Jul 20, 2022·edited Jul 20, 2022Liked by John Carter
Personally, I think that choosing to use a pseudonym allows the writer to project something. Your choice of John Carter says something about you. Those unfamiliar can read Princess, which I enjoyed immensely many years ago. My opinion about those who are criticizing your pseudonymity (?) is simple: They are not your friends. Why do they want to know who you are? Either they are so naive as to be useless, or they have an agenda. If they want to send flowers, provide them with a P.O. box address. Otherwise, nunya. Thanks for another episode of philosophic adventure!
"The author of a good book should remain anonymous, for it is to his work, not to himself, that admiration is due." Auden
I vote for pseudonymity, because I'm only interested in your words and ideas and how you present them (no offense).
Also, in my Substack wanderings I enjoy writers like NS Lyons, El Gato Malo, Eugyppius etc and I have no clue if they're male or female or young or old or black or white etc, and could care less.
I consider this a refutation of the Identity Cult and its elevation of the personal characteristics and pet grievances of an author over their individual talent, ability, intelligence, style etc.
Once a book, essay, painting etc exists it has no need of its creator anymore—its creator can be anyone or no one.
Jul 21, 2022·edited Jul 21, 2022Liked by John Carter
Your substack has been a joy to read. There are many writers on here that I really enjoy, but whenever you or Chris Bray (Tell Me How This Ends) publish something new, I pretty much always drop what I'm doing or rearrange my schedule to read it ASAP -- and it's always time well spent!
It's not just that what you (and Chris) say is interesting and insightful, although it always is -- indeed, much more insightful and interesting than anything I'm capable of writing -- but the real value of your work is this: you are both voices of reason in a world gone completely insane. Call it a red-pill moment or whatever, at some point in life I realized that practically every sense-making institution in my culture has been completely corrupted by a nonstop smoke-and-mirrors psyops campaign. I don't understand who's behind it or what their agenda is, although I do have my suspicions, but a memetic war has been actively waged against Truth and Reason for longer than I've been alive, to the point that even the agents of this psyops have been driven criminally insane by their own psychological weapons. And it's not just that so many cultural norms are based on obviously absurd fictions, but so many of these norms are diametrically opposed to human nature. We're being poisoned, in some cases literally, yet told that the toxins are actually medically necessary, and we're threatened with cancellation if we even ask questions too loudly. In the midst of this dehumanizing cultural wasteland, the quest to develop and come to terms with one's own humanity seems a lonely, treacherous, and even impossible task, given the limits of human knowledge and the even greater limits of what one solitary individual can learn in a single lifetime. So when you encounter someone who's daring to make a similar journey, especially someone who freely shares their greater insights and wisdom, and especially when that person writes as well as Chris Bray and you write on your respective substacks, that encounter is balm for the soul, like a cold bottle of water to one dying of thirst.
As to writing pseudonymously, I'm sure all of us who question the regime on here will eventually be outed IRL. I think it is a risk worth taking. I think there are many more of us than them, and our numbers are growing daily, especially as the regime tips its hand with bad strategies and botched execution and arrogant overreach. As you wrote in your series on the hydra, the smart and competent people are increasingly falling out of favor with the regime, as it demands unblinking fealty to an idiotic ideology and unapologetically chooses its leadership based on DEI tokenism. Truth and Reason are on our side by default, as the regime has effectively declared war on them. Our side is strong and getting stronger. Big changes are no doubt coming, and with them, real reversals of fortune and wild opportunities. The regime's threats will matter less and less, until it is no more than a toothless, terminally ill paper tiger. For those who make it through the coming troubles without betraying their values, I think a bright and rewarding future awaits.
Well put, and congratulations on 1000 subs! Your DIE articles are what won me over, and I'd say earned you 2000 eye balls right there.
And keep the mask if it pleases you; ideas and arguments are far more important on their own than by who made them, and so long as you keep the same name we can tell if you start going to the dark side. That's all we really need unless you decide to run for Congress or something, and I would happily write in "John Carter" in any case. Hell... I might just anyway.
John, the question of authorial self-presentation has so many answers that it is impossible for anyone to exhaust the topic. The re-emergence of pseudonymous and anonymous publication is creating a world that Michel Foucault would have embraced with enthusiasm. In an interview Foucault once proposed a game: that for a full year no book should be published using the author's name. Foucault anticipated that authors would probably wait until the year had expired before publishing. And he once famously wrote: "I am no doubt not the only one who writes in order to have no face. Do not ask who I am and do not ask me to remain the same: leave it to the bureaucrats to see that our papers are in order."
