A new ethical quandary in the news media. Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik used fake names to publish comments on his blog and on those of others. Some of his creations conversed with one another. The LAT blog was suspended; the dude apparently still has his print outlet.
Mea culpa. When Brick got its WordPress sophistication, I made a comment or two under a pen name to test the system: How fast does feedback work, and how do the options in the moderation process function.
Also, my alter ego has been egging me on in published works since junior high school, more than three decades ago. It’d hurt his feelings to drop him now; Noah Vale has no other livelihood. He’s more than a pretend-friend; he has a fictive legacy starting approximately with Benjamin Franklin’s Silence Dogood and continuing with Mike Royko’s Slats Grobnik and all of Art Buchwald‘s Washington insiders.
I’m not killing my buddy, even if it costs me an arbitrary stamp of ethical approval. Call it: A writerly Turnip (see barely related Joe Klein book). -30-
One reply on “Worship at the alter ego”
Ben’s being a smarty again, and this entry has few implications. And I should know. First, my identity is so easily traceable you can almost see my canvas pup tent in Ben’s yard with my stick horse, Dowel Jones, tethered nearby. Second, what’s the point of blogging except to be yourself, says Ben. Third, I am a pain in Ben’s side; it’s my job. He’s everyone else’s; that’s his. -Noah Vale