Using a pseudonym and remaining anonymous doesn't mean I do it out of fear. Instead, one of the uses of a pseudonym is to direct & focus the attention of readers to my posts in this blog. And not on who the blogger might be; what are his/her pet peeves; what colour undergarments does he/she use; what's his/her political or sexual orientation blah blah blah!!
I post using the pseudonym article19. There is a reason why I chose that as a pseudonym. Article 19, is one of the articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers. Thus, I found it rather appropriate to use it as my pseudonym.
I'm an average Singaporean. I was born and raised here. I've lived here all my life. I'm no degree or honours holder, scholar, expert, elite, etc, etc. I'm just one of the very ordinary Singaporean struggling to survive trying to make ends meet. I live where 90% of Singaporeans live - in an HDB flat. Now, there wouldn't be any point of calling my blog Pseudonymity & being anonymous as article19, if i go further and tell you more about myself, would it.
Singapore
since the government and opposition both went to great lengths to assure everyone that voting is anonymous, both sides agree that anonymity does not by itself invalidate a political expression; however, to have an indepth discussion, you usually need to know who is talking; taking this blog as example, when several anonymous comments follow one another, you wont even know which expression is which
ReplyDeleteabout this issue of fear: it obviously exists, and is not really fear of arrest or dismissal; just fear of being labelled is usually enough to deter a person from speaking up; while the "system" might genuinely want to hear different views, it is also genuinely unable to stop someone from being labelled; this is not a simple problem that can be solved by shouting a few slogans
Mr PseudoAnon, the tenor of your post seems "apologetic" to me.
ReplyDeleteNever apologise for being "right".
"The lady doth protest too much!"
my apologies i couldn't get around to doing this earlier....so thanx to SBP for featuring my blog. I appreciate it. :-)
ReplyDeleteas for the two comments above: anonymity is something which will be debated on and off for the forseeable future. as for the tenor of my "about me" seeming to be "apologetic"...well, i didn't realise it came across like that. I was definitely not being apologetic. It was just a simple explanation, nothing more & nothing less. :)
cheers all, article19 :)