pardon my f*cking language

Posted: Sun, 03 Jun 2007

I don’t think I’ve ever addressed the matter of pseudonymity in a post. I wouldn’t be doing it now if I hadn’t found a post by someone else that gets to the heart of the matter.

I make no secret that I’m [an old media professional]. It’s right there in my profile. This means I have [colleagues and clients], and a [professional] image to live up to with [them]. Maybe maintaining my image … isn’t as onerous as the image-burden borne by, say, a Supreme Court justice, or the pope. But it’s not nothing. In front of my [colleagues and clients], I have to be … dignified and [professional]. This doesn’t mean being a phony; it’s more a question of emphasizing certain aspects of one’s personality and putting others in a closet for the day.

If you read my blog, you know that I use somewhat crude language from time to time. I say “f***” in several posts. …I have … a [vulgar] sense of humor … . I don’t tell my [colleagues and clients] that I’m always “the dignified [professional]” or that I never use crude language. That would be pompous and false, not to mention irrelevant. But I don’t use crude language around [them]…. Maintaining an image means drawing a line between your professional persona and your personal life.

Via Ann Althouse, who reminds us:

[Y]ou might say, but can’t a blogger adopt a persona and use a pseudonym to signify the disconnect between the writer taking a pose for literary effect and the real-world person?

Why, yes, she can! However, Althouse also gives this wise advice:

Don’t blog anonymously unless you’re ready to accept all the consequences that would come if everyone suddenly knew it was you.

I knew that, but it’s worth remembering. And repeating.