Let us pause a moment to consider the patriots who founded this country, the immortal document that put forward their sentiments in words so plain and firm as to command the world’s assent, and the fact that not a single one of them felt the need to sign a fake name to it. It just wouldn’t have been the same if John Hancock had, in lieu of the moniker that would launch a thousand insurance offices, written “BEANEATER1776” large enough so fat George in England could read it without his glasses.
Happy Fourth everybody.
PAD
• 
It’s a shame that the obsevation of this holiday has become just another excuse for stores to run sales…
Although I wouldn’t be surprised if some car dealership didn’t start offering a “Free SCOOTER” with each rest drive.
Lou
(yes, it’s my own name)
It’s a shame that the obsevation of this holiday has become just another excuse for stores to run sales…
Although I wouldn’t be surprised if some car dealership didn’t start offering a “Free SCOOTER” with each test drive.
Lou
(yes, it’s my own name)
When I see fireworks on this day, I mostly think of the line “The Rockets Red Glare’.
This IS a birthday party for the United States of America, and like any family while have our arguments, grudges, and even try to distance ourselves from each other. As families we come together for the sake of the birthday honoree.
So Happy Birthday U.S.A., and like Lou Dalmaso this is my name. And thanks to the Founders of this nation. I will never be scared to use it, and proclaim I love this country.
There was a quote that is often misused, and misquoted as well. However while I cannot remember the full statement I will use what I am sure is the incorrect version, “My country may she always be correct in her affairs, but she is my country right or wrong”.
Bobb Waller,
Also known as Bobb (In Irving)
Hi Pete.
As a service consultant for a major fleet company, I just wish that this observance of our liberty from a tyrannical government did not encourage so much rudeness in people.
For example, I received a call for help from a lady sitting at home on a national holiday who needed her flat tire swapped with her spare.
She was shocked to discover that the road side assistance companys have the temerity to take the
day off today as well. Three hours to repair her tire is the best that was available. What an outrage! I’m sure she’d find a quicker turnaround time were she to reside in Somalia or Sarajevo, or even Bagdad. Gee , how terrible for her she must wait for that Blue Light Special at the one-day-only sale until someone whose employer frowns on celebrating liberty and justice for all can make it over there with a lug wrench.
Sorry… I’m just venting. Not going off on a rant here, but our forefathers must have envisioned something better, and certainly hoped for citizens who were grateful for this country’s military sacrifice.
Radical Idea Alert !!! Go out to the VFW today and thank someone for their efforts. Please.
Well said, Peter.
I’m not a big fan of the current version of the patriotic holidays. Here in Texas it seems to be an excuse for abuse of alcohol and gunpowder, and a quick trip to the emergency room.
Reid (my real name)
Tyler, TX (my real home)
http://www.reidaboutit.com (my real website)
Happy 4th, all.
“Three hours to repair her tire is the best that was available. What an outrage! I’m sure she’d find a quicker turnaround time were she to reside in Somalia or Sarajevo, or even Bagdad.”
Bagdad, Arizona? Don’t think she’ll get any better response time there…
…oh, you meant Baghdad! Yeah, they’ll change her tire there – change it into a greasy smear against the sky, with her right beside it…
– Jonathan R. Sills (my real name)
Lakewood, WA (my real city)
Earth (my current homeworld – watch this space for developments)
Bob said:
“As a service consultant for a major fleet company, I just wish that this observance of our liberty from a tyrannical government did not encourage so much rudeness in people.
“For example, I received a call for help from a lady sitting at home on a national holiday who needed her flat tire swapped with her spare… She was shocked to discover that the road side assistance companys have the temerity to take the
day off today as well. Three hours to repair her tire is the best that was available…”
Wow. Amazing that she expected speedy customer service from — I assume — an organization that sold her a service contract. The temerity, indeed!
I agree with you, Bob. People don’t respect holy days and holidays as they once did. Take Thanksgiving for instance. How soon before we’re done feasting on the Turkey before we’re off at the store shopping for Christmas? Does it really surprise you that folks don’t value American Independence Day?
As much as I disdain it, this is 24/7 economy. I suspect that is why your company is doing business today.
Bob: “…Go out to the VFW today and thank someone for their efforts.”
