I’m often asked why I use a pen name. I could tell you that it’s because it’s kinda cool to be in the company of other great writers who used pseudonyms, like O. Henry, Tennessee Williams, and Dr. Seuss. But honestly, it’s because I’m an anti-leftist writer, and the left is treacherous and unhinged as hell. I’m a freedom fighter who lives in an un-free world. I’m a paleoconservative trapped in a progressive state. I’m a Southern-without-apology blogger trying to survive in the loony land of Lincolnianism. I’m a truth-seeker who dwells in a culture of lies. I wouldn’t have to use a pen name in a normal world. Well, normal ain’t what we got, y’all. As a former feminist-atheist-socialist, I understand the threat that is cultural Marxism. I mean, I did minor in women’s studies … before it was called “gender studies.” I understand leftist language, and I know how the left thinks, and it’s some dark stuff, y’all. In fact, just saying “cultural Marxism” is considered racist language by the modern, seething left. It’s among a slew of verbiage considered racist “dog whistles,” including Bolshevik, urban, cosmopolitan, bankers, and others gems not yet determined by the totalitarian thought police. Thus, if you use these terms, you’re not worthy of conversation, or an opinion, or even existence. Punch a Nazi, am I right? I’m trying to put up a little firewall between my family and the crazies, so that Antifa and BLM thugs (or left-leaning libertarians like the ones who made this bingo board) don’t come to my house and throw a brick through my window – or worse – due to my “unacceptable” views. Considering the zealotry of the illogical left, I’m surprised more politically incorrect writers don’t use pseudonyms.
Yes, yes. There are indeed liberal folks who do want to dialog, but they’re truly the tiny exception, not the overwhelming rule. Otherwise, I would use my real name, as well as invite folks who disagree with me over to my house for a beer summit. Alas, that is not the case. As a journalist (and a media consumer with a modicum of intelligence), I see that the people who pull these systemic strings are bad dudes. It’s a machine buttressed by naive do-gooders, sycophantic virtue signalers, self-serving opportunists, and downright monstrous mobs. I’m here to question the message. I’m here to poke holes in the cabal. And the only way to maintain integrity as a writer is to seek and tell the truth. Be bold but loving. As anyone with a cursory knowledge of history knows, though, pursuing truth is dangerous business. The Founding Fathers did, and that’s why many of them chose to use pen names leading up to and even after the Revolution. I began this adventure known as Dissident Mama in December 2016. Remember those days? They almost seem wide-eyed innocent in comparison to the highly charged political heat and social unrest that has occurred since then. Just check out last weekend’s street-fighting clash in Portland between Patriot Prayer and Antifa. As anyone with a clue is finally admitting, civil war is here. And as the left admits, “This is just the beginning.” Back when I started blogging, the divider in-chief Obama was still in office, and perhaps leftists were taking a brief respite, exhausted from the brutality they dished out to Trump supporters and upon private property leading up to the election. Maybe the haters were in shock, still reeling because Trump had just upset the new-world pecking order of Hillary’s globalist-feminist ascent into the Oval Office. But after Trump’s inauguration, leftist fury was unleashed. The barbarians were well-rested and frothing at the gate, calling for social and physical savagery, and often making it happen and without much repercussion. And then by August, well, the nihilistic mob was unabated and anarcho-tyranny was in full inglorious swing. Charlottesville was the pinnacle of the leftist feeding frenzy. See, the progressives had worked tirelessly for 150 years to finally get to the point of being able to decree who is and isn’t acceptable. Sure, you can have “respectable” talks with war mongers, imperial murderers, race baiters, anti-white haters, thieves, infanticide supporters, hormone-replacement-therapy child abusers, anti-Christian tyrants, and communists, but a right-leaning person? Nah. Unite the Right was a critical mass. Pro-monument Southerners, states-rights folks, free-speech activists, paleocons, limited-government types, and alt-righters of various stripes all gathered together to stand against the agreed-upon tyranny of cultural Marxism. This was not supposed to happen. Why hadn’t these people been properly indoctrinated in K-12 and college? How could so many people be red-pilled, apparently resistant to the establishment media’s constant brainwashing? Why wasn’t everyone buying into the dehumanization of non-leftists and the constant social-justice propaganda? That’s why the governments of Charlottesville and