Mr. Holston, I see this from a different point of view. The publications you mention, like The Atlantic, exist in the real world where people have real faces, real names and real lives. In the real world, we can hold people accountable, because they are tangible, meaning we can see, hear, feel, and touch them.
The virtual world – like Medium – is an imaginary place that exists only in our minds – more like dreams, ideas, thoughts and opinions floating in space. You cannot crawl in someone else’s head and watch their dreams while they sleep – right?
Just like everyone here, Jessica Wildfire is not real. The only thing that exists in here, are whatever dreams, ideas, thoughts and opinions she decides to write down and share. Sure, we are all real live people with real lives in the real world. But in our virtual world nothing has matter, and anything without matter, does not exist.
Unfortunately, not everyone can separate these worlds in their minds. To these people, the virtual world is real. Pizzagate serves to remind us, that these people can be dangerous.
Do you want everyone in the virtual world in your real life? Be careful, for you have no way of stopping the crazies from coming too. Someone who took offense on-line, could suddenly show up at your home, or work, with a gun. People hiding behind fake names in the virtual world can attack you in real life as easily as they can attack your spouse, children, friends or co-workers.
Fifteen years ago, I learned this lesson the hard way. In 2007, our small-town newspaper had just started a comment section, when some serious problems were uncovered in our school district. By the time anonymous people in our little newspaper’s virtual world were done with me, my home had been torched (arson), my car had thousands of dollars in damage, and my children, my employees and I had coped with dozens of filthy, disgusting, vile, threatening letters and packages containing realistic toy guns, knives and bombs mailed to my home and business.
We were under police protection for more than a year. During that entire period of time, the only place I was safe from these anonymous attacks, was in publications where I’d been writing under a pseudonym for 20+ years.
I urge you to think ahead. If I uncovered Jessica Wildfire’s real-life name and revealed those details on-line, and some crazy person used that information to hurt her, or her children, I would hold myself responsible. Would you hold yourself responsible?
My point is this: we do not know the reason, any writer in the virtual world writes under a pen-name. We are a long way from figuring out how to hold people accountable in the virtual world. Until then, we might want to respect writer’s decision to remain as anonymous as their readers.