By the way, Bob. This holiday ain’t about Vets – no matter how much we value their commitment and sacrifice. No, their holiday is Memorial Day. Let’s keep our holidays straight. Today is all about the birth of liberty 231 years ago, about colonies doing what no other colonies had ever done in breaking away from the parent nation. Independence Day is about the courage of our forefathers, their commitment, their sacrifice.
“No, their holiday is Memorial Day”
Don’t forget “Veteran’s Day”
Bladestar,
You’re absolutely right. My bad.
For a different view of ID4, check out the blog of a former Marvel Bullpenner and DC editor:
http://buncheness.blogspot.com/2007/07/independence-day-not-for-my-ancestors.html
Aron, to be more precise about the holidays of Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day here’s a little guide.
Memorial Day is for those that died in service for and who served our country. Basically to remember those that are not with us anymore.
Veteran’s Day is for those that are still with us. The living current (like you could be dead and still in the services… BID) members and former members of the Armed Services.
Anyway, happy Independence Day to everyone, remember that it is that independence that allows us to disagree with each other and our government.
Last night we pulled out the dvd 1776 and enjoyed our yearly ritual. Hard to belive a musical gets so much right (not everything but enough).
Enjoy the 2 day work week everyone after yesterday’s holiday.
Keep Hope Alive,
Jesse Jackson
Over 200 years later, we may have expected the Founding Fathers to each post their own versions of the Declaration of Independence on their MySpace pages, while dissenters would create mockumentary YouTube videos of their opponents views.
R.J. Carter
(not my real name, but I slap it on my books nonetheless, and it seems to work.)
About what Mr. David said about pseudonyms: When I first got online (back in the days of the Atari 800) I used a few of them. Then, I slowly realized they were pretentious. Behind them, people could say outrageous, stupid and hateful things. They were like setting fire to a bag of dog poop and running.
The only pseudonym I use now is my name with some stuff added. I ditched my last pseudonym years ago and I haven’t missed it. The people who use them too much – like “Moriarty” of Ain’t It Cool News – actually start believing they are their pseudonyms. Make-believe is all well and good, but too much of it indicates a person who is ashamed of being himself.
When businesses (employers for example) stop googling and searching the net for info on employees and potential employees, THEN I’ll consider dropping my pseudoym.
Until then, I’ll go for freedom over “not rocking the boat” anyday.
“When businesses (employers for example) stop googling and searching the net for info on employees and potential employees, THEN I’ll consider dropping my pseudoym.”
Kind of the point. In 1776 rich men risked life, limb and property to sign their names to their opinion in defiance of the king. Now it’s over two centuries later and the heirs to the free speech the Founders believed in are afraid to sign their names to their opinions lest they endure google searches.
PAD
Bladestar: “When businesses (employers for example) stop googling and searching the net for info on employees and potential employees, THEN I’ll consider dropping my pseudoym.”
In addition to using my real name here (and everywhere else that I post), I also provide a link back to my Web site that includes one of my e-mail addresses. It wouldn’t be very hard for an enterprising person to figure out just which Bill Myers in Upstate New York is me.
My employer uses a search firm to dig up dirt on us whenever needed. When I first applied for employment there, they red-flagged me because I under-reported income from a prior employer (I made an error in arithmetic). Yet during the year-and-a-half I’ve been posting here, I’ve received a promotion at work and my income has increased roughly 33 percent. While I don’t think posting here directly led to my aforementioned good fortune, I think it illustrates that the risks of using one’s own name here are probably quite small.
My first experience posting online was at Newsarama. I had actually meant to use a “handle” but messed up and set my real name as my screen name. I hadn’t realized it until I saw my first post with (gasp!) my real name on top. At that moment, I realized using my real name should’ve been my intention from the start. The relative lack of anonymity (there are a lot of Bill Myers’s out there, after all) motivated me to take responsibility for things I said.
Aliases(or handles) are funny things. People feel freer using a handle than they do with their own name because either it can’t be traced to the Real You, or they don’t want their job to find out, or they’ve just been profiled on either America’s Most Wanted or Art Bell’s radio show. Now, between my family and my friends, I have 9 nicknames. I use my real name, here, now, because, as shown by our host and Messrs. Myers, Mulligan, Ries and others, if you’re going to stand up to make a point, be it about the current issue of X-Factor or what the shrubbery in Washington is doing, you should at least have the courage to use your own name. And if anyone’s wondering, I’m not the photographer from California.