Virginia and their police henchmen gave cover to and protected the aggressive tactics of domestic terrorists, allowing them to encircle and trap Unite the Right folks, fostering and igniting the very violence the “authorities” are supposed to keep at bay. They doubled-down and then shifted the blame. This allowed the treasonous media spread the “Nazi” propaganda oh so gleefully. It’s tragically effective in winning over the hearts and minds of the unwashed masses. They painted as victims savage leftists, enabling the blood-thirsty agitators to get rich and get off Scot-free with their fictional sob stories. Same formula worked for the swarms of rioters who toppled a Confederate monument or a vandal who was “adding context” in her own way, both as authorities watched: those whipper-snapper “peace activists” get off with a talking-to. Aw, they’re just passionate idealists fighting for “justice,” don’t ya know? Meanwhile, race-baiting opportunists are endlessly celebrated, alleged “white supremacists” get convicted of “hate crimes” for using self-defense, some even getting up to 10 years in prison. Others get doxxed and lose their white-collar jobs at politically correct corporations. Some just commit suicide. And then the sainthood of Heather Heyer rolls on. (Could I actually say that Hunter Wallace deserves a Pulitzer for his research and reporting on these two fifth-column media hoaxes and not get lynched by the anarcho-tyrants if I didn’t use a pen name?) How can James Fields, a white man, be charged with “one count of a hate crime act resulting in the death of Heather Heyer,” a white woman? And “one count of racially motivated violent interference with a federally protected activity,” when it was Unite the Right who had the proper rally permit, not the leftist hordes. When the DOJ implies in no mistaken terms that Fields is a “white supremacist,” yet fanatical cultural Marxists are “a racially and ethnically diverse crowd … chanting and carrying signs promoting equality and protesting against racial and other forms of discrimination,” is it any mystery as to why I use a pen name? Facts, evidence, and rule of law seem not to matter anymore. The calculated lies are unquestionably believed that even a little ol’ Southern gal like me isn’t safe from the progressive tarring and feathering, whether figurative or literal. It’s guilty until proven innocent. Unless, of course, you can’t even get a fair shake in the court of public opinion, much less in civil and criminal court. You’re guilty … ’cause the left says so. Charlottesville was supposed to teach these deplorables a lesson. And it did to a degree. Rally organizers are being sued for the violence that unfolded at the hands of police-backed Antifa during their lawful event. The left has extremely deep pockets and powerful allies. The push-back has been severe. The rhetoric vitriolic. The misinformation malignant. So much so that many alt-righters have given up on activism. Having long been banned from Facebook and Twitter, some stick to making fun of the left on alternative media, like 4Chan and /pol/, while progressives continue to completely control the mainstream media, establishment social media, and the narrative. Some alt-right podcasters are even being sued to disclose the identities of their supporters and listeners. I’m no ethno-nationalist or member of the Trad Workers Party. Hell, some alt-righters are atheist Yankees who push for forced collectivism and increased centralization, and dismiss all women's voices as a reaction to the scourge of feminism. Way too statist for my blood. I’m anathema to some movements within this thing called the “alt-right.” I believe in God and family, decentralization and private property, self-determination and localism. But when thought crimes rule the day, that should scare every person who seeks liberty, no matter who is espousing the opinion. No one is immune, no matter how puritanical. Citizen journalists Faith Goldy has been assaulted by Antifa, Lauren Southern and Brittany Pettibone have been banned from Great Britain, and Tommy Robinson has been jailed for 13 months for simply speaking out against out of control immigration and the deculturization of the UK. Borders equal racism, the overlords say. If those folks are too dissident for you, what about school teachers who feel they must disguise their voice when speaking out against children being used as anti-gun political pawns? Or James Damore being fired from Google for sharing an opinion based on beliefs that were commonly held just 20 years ago? Or what about you, when you feel you can’t speak your mind freely due the mounting pressures of self-censorship? When you don’t say what you believe because you fear the voracious consequences of the thought police? And what about people with political power? We know Congressman Steve Scalise got shot while playing baseball, and Senator Rand Paul got beaten up on