Your handle and the title of the newsletter are perfect: they advertise your condition as a frustrated North American feeling unaccommodated in the condition in which you find yourself. So far you have done a pretty good job concealing the details that would put you at risk.
My advice is that the longer you write, the greater the risk of doxing, so consider reviewing your writing/editorial practices on a regular basis and perhaps think of how to develop best practice. If you can, get advice from those close and listen to them carefully, even if you do not decide to accept their advice. And have something like a half-developed plan on what to do if you are doxed.
Even in real life, when not dealing with some sort of officials, I've always used a sort of pseudonym first name.
since I share first names with my male birth parent, it's always been easier to use half of my middle name instead, then it became habit.
when I'm dealing with paperwork related things, it's the legal first name.
this makes it really easy to tell if an incoming interaction is friendly or official by the first name used.
social media, including substack, gets a full on pseudonym.
I typically speak my mind in most any real life situation short of court, cops, or potential employment, and fairly freely on social media... but social media has too many Agent Smiths and aggressive types for me to want to expose my real identity. I'm way too mouthy about politically incorrect and prohibited topics.
What you and Winston write shows you both to be absolute paragons. How are people to follow your lead if they don't know who you are? The idea that someone like you would lose your job because of your clear and obvious excellence is an affront to the natural order. If this were to happen, it would make you a great hero in the culture war and expand your power and influence to affect the cultural shift away from wokeism and fear towards the human singularity. To fully leverage our asymmetric advantage in building genuine connection faces must be shown. Do you really believe that you couldn't make it at this point after getting 1000 subscribers in a few months that if you got fired and started writing science fiction novels full time? There are people that have such a degree of competence that they still can't be controlled. You and Winston unmasking would send a very powerful message and have significant impact in showing that you are such people. Of course there is downside risk, but safety last, no? Since you're talking of tactics and strategy, consider if you were able to inspire other academics to follow in your footsteps. This would create a huge dilemma for the enemy. In such a circumstance the only academics to come forward and speak their minds would be only those who had the confidence that they could do so without support from the system. The most competent. This would indict academia for what it has become, a mental prison destined to shackle all but the most brilliant and competent minds in nominal service of the cathedral. I believe that if you are speaking your mind in good faith, then all attacks upon you further discredit the enemy advance us ever closer to cultural dominance of the hydra. The joy to be had from connecting with the brilliant people that are engaged in this spiritual war is incredible. Just like in the covid context, the mask fucks that all up. I don't think you or Winston are cowards, I just think you're missing out on something beautiful that has to be experienced to be believed and I fucking hate it. I suppose I'm just outraged at the injustice. The woke should be the ones afraid to speak their minds in a culture dominated by commitment to free and open dialogue, not you and Winston. The idea of "cancellation" being acceptable should be the lowest of low-status positions. It can happen if people like you lead the way.
It's always been clear from the tech end of things that true anonymity is perfectly impossible. The intel agencies have always monitored everything, and always know who's who. So the remaining variable is difficulty of search for ordinary people who don't own the clouds and nodes.
But the most important variable is just the proportion of fish / pond. For small fish, it's better to use the big ponds like FB and Twitter. Using a small well-lighted pond like Gab guarantees that the intel operatives are watching you closely.
I only use my official legal name for legal documents — banking & taxes.
Initially, because I never resonated with my given birth name.
Subsequently, because at different times during my sojourn through life, I simply enjoy adopting various names that more accurately match my different affinities towards various inner aspects of my personality traits.
When I wore my hair extremely long, and dressed in ankle-length flowing dresses, one name suited that version of art. A three syllable name that was elegant and flowy.
When I cut my hair short and switched to short skirts, another name seemed more suitable. A one syllable name that was cute and sassy.
One of my friends altered the name I was using at that time and since I liked her version better than my own, I switched my nsme to her version. Why not? I could, so I did.
Changing names is akin to changing my wardrobe styles. I’m unattached to any of my names so some of my friends call me one name and others call me a different name. And my family members call me by a third name. More fun for me. Lol
If people choose to use pseudonyms or made up names online hurray for them.
If they choose to use their legal names online then yay for them.
If it isn’t obvious by now that there’s a cancel culture war against all those who deviate from the officially approved narratives being promoted and rammed down our deviant throats, time to open one’s eyes and ears, non?
