everyone who might disagree with her, since what she'd really be going after is the idea of opposition. The National Guard Armory in Lebanon does not stock nuclear weapons. Plus, c'mon, it's never worked historically - see War, Vietnam.

I would not be surprised if the LCSD Board votes to overturn the ruling on the grouns that they don't like LT and/or do like Fandiño. That sets a bad precedent, it's bad politics, and it might serve to stifle the one voice I've heard who is willing, albeit anonymously, to do their best to get out in the open all the rumors, innuendo, and information that's being spread around the district as is.