“I’ll comment more on this later. For those who don’t follow this blog, it is one of the best in Alaska.”
OK, its later.
First, Alaska Mudflats, an anonymous blogger from here in Alaska that writes the wonderful progressive blog The Mudflats, has been outed by a state legislator. A Democratic legislator no less. Mike Doogan.
Why?
Who knows.
Mudflats is one of the ways that I start my days. I hit the Alaska Volcano Observatory, Daily-News Miner, Huffington Post, Anchorage Daily News, and the Mudflats. Several times a day usually. Often I hit Mudflats before any of the rest, except the Observatory (but only as of late), because it is more honest, better written, and often a day ahead of any news the paper prints.
Moving beyond my anger and disappointment at this event and recognizing that it quite possibly will silence an outstanding commentary on Alaska politics, an underlying philosophical question comes into play.
Are anonymous bloggers a threat to our society and to our form of government?
Apparently, Mr. Doogan thinks so.
Should people be allowed to speak out (or write in this case) for, or against things, without signing their name in big bold letters for everyone to see?
NO!!! As Mr. Doogan sees it.
Mr. Doogan, who used to write commentary for the Anchorage Daily News, certainly has his right to that opinion. On the other hand, does he have the right to enforce his opionion on someone who has chosen to be anonymous, using state resources to do so? We’ll leave that question to be decided in the courts, at leas that is where I hope it gets decided.
Now, back to the subject, does anonymity have a role to place in a democratic society?
Our founding fathers Hamilton, Jay, and Madison felt it worthwhile to speak anonymously in favor of ratification of the Constitution in the Federalist Papers. Benjamin Franklin published Poor Richard’s Almanac under the pseudonym Richard Saunders.
Apparently they thought expressing themselves politically while remaining anonymous was worthwhile. So what does Mr. Doogan know that they don’t?
For one, they had not made a career out of working for a newspaper industry that may well be in it’ s death throws, and a paper specifically whose continued viability has been called into question. Mr. Doogan’s media may be a thing of the past, in part to the immediacy and honesty of bloggers like Alaska Mudflats. So, maybe he’s just a bitter, old man.
Another dig there. Sorry Mr. Doogan, I know you are a great supporter of common courtesy. Back to the topic.
In my opinion, anonymity can provide a forum for honest and intellectual essays devoid of fear of repercussion or judgement. I value that discourse in society. I think it leads to an improvement in the public discourse. Hamilton, Madison, Franklin, and Jay apparently agreed; as they used the format to present arguments via essay and print on matters as important as our constitution.
If one thinks that political opinions don’t carry reward or risk in Alaska, they are sadly mistaken. When citizens aren’t allowed to discuss concerns, worries and events in an environment safe from repercussion, what does the future hold? Particularly in a what can certainly be considered hostile territory for progressives.
I’ve written this blog, intermittently of late, but always anonymously. But many people know me as the author. That has been my choice. I have written about some personal things, including conflict in a group as small as our church. It hasn’t gone without criticism from some friends and fellow church members who thought I was being unfairly critical and mean spirited.
Perhaps.
My response to them is, “If you don’t like it, don’t read it.”
Needless to say, that doesn’t always go over very well. The message I’m trying to get across to the critic is that the blog is a personal essay, an exercise in writing about something that one feels strongly about. When well written it brings about a strong reaction in a reader. Sometimes it is a positive response, sometimes negative. Sometimes people are so moved they feel the need to comment and hopefully will enter into a conversation with the author. If so, job well done.
I like to think of blogs as the modern day equivalent of letter writing. Before our country was formed, our founding fathers discussed politics and philosophy via letters. Jefferson and Adams, friends and sometimes political rivals, shared letters. Imagine, a civil discourse founded on thoughtful, intelligent debate at the end of a quill, or today on a keyboard.
Compare it to the TV bloviators, where posturing, yelling, and personality take precedence over the rational discussion of ideas. Can you imagine what Bill OReilly’s blog might look like? How about Rush? Beck? Mr. Doogan? “I CAN TYPE LOUDER THAN YOU!!!!!! SHUT UP!!!! #%$!@@#@#!!!!!”
Alaska Mudflats has added to the political discourse here in Alaska; providing insightful, at times funny, at times biting (often to those that deserved bit), political and social commentary.
Our state is entering a crucial time. Our governor and legislature can’t get along, our governor doesn’t know where the state capital is, our state budget is a shambles, Alaska Natives are making the choice between food and heat, and one of our so-called leaders is using our state resources to hunt down the nefarious threat to democracy otherwise known as Alaska Mudflats.
I hope Alaska Mudflats sticks around. As I’ve said before, reading Mudflats is part of my daily routine. If it goes away, I’ll miss it greatly. I feel deeply for Alaska Mudflat’s family, and hope they remain safe. I hope they feel safe. The loss of ones comfort and security in their own home, their own community, can be one of the greatest losses one can have short of a loved one.
To anyone offended by Mr. Doogan’s actions, especially Alaskans, his contact info is below:
Mike Doogan Ph: (907) 465-4998 Or (800) 689-4998 Fax: (907) 465-4419Representative_Mike_Doogan@legis.state.ak.us
If you want to keep up with what other bloggers are saying about this event, check out Immoral Minoritys blog where there are links to what everyone is saying.
UPDATE: Another link to with updates and commentary at the Mudflats Forum.
I got the Mudflats article in RSS feed, but couldn’t get it to come up in IE and couldn’t make a comment. I’m concerned about ______ (redacted). Have you heard anything?
Suzanne,
Check out the link at http://www.themudflats.net/
discontinuous
I just tried again a couple of times from your link and also from my RSS feed and got the IE message: Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage. Maybe the server is busy.
