Lies and Liars

I've seen this too many times.

Sometimes, you might get away with little white lies.

Living a lie, however will ALWAYS catch up to you.

When I started this blog, I had to think long and hard about whether or not I wanted to use my real name. Yes, this is no nom de plume, I really AM Aaron Neal.

Using their real names has caused several bloggers a great deal of trouble.

I could impact my future employment prospects.

I could have people threatening to kill me and/or my family.

Or, I could be myself, and stand up and say, "Yes, this is who I am."

In the end, I think a currently-popular Country song helped me make my mind up. It says something I've always believed, and says it very clearly: "It's better to be hated for who you are, than loved for who you're not".

There's a reason I don't say anything specific about work - I could easily cross the line of a company policy that could get me fired.

I like where I work, and would like to stay there a while :)

But when I do, eventually, start looking for another job, it's almost guaranteed that the HR departments where I apply will Google my name. And this blog now shows up on the first page of results if you Google "Aaron Neal". In fact, my user profile is the 3rd hit as of right now.

If I REALLY piss somebody off, and they have any kind of skills in searching, someone could figure out where I live and come to my home uninvited.

*Note to uninvited vistors: In this house, unless we're expecting guests, we answer the door with all precautions in place. Trying to storm the house would be a BAD(tm) idea on your part*.

But that's another story :)

Now, I'm not throwing rocks at ANY bloggers who use a pseudonym to post. Some degree of anonymity is a good thing.

But it's not for me.

I am who I am. Like it, love it, hate it, leave it. It's all up to you.

I try to be fair to everyone... Even the foaming-at-the-mouth Liberals can possibly be redeemed, if they'll just start listening and thinking.

But I'm not going to hide who I am. I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I'm not.

Be careful, please. You honestly don't know crap about someone posting under a screen name. And it's not easy to find anything out about them.

Now, I trust Kim, Chris, and Joe (linked above) pretty well. Writing under their own names gives me an immediate boost in the trust factor. And in fact, I've met Kim, walked around a gunshow with him, and Lisa and I had lunch with him and David Copperfield (yeah, that's a pseudonym I don't have a link for - but he's a British cop who pretty much has to hide the fact that he LIKES guns).

Out of those three (Kim, Chris, and Joe), there is ONE who I'd trust my life to, or trust to protect Lisa... and that's Kim.

Not that I DIStrust Joe or Chris... but I've never met them. I've never seen their body language as they speak. I don't KNOW them.

Now, Kim and I aren't best friends... but I've MET him. I've seen him, face-to-face, spoken, shared a meal... and he IS what he says he is.

And as for anybody posting under a screen name... well, no. I can't even research you. You're a ghost. Now, some of those ghosts are people I'd LIKE to meet face-to-face, like anybody in my blogroll who uses a screen name, but until we meet, there's ZERO real, personal trust.

Anyway... as if this needs to be said, take everything you read on the Internet with a grain of salt. Don't be a sucker.