When we were in secondary school, we were introduced to public speaking. It addressed issues such as stage fright and facing public criticism.
Today during the era of the internet, we still have to face cyberspace bullying and becoming the target of trolling.
There is no point in trying to understand other people's actions because we don't know what kind of rough childhood they had which led them to become such assholes with twisted logic and messed up mindsets.
Ever since I started blogging in 2000 I've been called many unfavorable things such as "attention whore" - mostly by people who chose to have only an anonymous online presence by hiding themselves behind fake accounts and anonymous aliases.
Now don't get me wrong: there do exist people who are psychologically unable to bear the brunt of being "exposed" to the public: even if they are able to face bullying or criticism, they still feel uncomfortable to share their thoughts and experiences with others, especially with strangers. So they choose to remain faceless.
Not to also mention people who choose to remain anonymous through pure choice.
I have friends who wrote short stories for my blog under pseudonyms and still do publish their writings anonymously on web forums.
"The minute you put out something there in your real identity, it feels your privacy is invaded and you feel you have become a slave or property of other people," is how one of my friends described his feelings, explaining why he still write fan fiction under assumed names.
The issue behind using aliases begs the question: how private can you hope to be when you are part of a small community, especially in a tiny society like Maldives which has only 382,000 people - yes, not even half a million people.
May be I should not compare and judge myself against others because I have been a public figure for 23 years and now no amount of diverse criticism can negatively affect me mentally.
"You are now in a good place. You can write anything and get away with it," opined a friend recently. Well, may be not "everything" but a "lot of things".
It's not a problem been leading a private life. It doesn't mean you are a coward or not brave. There are legitimate psychological conditions in some people being very private and expressing themselves through disguises.
I am writing about this "issue" today because I recently publicized all my social media accounts and some friends were feeling apprehensive about it.
There are two key reasons for my doing so:
1) I took that decision taking into consideration a friend pointing out that there is no point anymore in remaining anonymous elsewhere when this blog of mine I run in my real identity; and
2) Also because I now feel confident enough to engage with the wider society again.
I bet the fact that you became a journalist in 1995 (which you pointed out in another blogspost) also contributed to familiarizing yourself with the public so that you don't need to shy away from putting out your writings to the public anymore. Just pointing this out because you didn't mention that in this blogpost.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I forgot to mention that :)
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ReplyDeleteWriting anonymously solves the hassle of people trying to put extra meaning into your words based on how you look, your actions, what you've said in the past or what you represent in society - all of which could've changed drastically over the years even. Somebody could've become a very different person later, but could mostly be remembered for how they were or what they did in the past and so their present writing's prone to be linked to those views thereby distorting the actual criticsm that that person's writing deserves.
To be criticised truly just for what has been written without any personal bias towards a person, anonymity is more suitable sometimes. If you read an anonymous article you can express a more free and genuine view about it if you can't put any subconscious personal bias towards who wrote it.
Anonymity enables a writer to continue writing without the annoying and irritating hassle of dealing with personal vendetta-type comments.
If one doesn't have a desire to be applauded or doesn't have the need to be recognised for a writing or doesn't care even if it is plagiarised, anonymity sounds fine.
Yeah. That's true in a way. A person might get a more honest feedback if people don't have room to associate him with his known personality, etc. J.K. Rowling did that with her "The Casual Vacancy". However, there will always be the trolls and bullies who would deliver horrid feedback even if you are anonymous.
DeleteGood call. Like I said your blog is your main platform. Your name is already on the public domain by being active on it. And you have a good amount of engagement here. So going public on social media and widening your audience was the natural followup. A big, bold step and one that looks to be rewarding in the long run.
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