pseudonyms

Jackart has asked why it is that people on the right are more likely to write under a pseudonym than those on the left. Personally I expect a large part of it is that people on the right are held to a much higher standard than those on the left. It is perfectly possible to have been a member of a political party supporting the twentieth century’s number one mass murderer and then laugh it off later as one of the mistakes of youth. So long as the mass murderer in question is part of the left. Likewise it is perennially fashionable to wear the image of another mass murderer, again so long as that mass murderer was on the left. But on the other side to celebrate the image of a murdering bastard like Pinochet is unthinkable (rightly, he was a murdering bastard). Even the reclaiming of the Falklands from the fascist junta of Argentina, despite being just about the closest to a completely justified war you can get, will still cause heated debate because the Lady that ordered it is definitely of the right.

Also people on the right will more often be challenging the current political consensus. For this a pseudonym is useful since it makes it a bit harder for your ideas to affect your personal life and visa versa. Note that the writers of Lenin’s Tomb, which is definitely of the left, also use pseudonyms and they too do not go along with the mainstream. We live in censorious times and Thought Crimes can easily catch up with you if you get noticed offending the wrong people.

I use a thin pseudonym because when I write it is generally about something that has made me angry, this means that I don’t always use the most temperate language. This is a zone for venting spleen. One of my themes is that I don’t like religion, I consider it to be a collection of stupid and frequently dangerous superstitions. In the past I have slagged off all of the worlds major religions, and several of the minor players, however voicing such views is becoming increasingly controversial. Slagging off a religious leader, who happens to be Jewish, that advocates cutting up teddy bears is probably OK. But for some reason slagging off a religious leader, who happens to be Muslim, that advocates cutting up women is probably not. I happen to get angry about both so the level of obstrufication given by a (fairly thin) pseudonym is useful.