Asymmetrical Information

From the desk of Jane Galt:

There was a time when

There was a time when I tried to take this blog anonymous. It's not that I'm ashamed of what I think. But I was looking for a job, and feared offending a potential employer, and some of my family are somewhat involved in the Democratic Party, and clearly I'm not an asset to them. So I thought that it would be nice to take it pseudononymous, and the email address I generated during my first foray into the New York Times Forum in 1995 seemed like as good a choice as any, though I seem to have accidentally convinced both Objectivists and Rand haters that I am a devotee of Ayn Rand. For the record, I'm not; I do read her work (Atlas Shrugged is perfect for the beach), and I think she makes some good points, but I also think there are some serious problems with trying to force an ultra-rationalist ethos onto creatures that evolved in the jungle, rather than a logic class. But I digress. Anyway, now you know why my nickname is "Jane Galt".

Ultimately, my effort failed; my real name is too widely linked. I will not now be able to erase it from Google. But I'm not willing to give up the blog, and my pseudonym amuses me sufficiently that I continue to use it, even though its purpose of concealment has failed. There's a good chance it would have anyway; after all, how many 6'2 female Chicago MBA's from the Class of 2001 are living in New York? That's a rhetorical question.

And now Steven Den Beste has come along to make me feel better by pointing out that anyone who adopts a pseudonym loses a certain amount of street cred. He's referring to Demosthenes, who I link, but the principal is, I think, widely applicable.

It's not an insurmountable obstacle. I link Dr. Weevil, Mindles Dreck, and Asparagirl, and all of them have a high degree of credibility with me. Of course, I've met all of them face to face, but even for those who haven't, they should carry a fair amount of credibility. Dr. Weevil and Mindles Dreck are both experts on a topic they cover extensibly; their links and posts are well written, well researched, and erudite. Both of them are anonymous not because they are afraid, but because they hold jobs where they are discouraged from publishing any opinion publicly.

The paradox, of course, is that in order to establish the facts that provide them credibility, they provide biographical details that compromise that anonymity -- as the scurrilous publication of Dr. Weevil's name and address by the ill-mannered troglodytes over at WarbloggerWatch demonstrates. Demosthenes is highly anonymous -- but the corollary to that is that because we have no context for his opinions, we discount them for the possibility of self-interest, just as bankers discount a bond for the possibility of default. The less information, the greater the discount.

Information is, of course, a double-edged sword. The fact that I have an MBA from Chicago does not make me an expert on anything except the muffins in the business school cafeteria, but it does indicate that I have at least a basic familiarity with financial transactions, accounting, and the principles of economics. On the other hand, to many on the left it means that I have been indoctrinated with an ultra-right-wing free market ideology espoused by the kind of people who, when the revolution comes, will be the first ones with their backs against the wall. So while I gain credibility with some, I lose it with others, and undoubtedly pick up a couple of detractors who are actively planning the day when I am executed for spreading Imperialist Dogma or some such. Though those people should also take cognizance of another biographical detail -- my 130 pound, fiercely protective, canine companion.

At any rate. My interaction with Demosthenes has demonstrated that he possesses a modicum of intellectual curiousity and honesty, and has a penchant for asking interesting questions, even if we usually disagree on the answers. For that reason, he is in my permalinks. I hope that this lends him some credibility in your eyes as well. But I think that anyone who blogs anonymously has to accept that to a certain degree, they have a higher burden of proof than those of us who are stuck with the names our parents gave us.

Posted by Jane Galt at August 12, 2002 7:10 AM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound links"); ?>