Howard Towt on Intimidation and Anonymous Blogging....

Anonymous electronic activism and expression to protect one's identity and family is much different than being an empty suit.

by the Left Coast Rebel

I just picked up this post via Anti-Republican Culture. Howard Towt, writing out of Colorado, says it quite nicely:

Tim Daniel, the inspiration behind Left Coast Rebel (and a supporter of this blog), recently had a post in The Daily Caller. The article displayed Tim’s understated “can you believe THIS!” style of writing, and yet it was significant for another reason.

Tim published it with his name and photograph.

Why is this significant? It is because our culture supports the idea of Republicans being continually “under siege.” We accept Republicans having shoes thrown at them, eggs thrown at them, speeches drowned out, and cars vandalized. Our culture simply shrugs and continues with the idea that Republicans deserve this treatment.

It makes a difference. It intimidates us. We hesitate.

That’s why this has been an interesting week. The people who run the town of Bell, California didn’t expect pushback from folks like Tim Daniel. Senator Kerry didn’t expect to be called on his tax avoidance techniques. The NAACP didn’t expect to be criticized for working to label Republicans as “racists.”

The blogging community is now the primary agent for transparency over governmental heavy-handedness. It’s a service delivered unapologetically, with a simple appeal to human fairness.

Howard is totally correct here. When I published my piece, there was a certain queasiness in knowing that my name and my mug were getting transmitted all across the electronic wilderness.

There are a lot of radical leftists that wish to do harm to those with strong voices in opposition. They turn to intimidation and coercive measures because their way of doing things doesn't add up in the real world. Plus, many are anti-social, angry and extremely vengeful and hateful. I know this even better after having blogged for a year and a half now.

And even far more damaging and common too - leftists turn to thought-police tactics and Marxist-based 'political correctness' (that is anything but) to stifle classically-liberal ideas and expression.

But we all have to be stronger and better than that. For those that can afford to lift the veil of anonymity, we should do so knowing that we are expressing our most basic rights and that if those right are infringed upon, that we have many friends able to lend support and aid, if need be.

Read the rest of Howard's excellent piece here, as well as several posts in the backlog that I missed recently at Anti-Republican Culture. Cross posted to Rational Nation (one whom I respect for authoring his opinion under his true name).