Can you really be both a public figure and keep your identity hidden by way of asking?
There’s a playbook for this. Look at Banksy for example. If you don’t want your identity out there it’s your job to protect it. Not the New York Times.
There’s a playbook for this. Look at Banksy for example. If you don’t want your identity out there it’s your job to protect it. Not the New York Times.
The only truly anonymous public figure I'm aware of is Satoshi Nakamoto and I'm pretty sure that the only reason he stayed anonymous is that he died before he could be definitively found out.
Maybe, but it's not confirmed.
"Banksy's name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy#Personal_life_and_dis...
Genuinely curious of your basis for this. As far as I can tell SSC and most rationalist adjacents are basically neo-libs which the NYT has been a bastion of for decades.
That New York Times no longer exists and hasn't for well over a decade.
But I am open to the idea that my interpretation is missing something.
There are a multitude of reasons the NYT might be biased in favor of Banksy and against SSC. But so far as I can tell political alignment is probably not the issue. Though I could be wrong. That is why I asked for clarity.
I'd suggest that you are probably dismissing political alignment too quickly, however. Even if they seem similar to you, the difference might seem important to them. Late Roman Christians fought literal wars over the presence of a letter 'i' in a single word, denoting a difference that probably wouldn't seem all that important to someone who wasn't a Christian, for instance.
It’s the narcissism of small differences, and the treatment of heretics versus pagans.
They- the NYT and SSC- do have, probably, 99% overlap politically, but that’s not too far off from the difference between humans and chimps either. It’s that last 1% that really generates a lot of friction between them.
As the article says, Scott would tolerate conversations with vile people and egregious ideas. The NYT would rather dox them.
[1]: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/sep/29/comedy.religio...
It seems that his major issue was his full name becoming NYT-level famous, which is reasonable. I think that happens to lots of private citizens who get covered by mainstream news, like a IRL "hug of death".
If my premises are correct, then it doesn't seem like NYT's responsibility to keep his name private when he himself didn't do it.
- Virgil Texas, co-host of the Chapo Trap House podcast: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/us/politics/bernie-sander...
- Vermin Supreme, performance artist: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/30/us/politics/libertarians-...
- Drag queens such as Lil Miss Hot Mess, Sister Roma, and Heklina: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/fashion/drag-performers-f...
- Baseball statistician Tom Tango: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/magazine/why-are-some-new...
- Gay niche erotica writer Chuck Tingle: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/22/opinion/chuck-tingles-int...
- A Canadian who traveled to Syria to fight for ISIS: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/podcasts/caliphate-transc...
- A random person: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/25/nyregion/commodes-if-not-...
> A second person who checked out the women’s restroom — and who asked not to be identified because she has always wanted to be an anonymous source — reported her findings by email...
- Jeremiah Moss: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/nyregion/a-cranky-blogger...
> Mr. Moss, which is not his real name — more on that to come — took part in a doomed attempt to save the Café Edison, a beloved Times Square coffee shop whose landlord was looking to replace it with a classier establishment. ... A therapist and a writer, he says he is worried that clients might object to his activism.
"A therapist and a writer", hmmm... who else fits that description? Oh right, Scott Alexander!
I don't think using the examples of performing artists is a good one. Vermin and the Drag queens don't use pseudonyms to protect their identities any more than Beyonce (a stage name that is a part of her legal name, as in SSC's case) or Lady Gaga (a stage name) use those names for "protection" or privacy. They aren't really, they're branding.
In fact, from the draq queen article you cite:
> “I started a big fuss,” said Sister Roma, whose legal name is Michael Williams. “Then Facebook called me and offered to organize a meeting.”
It's a direct counterexample.