What's in a Name?

“When we are aware of our soul, we perceive the inner life that surpasses our ego and that has profound affinities with the Whole.” Rabindranath Tagore

“When we are able to recognize and forgive ignorant actions done in one’s past, we strengthen ourselves and can solve the problems of the present constructively.” Dalai Lama

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet"- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, 2.2

There has been a renewed debate on the use of pseudonyms especially on the web. It is an ongoing debate that has no real easy answers. Over on the Web I am usually logged in under michelewln for the simple fact it is my email address. I bounce around too many places to try and remember them all by a different name. Besides it is a combination of my real names Michele and Wilson. For me it is no big deal if people know my actual name. I have gone from hating my name as a child because no one was named Michele to loving it after the Beatle’s song. Of course life would have been a whole lot easier if my Dad had put the second L in there. He just laughed when I told him that once. You cannot believe the number of people whom I will spell my name to and they will put 2 L’s in it any way as if I don’t really know how my name is spelled.

There are good arguments for using pseudonyms sometimes. One of my favorite authors growing up was Mark Twain whose real name of course was Samuel Clemens. A lot of authors have more then one name making it easier to write and sell in more then one genre. Some people, especially on political blogs, have to be careful because their companies do not want their employees giving out their political opinions because they don’t want anyone to think that the opinions of the employees are the same as those of management. The converse is also true that some employees would prefer not to be associated with the political opinions of the company the work for.

Their are some people who have to be careful that they can’t be traced. I move from California where all my friends were to the Midwest in part because I was warned by the counselor I was seeing that my life was in danger from my now ex-husband. I don’t mind if people know my name but I am careful of my address. The point is we do not really know what another person may be facing and the reason they don’t want their real name out there. There may be real good reasons to keep anonymous.

Being from a theater background I am more then familiar with “stage names.” I have no problem with them. There are rules that prevent more then one person from acting professionally under the same name. Thus McGuyver star Richard Dean Anderson uses his middle name because Richard Anderson was working on The Bionic Man. Doctor Who star David Tennant uses that name instead of McDonald because their was already a David McDonald acting in British Equity.

My problem with pseudonyms or handles or whatever you want to call them comes from when they are abused. I became thoroughly sick of some of these “phony” names when I was married to a man who was a part of the “furry” community of science fiction. These people use character names and make expensive costumes and have a life totally devoid of reality sometimes. My ex used the fact that he could hide behind a character name to be abusive on the web and in real life. Too many of his friends were the same way. I am very uncomfortable around that section of fandom.

Don’t get me wrong I am a thorough geek and I love science fiction. I ran my own science fiction convention for several years. I have costumes including an original Star Trek one in science blue thank you very much. I love costume contests at science fiction conventions. I had a friend whom I dearly loved who would come up with the most outlandish costumes. Imagine if you will the “chandelier from Phantom of the Opera” or a slightly tatty looking “Batman Spotlight Logo.”

I gave up trying to do the discussions on Usenet because of the number of trolls whose sole purpose is to try and disrupt conversations and start flame wars. The only places I go now days is the moderated forums. It is a shame that the only way to talk about mutual interests is if someone has the authority to moderate because some people cannot act responsibility. I leave Usenet to the children.

There is however a power in names. There are some names that just make you cringe such as Hitler. One that really disturbs me is “Taliban.” When you realize that the way they treat their women is worse then a slave animal is treated it makes me sick. They are terrorists plain and simple. Whatever “ideals” that some of them may have had at the beginning have been subverted. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. When Rep. Pete Sessions bragged about the Republican learning “insurgency” because of the Taliban I was, to use a good Irish word, gobsmacked. Let’s be clear who we are talking about here and take just one month, June of last year. In June, at least 45 international troops -- including 27 Americans -- were reported killed in Afghanistan. In Iraq, 31 international troops -- including 29 U.S. troops and one each from Georgia and Azerbaijan -- died in June.

So Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee thinks learning from these people who have cost the lives of so many people is a good thing? And his reason is because even though President Obama kept trying to push bipartisanship on the stimulus bill the Republicans wanted nothing to do with it if it didn’t mean giving them their own way and not compromising? Now consider these facts that in 2000, Clinton’s last year, the surplus amounted to $236 billion and Bush blew through Clinton’s surplus in his first year and the surplus President Bush inherited turned into a record deficit: $455 billion. Do the math. Why should we give you your way Mr. Sessions? You who think learning from the terrorists who are killing our men and women is a good thing and you who screwed our economy up.

A lot of Republicans are whining about people publishing their opinions under pseudonyms and attacking them. So there is my opinion above and my real name too. I think bringing the name of the Taliban into your political and economic argument is reprehensible.
So I’m little, Irish-American, a redhead and born under the sign of Aries. You don’t really expect me to be quiet and demure do you? After all we Irish have a saying:

Dance as if no one were watching.
Sing as if no one were listening.
Live each day as if it’s your last.

And I intend to sing and dance and live each day to the fullest. And if I feel like giving my opinion I’ll do so.