I can read the article in my RSS feed, I just wanted to leave a comment of support for her. She writes brilliant posts. I wish her the best.
Thanks for your help, I’ll try again tomorrow.
May all be well with you and those you love.
Suzanne
Suzzane,
She does, and this is a sad event. I know the site has been inundated with people today, as evidenced by some comments on other sites.
discontinuous
Try back at odd times of day – FYI the Mudflats server was overloaded most of Friday; some folks couldn’t access the blog; I could usually get the blog but not the Forum. A guest column by Bob Poe which had 200 comments when I went to bed at 2 AM PT has 600 comments Saturday AM and now won’t open (but there’s a fresh open thread which opened fine for now. The Mudflats team said they’re arranging for a bigger server in anticipation of high traffic the next several days.
PS Thanks for your thoughtful post.
If you want to really express your outrage, you should write an email to the Democrats with the real power, the Minority Leader and Minority Whip. There email addresses are rep.beth.kerttula@legis.state.ak.us,
rep.david.guttenberg@legis.state.ak.us .
Here’s the email I sent:
Dear Minority Leader Kerttula and Minority Whip Guttenberg,
You may or may not be aware of this but a fellow member of the Democratic Caucus, Rep. Mike Doogan, has taken it upon himself to trample upon the privacy of a citizen of Alaska. Rep. Doogan recently unilaterally and maliciously revealed the identity of a anonymous female blogger who writes the site Mudflats. Rep. Doogan’s actions were reprehensible and will involuntarily expose this poor woman and her family to the harsh light of the public media spotlight.
Please find below my email to Rep. Doogan complaining about his deplorable actions. I hope that you will take this matter under advisement and consider how poorly these actions by Rep. Doogan tarnish the image of the Democratic Party in Alaska.
If you want to really spread the word, you should email the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics. Their emails are Representative_John_Coghill@legis.state.ak.us,
Representative_Berta_Gardner@legis.state.ak.us,
Senator_Gary_Stevens@legis.state.ak.us,
Senator_Thomas_Wagoner@legis.state.ak.us .
Here’s the email I sent:
Dear Reps. Coghill and Gardner and Sens. Stevens and Wagoner,
You may or may not be aware of this but a member of the Alaska House of Representatives, Rep. Mike Doogan, has taken it upon himself to trample upon the privacy of a citizen of Alaska. Rep. Doogan recently unilaterally and maliciously revealed the identity of an anonymous female blogger who writes the blog Mudflats. Rep. Doogan’s actions were reprehensible and will involuntarily expose this poor woman and her family to the harsh light of the public media spotlight.
Please find below my email to Rep. Doogan complaining about his deplorable actions. As members of the Alaska legislature’s Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics, I hope that you will take this matter under advisement and consider how poorly these actions by Rep. Doogan tarnish the image of the Alaska legislature.
Thank you for your wonderful post, discontinuous. I’ve been thinking a lot about the founding fathers lately and have started doing research at the library. It’s been quite a few years since I read their words and I felt like I needed to refresh.
I started looking up ways to contact legislators yesterday and appreciate this information. I don’t know law at all, but my gut feeling is that it is not just morally wrong, but legally also. It feels like a violation of ________’s (redacted) privacy and rights. Certainly politicians have commented on private citizens who spoke out publically before, but this type of action against ______’s (redacted) will just feels wrong.
I’ll get right on the emails. Thanks again for the information.
[…] http://anahata56.livejournal.com/1119176.html https://discontinuouspermafrost.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/the-mudflats-%C2%BB-in-exposing-the-identity… http://freerangewriting.blogspot.com/2009/03/in-support-of-mudflats-and-anonymous.html […]
Thank you for this highly perceptive and humorous bit –
“Compare it to the TV bloviators, where posturing, yelling, and personality take precedence over the rational discussion of ideas. Can you imagine what Bill OReilly’s blog might look like? How about Rush? Beck? Mr. Doogan? “I CAN TYPE LOUDER THAN YOU!!!!!! SHUT UP!!!! #%$!@@#@#!!!!!“
And thank you for the words of support for our AKM.
PS could you remove her name from the comments – just since she didn’t choose to reveal it herself – in solidarity. Thanks
AKM’s name has been removed, good catch!!! Thanks for your comment!
Why did Doogan do it? Why now, of all times?
Call me paranoid, call me suspicious.
Strange that this is coming out, right at the time Sarah Palin
has had quite a few days of bad publicity. The major publicity about her disconnect with the Alaska legislature, multiple Internet and media criticisms of SP, the protestors on the steps at Juneau (with pictures for the world to see), the ethics complaint re: her wearing the Arctic Cat jacket.
All these seeming to be building toward a critical mass.
What better way to deflect attention from Miss Sarah than this bombshell of outing an anonymous blogger?
Politics make strange bedfellows.
I’d like to note that most “bloggers” tend to think they have opinions that someone should pay attention to. Some bloggers even make claims to priviledged information. That’s where the problems start.
Here is part of the original post from Mudflats on the “outing”; a reference to Mudflats’ start in the blogging biz:
” …But I knew some things about her (Gov. Sarah Palin), and her policies and positions that others might not be able to find out so easily. I decided to write my opinion….”
I think the question should hinge on whether a private citizen claims to “know” things that “others” may not have access to, intimating the access is special and privileged.
This is not a journalist protecting a “source”.
Blogging is not “reporting”, no matter how many Bloggers pretend (or want to pretend) they are reporters.
When a Blogger (as so many of us do) crosses the line from opinion to stating supposed fact based on claims of privileged information, that Blogger has lost any expectation of legal protection of their identity.
IMNSHO, if you claim special access, privilege and expertise not available to the general public, expect to get outed.