The wrath of the MAC

Over the years, I have toyed with the idea of letting anonymous commentators comment. My settings have changed at various times to allow or disallow comments from people who don’t leave behind a name or an identity. Single blinded comment (where you know who the reader is, but the reader does not know who you are) is unfair, and disturbing. Because the malicious anonymous commentator (MAC) suddenly feels all powerful, with the right to spew malicious thoughts shrouded by anonymity. Of what I write, you would either agree with me, or disagree with me. But spew venom in the name of disagreement? Naah, there is always a classy way of doing things, which you obviously don’t know because you choose to be anonymous. Here, take a look at this comment written by who else, an anonymous commentator as a response to this post:

"I am apathetic toward politics and current happenings, unless they directly affect me."

Being the kind of self-confessed self-centered person you are, I wouldn't expect any deep analysis from you, at least on political topics.

"If I have inadvertently hurt your sentiments by bringing up the visa or backward caste issue, stop being a sissy and live up to the reality, like everyone is."

No you didn't hurt my sentiments by bringing up the topic of reservation. I am a brahmin by birth (though I don't give a damn about it), a PhD student in USA, and I find your casteist rant against OBCs to be quite amusing.

Now I don’t know what got into this person when he wrote this stuff. I didn’t think I have ever held anyone at gunpoint and forced them to read the allegedly “self-confessed and self-centered” things I write. Also, the commentator deems it necessary for me to know about its high caste, a PhD status, and its residency in the US (which obviously is a big deal). But this person forgets to mention its name (and hence I have no idea if this is a man, a woman, a robot, or a pet). So now I am left with a bunch of information about caste, educational background, and the coveted US residency, but without a name. Isn’t it exactly what a malicious anonymous commentator would do? Like a person who gets his thrills by wasting people’s time giving them blank calls, wording profanities, and then hanging up? Of course it is so easy to hide behind the curtains of anonymity and do this.

Anyway, I hope this anonymous commentator continues to read my self-confessed accounts, obviously because there is nothing better it could do with its time. But the next time you leave an unrelated, personally attacking comment for no reason, make sure you leave your name behind.

sunshine