Predators are extremely skilled at manipulating their prey into acting in ways and adopting behavior that is to their advantage and to the prey’s disadvantage.
One way is to present what they consider convincing arguments in favor of choosing behavior that makes us more vulnerable to these vampires.
Arguing that GMO & glyphosate are healthy for us falls into the same pit of specious reasoning as arguing in favor of outing oneself on the public chopping block before that same public outs you first. Suiciding oneself as if that is an act of courage rather than an act of stupidity in order to avoid being murdered is the height of conversive thinking.
Another form of Transmarginal Inhibition tactics imo. Attempting to weaken the strong in order to break their spirit.
I can't think of any other pseudonym that would fit you better. Edgar Rice Burroughs would be proud of the choice as Tarzan just wouldn't fit or go with the fantastic artwork as well!!! Linking your thoughts tomorrow @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/
Not to come off as pedantic or anything, but Bakhtin corrected Saussure by showing that the identities of sender and receiver, along with context (including identites of all participants in contextual discourse) IS the message, or a big part of it anyway. Anonymous communication, if such a thing even exists, is severely impoverished. And people who have skin in the game are more attention-worthy than those who don't (read Taleb for details). So the rule of thumb is: If you want to be taken seriously, use your real name unless there is an overwhelmingly compelling reason not to.
John, congrats on hitting the 1,000 subscriber mark - I greatly enjoy your witty observations of our anti-reason, anti-free speech, intolerant, lovers-of-all-things-not-human world. The problem has been identified, and it’s fun to criticize the source of the problem, but now is the time to propose solutions. Without a clear vision of the future a “revolution” will end like the French Revolution, with guillotines for all.
Aug 24, 2023·edited Aug 24, 2023Liked by John Carter
Samuel L. Clemens used Mark Twain to write for many of the same excellent reasons you posit.
There is a corner of this 1984 world to pause, think, and learn how to deal with it.
The threat matrix of manmade and natural disasters can be learned and mastered.
The skills learned there can help you blunt the impact of the current evil demons on you and your family so you have a happier, more family friendly, holy life.
I just restacked one of your articles and comment “the comments are almost as good as the writing”. I’m glad you see that as well. Well done sir. I thoroughly enjoy this shit show!
Personally, I think that choosing to use a pseudonym allows the writer to project something. Your choice of John Carter says something about you. Those unfamiliar can read Princess, which I enjoyed immensely many years ago. My opinion about those who are criticizing your pseudonymity (?) is simple: They are not your friends. Why do they want to know who you are? Either they are so naive as to be useless, or they have an agenda. If they want to send flowers, provide them with a P.O. box address. Otherwise, nunya. Thanks for another episode of philosophic adventure!
"The author of a good book should remain anonymous, for it is to his work, not to himself, that admiration is due." Auden
I vote for pseudonymity, because I'm only interested in your words and ideas and how you present them (no offense).
Also, in my Substack wanderings I enjoy writers like NS Lyons, El Gato Malo, Eugyppius etc and I have no clue if they're male or female or young or old or black or white etc, and could care less.
I consider this a refutation of the Identity Cult and its elevation of the personal characteristics and pet grievances of an author over their individual talent, ability, intelligence, style etc.
Once a book, essay, painting etc exists it has no need of its creator anymore—its creator can be anyone or no one.
"Zorro: Unmasked" would be a three-minute movie.
Your substack has been a joy to read. There are many writers on here that I really enjoy, but whenever you or Chris Bray (Tell Me How This Ends) publish something new, I pretty much always drop what I'm doing or rearrange my schedule to read it ASAP -- and it's always time well spent!
It's not just that what you (and Chris) say is interesting and insightful, although it always is -- indeed, much more insightful and interesting than anything I'm capable of writing -- but the real value of your work is this: you are both voices of reason in a world gone completely insane. Call it a red-pill moment or whatever, at some point in life I realized that practically every sense-making institution in my culture has been completely corrupted by a nonstop smoke-and-mirrors psyops campaign. I don't understand who's behind it or what their agenda is, although I do have my suspicions, but a memetic war has been actively waged against Truth and Reason for longer than I've been alive, to the point that even the agents of this psyops have been driven criminally insane by their own psychological weapons. And it's not just that so many cultural norms are based on obviously absurd fictions, but so many of these norms are diametrically opposed to human nature. We're being poisoned, in some cases literally, yet told that the toxins are actually medically necessary, and we're threatened with cancellation if we even ask questions too loudly. In the midst of this dehumanizing cultural wasteland, the quest to develop and come to terms with one's own humanity seems a lonely, treacherous, and even impossible task, given the limits of human knowledge and the even greater limits of what one solitary individual can learn in a single lifetime. So when you encounter someone who's daring to make a similar journey, especially someone who freely shares their greater insights and wisdom, and especially when that person writes as well as Chris Bray and you write on your respective substacks, that encounter is balm for the soul, like a cold bottle of water to one dying of thirst.
