ANON

samizdat in the Soviet Union. Or in some cases, a small minority of course, scrawling on toilet walls, or giving ourselves a licence to abuse. Mostly, endless anon feels evasive: that people are somehow slightly ashamed of letting rip ( sometimes with good cause) or lack the confidence to stand up for their own opinions. I know that some have good reason, like blogging from work! But if people are hiding themselves because they fear disapproval or even retribution, this is a serious matter that should be confronted eventually, surely? Mostly though, anon seem to be just a blog style, an image thing, or a pamphleteer’s moniker (“Quis Separabit”!), like those all-too-traditional letters to the Tele.

Other characteristics are the rush to take offence (blog rage), the endless rounds of the zero sum game (you’re on one side or another and if you protest you’re not, you’re either lying or stupid). And then there’s the hard polemical edge that’s substitute for the open mind..

This is a community which desperately needs good thinking and integrity and here is a wonderful vehicle for stimulating it.

I’ll probably be torn to pieces for saying this: or worse, ignored.
Just to balance it out, most of the time it’s a stimulating and rewarding experience. The corrections are invaluable and should always be acknowledged.

Real Slugger fans are the soul of the blog. Mainstream media, look out!

I hope I haven’t made anyone feel horribly self-conscious, except maybe myself.

End of sermon.

Brian Walker

Former BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester and London, Editor Spolight; Political Editor BBC NI; Current Affairs Commissioning editor BBC Radio 4; Editor Political and Parliamentary Programmes, BBC Westminster; former London Editor Belfast Telegraph. Hon Senior Research Fellow, The Constitution Unit, Univ Coll. London