‘I do admire people who are unapologetically themselves in public. That is a gift. If you have the courage to be authentic while showing your face, that helps widen the Overton window of weirdness. You make it less scary for others to do the same; you make the world more alive and human. But if you can’t do that, like most people can’t, if you feel like you can’t say what is on your mind when your friends and family (or the mob) can hear you, it is more authentic to wear a mask and say what you feel than to stay silent with your face bare. It is the act of being yourself that is the deeper gift; not the name.’
Discussion
‘Pseudonyms are a social technology with a deep history. Haiku poets took pen names called haigō (俳号). Hafez, the name of the 13th-century Persian poet, is a nom de plume.’
‘Søren Kierkegaard wrote most of his major books using pseudonyms, or heteronyms. Fear and Trembling was attributed to Johannes de Silentio. The Sickness unto Death was authored by Anti-Climacus, named as an attack on one of Kierkegaard’s earlier pseudonyms, Johannes Climacus. Either/Or had two pseudonymous authors, and a pseudonymous editor! All in all 22 two alts have been connected to Kierkegaard. He wrote a book about his pseudonyms.’
‘For better or worse, your face is shaped by the masks you wear.’