As to writing pseudonymously, I'm sure all of us who question the regime on here will eventually be outed IRL. I think it is a risk worth taking. I think there are many more of us than them, and our numbers are growing daily, especially as the regime tips its hand with bad strategies and botched execution and arrogant overreach. As you wrote in your series on the hydra, the smart and competent people are increasingly falling out of favor with the regime, as it demands unblinking fealty to an idiotic ideology and unapologetically chooses its leadership based on DEI tokenism. Truth and Reason are on our side by default, as the regime has effectively declared war on them. Our side is strong and getting stronger. Big changes are no doubt coming, and with them, real reversals of fortune and wild opportunities. The regime's threats will matter less and less, until it is no more than a toothless, terminally ill paper tiger. For those who make it through the coming troubles without betraying their values, I think a bright and rewarding future awaits.
Well put, and congratulations on 1000 subs! Your DIE articles are what won me over, and I'd say earned you 2000 eye balls right there.
And keep the mask if it pleases you; ideas and arguments are far more important on their own than by who made them, and so long as you keep the same name we can tell if you start going to the dark side. That's all we really need unless you decide to run for Congress or something, and I would happily write in "John Carter" in any case. Hell... I might just anyway.
John, the question of authorial self-presentation has so many answers that it is impossible for anyone to exhaust the topic. The re-emergence of pseudonymous and anonymous publication is creating a world that Michel Foucault would have embraced with enthusiasm. In an interview Foucault once proposed a game: that for a full year no book should be published using the author's name. Foucault anticipated that authors would probably wait until the year had expired before publishing. And he once famously wrote: "I am no doubt not the only one who writes in order to have no face. Do not ask who I am and do not ask me to remain the same: leave it to the bureaucrats to see that our papers are in order."
Your handle and the title of the newsletter are perfect: they advertise your condition as a frustrated North American feeling unaccommodated in the condition in which you find yourself. So far you have done a pretty good job concealing the details that would put you at risk.
My advice is that the longer you write, the greater the risk of doxing, so consider reviewing your writing/editorial practices on a regular basis and perhaps think of how to develop best practice. If you can, get advice from those close and listen to them carefully, even if you do not decide to accept their advice. And have something like a half-developed plan on what to do if you are doxed.
Even in real life, when not dealing with some sort of officials, I've always used a sort of pseudonym first name.
since I share first names with my male birth parent, it's always been easier to use half of my middle name instead, then it became habit.
when I'm dealing with paperwork related things, it's the legal first name.
this makes it really easy to tell if an incoming interaction is friendly or official by the first name used.
social media, including substack, gets a full on pseudonym.
I typically speak my mind in most any real life situation short of court, cops, or potential employment, and fairly freely on social media... but social media has too many Agent Smiths and aggressive types for me to want to expose my real identity. I'm way too mouthy about politically incorrect and prohibited topics.
Okay, I have been putting this off, but does Dejah have a sister? Asking for a friend. 👍
What you and Winston write shows you both to be absolute paragons. How are people to follow your lead if they don't know who you are? The idea that someone like you would lose your job because of your clear and obvious excellence is an affront to the natural order. If this were to happen, it would make you a great hero in the culture war and expand your power and influence to affect the cultural shift away from wokeism and fear towards the human singularity. To fully leverage our asymmetric advantage in building genuine connection faces must be shown. Do you really believe that you couldn't make it at this point after getting 1000 subscribers in a few months that if you got fired and started writing science fiction novels full time? There are people that have such a degree of competence that they still can't be controlled. You and Winston unmasking would send a very powerful message and have significant impact in showing that you are such people. Of course there is downside risk, but safety last, no? Since you're talking of tactics and strategy, consider if you were able to inspire other academics to follow in your footsteps. This would create a huge dilemma for the enemy. In such a circumstance the only academics to come forward and speak their minds would be only those who had the confidence that they could do so without support from the system. The most competent. This would indict academia for what it has become, a mental prison destined to shackle all but the most brilliant and competent minds in nominal service of the cathedral. I believe that if you are speaking your mind in good faith, then all attacks upon you further discredit the enemy advance us ever closer to cultural dominance of the hydra. The joy to be had from connecting with the brilliant people that are engaged in this spiritual war is incredible. Just like in the covid context, the mask fucks that all up. I don't think you or Winston are cowards, I just think you're missing out on something beautiful that has to be experienced to be believed and I fucking hate it. I suppose I'm just outraged at the injustice. The woke should be the ones afraid to speak their minds in a culture dominated by commitment to free and open dialogue, not you and Winston. The idea of "cancellation" being acceptable should be the lowest of low-status positions. It can happen if people like you lead the way.
