Anyone who cares about the truth, open government and the First Amendment should speak with their full name and on the record. Grow some balls, The Anonymous, and take off the mask.
Like all the news lately in Washington D.C., the revelation of the Anonymous publishing a book “A Warning”, spread in seconds. My reaction? Anyone who cares about the truth, open government and the First Amendment should speak with their full name and on the record.
Let me say immediately that I won’t buy or read the book. Grow some balls and go under your full name. We live in America, not Russia, so if you care about the truth, take off the mask, Anonymous. This is America after all, we have the First Amandment. https://t.co/z8HvPrCQQj
— Ksenija Pavlovic McAteer (@ksenijapavlovic) October 22, 2019
I’m opposed to the media glorifying a book deal with an anonymous author who won’t risk their identity.
1. To keep their seat in the Trump administration while writing a book that is supposed to warn us about what we know already.
2. If the Anonymous is no longer in the Trump administration, to trick us into the political mystery without taking the mask off.
In both instances, what we are dealing here with is a lack of courage and most importantly, with no trust in the constitutional powers of the First Amendment.
If anyone in America needs to hide behind the mask in order to write a “tell-all” book with a critical angle of Donald Trump, then what is left for those who live in Russia and Suadi Arabia? Everyone is looking up to the United States as a bastion of free speech and free expression of criticism against the government without fear of repercussion. Anonymous has let them down. He let America down.
Imagine if Kashuggi wrote his critiques as the Anonymous? Or Edward Snowden? The author of the NYT OpEd and now the full-length book “A Warning” is doing a great disservice to open, free, critical discourse in the United States.
The entertainment mystery factor of the news about the Anonymous is all about involving the wider public in a political theater. The mystery on the Orient Express, the Netflix one with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. Will they also make a movie about the Warning of the Anonymous?
The publisher of the book made a statement that the author will donate the profits of the book to the free press, but the overall message is tacit and fearful and it does not help the opening of the critical public discourse.
Courage is important.
Recently, Anthony Scaramucci tweeted about the column I wrote: “The White House Diary: I Did Not Sign Up To Live In Trump’s World,” and said that: “the nation of immigrants needs more profiles in courage.” He is right. What America needs is people who are able to actively hold President Trump accountable and disclose any abuses of power without having to act as if they’re in the witness protection program.
Accepting the Anonymous’s choice to hide their identity erodes the power of the First Amendment. It disrespects all those brave people who stand up to dictators across the world in word and action. Grow some balls, The Anonymous and take off the mask. Then, speak up against Trump. America will protect you.