Bill Myers, how do we KNOW that’s your real name, and not some cleverly created character?
Bladestar: When businesses (employers for example) stop googling and searching the net for info on employees and potential employees, THEN I’ll consider dropping my pseudonym.
Peter David: Kind of the point. In 1776 rich men risked life, limb and property to sign their names to their opinion in defiance of the king. Now it’s over two centuries later and the heirs to the free speech the Founders believed in are afraid to sign their names to their opinions lest they endure google searches.
Luigi Novi: I think it’s the potential consequences of those Google searches that some are worried about it; not the searches themselves. You may be able to speak freely without fear of repercussions from your employers, but others may not.
Yeah, the Founding Fathers were brave in signing their names to the founding documents. And one of the things that those documents established were certain rights and freedoms, including that of privacy. Just because the FF were willing to risk their lives by foregoing privacy doesn’t mean it’s questionable for others to opt otherwise, IMO.
It’s surprising to me, therefore, that you would see the availing of that right as a basis for criticism, which strikes me as somewhat McCarthyist. My feeling has always been that Net pseudonymity is perfectly honorable if one employs it only for reasons of good faith privacy, and not for trolling or sock puppetry. Granted, Bladestar has often behaved in a trollish manner, but the sense I get from this criticism of yours is that it is directed at any user of a pseudonym, not just those who exhibit paralogia, fallacious reasoning or incivility.
For my part, I use my real name here and at Nitcentral, because I’ve developed a sense of the type of people who post here, because they’re relatively small communities composed of people I’ve come to respect, and trolls are minimal and policed. I also use my real name on MySpace, since I have greater control over who can communicate with me. On the other hand, I used an alias at the imdb board (which I no longer frequent regularly) and still do on Wikipedia, because that is not the case at those sites. I don’t think that reflects badly on me. I just don’t like the idea some anonymous churl knowing my real name, in part because harassment, identity theft, and other dangers of the Net are legitimate problems I’d rather not deal with.
The Real True Sean Scullion: “Bill Myers, how do we KNOW that’s your real name, and not some cleverly created character?”
Because the name “Bill Myers” is about as common as dirt and therefore does not qualify as clever by any stretch of the imagination. If it were an alias, it would be the lamest alias, like, ever.
Speaking of common names, I was a bit disappointed to find someone else with my name in a vanity search. I had thought I was unique.
At least the other guy doesn’t hyphenate his last name. That’d be too much for me to take.
Bill Myers, how do we KNOW that’s your real name, and not some cleverly created character?
Because I’ve met the guy and there’s nothing remotely clever about him. He IS a character though.
(I kid because I love.)
“If it were an alias, it would be the lamest alias, like, ever.”
Jennifer Garner sits there on-line, painting her toe nails. Major tension point of the episode–WILL SHE RUN OUT OF POLISH?
(And, it’s very mundane-ness would make it the PERFECT pseudonym. I mean, if you wanted to hide behind a fake name in real life and you weren’t in pørņ, you wouldn’t WANT a name that calls attention to yourself. I’m ONTO you, Mr. Meyers. Or whatever your name is. Like that Mulligan character. I mean, he’s in a movie, and everyone KNOWS you don’t put your real name on a movie. Ask any of the Sheens, be it Martin, Charlie, or that kid from Jimmy Neutron.)
I use my real name, here, now, because, as shown by our host and Messrs. Myers, Mulligan, Ries and others
Well, for the record, this is one of the few places I use both my first and last name (and middle initial, to boot). Most other are mailing lists, and while many use handles, I just never got around to it.
Most other forums/boards/etc, I do use a couple of different usernames. And that’s not out of any sense of needing to hide my name, but simply that I’ve used those names for so long, that it makes me easy to find over a variety of sites.
But I can understand the desire for anonymity, as long as it isn’t abused by trolling and such. There *are* employers out there who will abuse the tools at their disposal.
” Craig J. Ries at July 5, 2007 11:27 PM”
You know, it occurs to me that I rarely use my middle name or even middle initial on anything. It’s on official paperwork of course, but not in day to day life.
1) I understand that there are some things you wouldn’t want employers to find out about. But if you are concerned that thoughts and ideas expressed in a blog like this could somehow compromise you with employers that is very troubling.