It's always been clear from the tech end of things that true anonymity is perfectly impossible. The intel agencies have always monitored everything, and always know who's who. So the remaining variable is difficulty of search for ordinary people who don't own the clouds and nodes.
But the most important variable is just the proportion of fish / pond. For small fish, it's better to use the big ponds like FB and Twitter. Using a small well-lighted pond like Gab guarantees that the intel operatives are watching you closely.
I only use my official legal name for legal documents — banking & taxes.
Initially, because I never resonated with my given birth name.
Subsequently, because at different times during my sojourn through life, I simply enjoy adopting various names that more accurately match my different affinities towards various inner aspects of my personality traits.
When I wore my hair extremely long, and dressed in ankle-length flowing dresses, one name suited that version of art. A three syllable name that was elegant and flowy.
When I cut my hair short and switched to short skirts, another name seemed more suitable. A one syllable name that was cute and sassy.
One of my friends altered the name I was using at that time and since I liked her version better than my own, I switched my nsme to her version. Why not? I could, so I did.
Changing names is akin to changing my wardrobe styles. I’m unattached to any of my names so some of my friends call me one name and others call me a different name. And my family members call me by a third name. More fun for me. Lol
If people choose to use pseudonyms or made up names online hurray for them.
If they choose to use their legal names online then yay for them.
If it isn’t obvious by now that there’s a cancel culture war against all those who deviate from the officially approved narratives being promoted and rammed down our deviant throats, time to open one’s eyes and ears, non?
Predators are extremely skilled at manipulating their prey into acting in ways and adopting behavior that is to their advantage and to the prey’s disadvantage.
One way is to present what they consider convincing arguments in favor of choosing behavior that makes us more vulnerable to these vampires.
Arguing that GMO & glyphosate are healthy for us falls into the same pit of specious reasoning as arguing in favor of outing oneself on the public chopping block before that same public outs you first. Suiciding oneself as if that is an act of courage rather than an act of stupidity in order to avoid being murdered is the height of conversive thinking.
Another form of Transmarginal Inhibition tactics imo. Attempting to weaken the strong in order to break their spirit.
Fie and bah humbug on that.
I can't think of any other pseudonym that would fit you better. Edgar Rice Burroughs would be proud of the choice as Tarzan just wouldn't fit or go with the fantastic artwork as well!!! Linking your thoughts tomorrow @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/
Not to come off as pedantic or anything, but Bakhtin corrected Saussure by showing that the identities of sender and receiver, along with context (including identites of all participants in contextual discourse) IS the message, or a big part of it anyway. Anonymous communication, if such a thing even exists, is severely impoverished. And people who have skin in the game are more attention-worthy than those who don't (read Taleb for details). So the rule of thumb is: If you want to be taken seriously, use your real name unless there is an overwhelmingly compelling reason not to.
John, congrats on hitting the 1,000 subscriber mark - I greatly enjoy your witty observations of our anti-reason, anti-free speech, intolerant, lovers-of-all-things-not-human world. The problem has been identified, and it’s fun to criticize the source of the problem, but now is the time to propose solutions. Without a clear vision of the future a “revolution” will end like the French Revolution, with guillotines for all.
Samuel L. Clemens used Mark Twain to write for many of the same excellent reasons you posit.
There is a corner of this 1984 world to pause, think, and learn how to deal with it.
The threat matrix of manmade and natural disasters can be learned and mastered.
The skills learned there can help you blunt the impact of the current evil demons on you and your family so you have a happier, more family friendly, holy life.
Here is the primer to begin learning how.
https://tacda.org/
I just restacked one of your articles and comment “the comments are almost as good as the writing”. I’m glad you see that as well. Well done sir. I thoroughly enjoy this shit show!