Today someone who signed with the title “Anonymous” posted a comment on my Blog at An Author’s Home, basically saying that, in his or her opinion, I was the stupid one for wasting time writing about the stupidity of people who fall for Internet scams promising them instant wealth. (Since this person prefers to remain anonymous, I fear I do not know his or her gender, which necessitates my using the rather stilted “his-or-her” construction.)

I have thought about this comment all day. Granted, I could have removed it from my website. I do, after all, have the power to click “Delete.” Yet, I have decided to allow that comment to remain indefinitely there for the entire world to see. After all, I believe in freedom of expression. As Voltaire once said, “I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” And since I believe in freedom of expression, I accept that it is not a right reserved solely for those thoughts and ideas that I personally find pleasing and, therefore, agreeable. The laws of free speech protect all Americans’ right to express their opinions, regardless of how many other Americans find those opinions offensive; and that includes me.

But don’t get me wrong. I was not offended by the comment posted by “Anonymous.” In fact, as the old saying goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”  Not that this is necessarily true, as we all know; however, suffice it to say that I have been called far worse in my life than merely “stupid.” What does bother me, however, is that this person chose not to leave his or her name. Why does that bother me? Well, perhaps it’s because this person’s failure to provide his or her name reminds me of the good old days when I was a staff writer for a newspaper in Fayetteville, Georgia.

While affiliated with the Fayette County News, in my role as staff writer, I not only covered local happenings and exciting events like city council meetings and PTA gabfests, I also wrote about colorful local characters for the People section and contributed a weekly column. In this column, since it was my personal column, I was allowed to air my opinions regarding subjects like politics and religion (two topics many people consider taboo), education, love, marriage, parenting, and myriad other issues. I enjoyed writing that weekly column, that is, except for the letters from readers who adamantly disagreed with me, even to the point of telling me, on several occasions, that I was going to “burn in hell for writing such trash,” but who were too cowardly to sign their names. Instead, they called themselves things like  “God’s Right-Hand Man (or Woman),” “A Concerned Citizen,” “Sick to My Stomach in Fairburn,” “Disgusted Mother of Eight,” or that quite unimaginative alias, “Anonymous.”

In my opinion, if people truly believe something, if they have strong convictions and viewpoints, then they should be proud to stand behind them, in other words, proud enough to put their names behind their words. Not to do so effectively invalidates every word these people utter—or write. It makes their words empty and, therefore, quite meaningless. It also makes these people faceless, nameless voices that, like Shakespeare’s poor player, are full of sound and fury but signify nothing.