his own front lawn. Recently, Sarah Sanders’ family was flash protested against after leaving the Red Hen, Pam Bondi was spat upon in a movie theater, and left-wing “activists” mobbed the homes of Kirstjen Nielsen and Stephen Miller – all actions for which the left makes excuses or supports outright. Harassment of anyone thought to be an enemy of the left is being encouraged by a sitting congresswombat, er, I mean congresswoman Maxine Waters. (Hey now, calm down. I didn’t call her a monkey. My apologies to the wombat community.) Peter Fonda wants to throw Barron Trump in a “cage with pedophiles,” for goodness sake. Could you imagine the reaction if a business owner denied service to new “democrat-socialist” darling, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Or spit on Keith Ellison? Or protested in Kamala Harris’ front yard or punched Cory Booker or shot any Democrat, especially an “aggrieved minority” with special status on the victim pyramid? Double standards and demagoguery abound in our bipolar world. Not even Laura Ingalls Wilder is safe from the progressive purge, so you think I’d be? Yet another reason I use a pseudonym. Any dissent to the narrative is considered a threat, no matter how big or small. To the left, I’m Hitler. That’s how totalitarianism works. It’s about control. Now, I’ll probably never get Internet-famous enough for any hysterical socialist to bother teaching me a censorship-obedience lesson in proper Maoist form. But being that I won’t submit to their absurd and ever-changing dictates, I didn’t want to take the chance. Moreover, if the company where my husband works knew he was married to such a politically incorrect chick, he’d have to undergo sensitivity training at best or get canned at worst. Meanwhile, his corporation incessantly encourages participation in LGBT activism, promotes anti-white “diversity,” and pushes other liberal-conformity schemes. Peak capitalism, baby. My pseudonym gives me an opportunity to not only express myself, but also to make friends with people, who may otherwise want to dissociate with me due to my “radical” worldview. I’m a fairly likable gal, so when liberals who’ve come to think I’m pretty cool find out about my blog, some get taken aback. Our relationship might make them question the presumptions they have about “the right,” or “conservatives,” or “Trump voters,” or “proud-to-be-Southern people.” It’s actually a clever strategy that often opens people’s minds to deeper inquiry and nuance. It can also foster dialog and healthy debate that might not have otherwise occurred. Plus, I get to grow and learn from these interactions and relationships, as well. If someone really wanted to find out who I was, it probably wouldn’t be that difficult. And I hope that if that ever happens, the people with whom I’ve built bridges will stand up and defend my humanity and my God-given right of freedom of conscience. However, I’m not so sure. So using a pen name is a smart move for a domesticated homeschooling boymom like me. I want to promote peace, but also not be victimized by the madness. Prepare for the worst, pray for the best. I didn’t start this uncivilized conflict, but I will darn-tootin’ resist it as best I can, if only in my own small way. I’m just a gal who understands that opinions shape culture. I simply want to speak truth, raise my sons, be a good wife, follow Jesus, and be left alone to live my life as I see fit. I aim to play the long game and live to fight another day. I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus, but I sure don’t want to get run over either. My Orthodox patron saint is Ilia the Righteous of Georgia. He was a brave writer who voiced opposition to the Russification of the Georgian people, and their borders, language, culture, and Christianity. Due to his outspoken nature and strong stances, Ilia was assassinated by a band of militant “social democrats” in 1907. Sounds familiar, don’t it? I do want to emulate Ilia’s unwavering Orthodox faith and his powerful prose, but I’d certainly like to avoid getting killed, if I can help it. Teeing off the left is and always has been risky, so is it any wonder I use a pseudonym? Yeah, I think I’ll just stick to letting Dissident Mama’s pen do the talking. Liked it? Take a second to support Dissident Mama on Patreon! Original blog posted at Dissident Mama. Comments are closed.
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AuthorTruth warrior, Jesus follower, wife, and boymom. Apologetics practitioner for Orthodox Christianity, the Southern tradition, homeschooling, and freedom. Recovering feminist-socialist-atheist, graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and retired mainstream journalist turned domesticated belle and rabble-rousing rhetorician. A mama who’s adept at triggering leftits, so she’s going to bang as loudly as she can. Archives
July 2022
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