2) There is something to be said for people writing their own names when they present their own opinions — whether they criticize politicians or writers. Does anonymity make people more rude, less careful about what they say, less serious? At some cases it seems so. Somebody badmouthing others while using a silly moniker seems to show just more of his or her lack of respect by doing so.
However, some of the more trollish behavior on this board was done by people using there own name as far as we know. Also, a pseudonym used consistently can be as real as the person’s own name. In this case should we consider the use of the pseudonym as a sign of lack of commitment or courage? Sometimes a pseudonym serves other needs of the writer (being shy?) but do not reflect on his character or attitude.
3) Luigi is also correct that in this day and age there more reasons to be concerned about how private information might be used against you by someone across the net.
It is courageous to sign your own name to political opinions like a declaration of independence, but people should protect themselves. Pseudonyms were used by political and religious writers to protect their safety.
Can it be used for manipulation too? (I’m reminded of Ender’s game)
Anyway, I’m not sure. I suppose if people behave badly, not signing their real name is one more point against them. And when people like the American founding father’s signed their own name to the declaration of independence it was certainly an act of courage. But there is no need to condemn the use of pseudonyms i and of itself.
4) In any case, my real name is Micha, my family name is Roded, and I live in Jerusalem.
Although my family has several cases of family name changes. My father changed his family name to a Hebrew name. One of my maternal’s great-grandfather had his name changed in Ellis Island, while another great-great grandfather changed his name to avoid serving in the Tzar’s army.
5) Re: veterans, memorial day and 4th of July.
One of the smarter decisions of the Israeli founders was to have the memorial day a day before independence day. So we remember the sacrifice that makes independence possible and then party on the next day.
I’ve always felt it’s kind of too bad that the US has Memorial Day (for the dead) in late May, and Veteran’s Day (for the living) in mid-November. Apart from the fact that it reverses the significance of Armistice Day, late autumn just seems more conducive to thinking about the dead, and late spring for thinking about the living. (The veterans would probably also rather be out and about in May, although I suspect areas that have Memorial Day parades and the like don’t observe a strict line between the two holidays.)
However, remembering those who died in war in May goes back to the Civil War in the US, so I suppose it wasn’t going to work out any other way…
Megan –
You know, it occurs to me that I rarely use my middle name or even middle initial on anything.
My father and I share the same first name, but different middle names. So, it’s just something I use for distinction.
Luigi Novi: Just because the FF were willing to risk their lives by foregoing privacy doesn’t mean it’s questionable for others to opt otherwise, IMO.
— I missed that issue. Was the Silver Surfer in it? At any rate, it probably would have made a more exciting plot than the first movie.
Hey, Jesse Jackson:
I too enjoy the movie 1776, especially William Daniels’ performance as John Adams. Here’s a weird piece of trivia for you: Do you remember the Knight Rider tv show in the 1980’s? Daniels was the voice of KITT.
And regarding pseudonyms, Hal Jordan is my real name. If you don’t believe me, just ask John, Guy or Kyle.
PAD: Kind of the point. In 1776 rich men risked life, limb and property to sign their names to their opinion in defiance of the king. Now it’s over two centuries later and the heirs to the free speech the Founders believed in are afraid to sign their names to their opinions lest they endure google searches.
And it’s a notable point. The difference I see between today and then is a matter of… Hmmm. I know what I mean to say in my own head but I’m not sure I will get this out right in words.
But Hamilton et al were standing up for principal in weighty issues of the day. And it is only right, when expressing an opinion on such matters that you declare yourself and be prepared to defend your view in public. When discussing less or in- significant matters, where the only opposition you are likely to face is some troll who isn’t out to debate you but to cause you grief way out of proportion to the matter at hand… there I have no problem with people taking some reasonable steps to maintain some anonimity.
Personally when posting here, or to some political blog I sign my name. I very much feel that if I’m not willing to sign my real name than I can’t post it. But I have used just my initials, or even aliases, when joining in a “fun” discussion where there is a danger of someone really coming after me for some trivial “Whaddaya mean Hulk is stronger than Superman” level issue.
Been there. Done that. http://www.richardsramblings.com/2002/04/30/stephanie-adams-is-wacko/
When she attacked the kids my willingness to pledge my Life, Fortune and Sacred Honor took a considered step back.