The whole Lee Siegel debacle is not just an
opportunity for a bit of schadenfreude, but also provides a good excuse to discuss sockpuppets. Over at Lawyers, Guns and Money, (which I really should put in my blogroll soon) Rob Farley just doesn't understand the impulse to sockpuppetry:
I found this strange, because I've never felt that temptation. I have an alternative persona and blog that I use as a homepage and to occasionally post observations that I don't think meet the high standards of LGM (and, given that I only post over there once or twice a month, you can imagine how low that bar really is), but I've never felt the urge to bring Raoul Vega into a conversation over here, or use him to defend me on some other blog. Angry commenters are, well, angry commenters, but the best reactions have always seemed either to engage or ignore. Reaction to my mild Ken Pollack defense was almost universally negative (and from people I respect), but it didn't even occur to me to have my alter-ego ride into the conversation on a white horse and try to save the day.
Rob doesn't understand this impulse, because sane people do not use sockpuppets; only kooks or wingnuts do. Sane people do not wake up one day and think "come, let us win this argument by inventing a clever pseudonym like Mertijn Weisse who will agree with all my statements, ahha-ha-ha!" because sane people have not invested so much of their self worth in an argument that they have to win it. Only kooks do.
And Siegel was the perfect example of a kook. Smart, intelligent and convinced of his own intelligence, quite likely convinced that he always was the smartest persion in the room, with a career that must've confirmed his own beliefs over and over again, who then finds himself in a situation he can't control, confronting people who are far less impressed with him then he himself is. Quite telling in this
context is his story of how he could've had Uma Thurman when she was 16; I doubt this was true anywhere else but in Siegel's mind. With such a personality, the urge to invent a sockpuppet is overwhelming. You know you're in the right, so any measures are justified in defending The Truth and these measures can go a lot further than just sockpuppets. Libel, slander, personal threats, etc all form part of the same package as sockpuppetry. It is for the best of both Siegel himself as the rest of the world that he was stopped before he could make an even bigger fool of himself or really hurt others.
This is just a place for me to jot down some random thoughts and reactions to the news so I don't have to yell at the television or radio, or mutter to myself whilst reading the news.
Waffle
In which Reinder Dijkhuis, Adam Cuerden, Timm Brand, Geir Strøm and Jeroen Jager talk about comics, music, politics and the impending apocalypse.
Deltoid
A science orientated weblog by Tim Lambert.
Encyclopedia Astronautica
Incredibly cool site about the history of space travel, with lots of info about
the various space programs. Recommended for all spacenuts.
The Loom
A blog of biology and bioscience, written by Carl Zimmer.
Panda's Thumb
On evolutionary theory and the fight against the intelligent design loons
Pharyngula
Science, politics and the intersection between them. By PZ Myers.
Real Climate
A commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists.
