A reader of this blog was outed by a moron posting as “Mark” on the Age of Autism blog. I will not link to the outing, nor will I link to Age of Autism. I have, however, kept a nice screen shot of the page, just in case someone over there has an attack of conscience, and I will also comment on the observation that “outing” its enemies is a favorite technique of cranks in general. However, it seems to be a particular favorite of antivaccine cranks. So is hypocrisy, it would appear. After all, “Mark” did not post under his full name but only under his first name, while he thinks nothing of outing commenters who don’t use their full name. Worse, Kim Stagliano also says he’s one of the editors of AoA, which makes me wonder if he’s Mark Blaxill. She also disingenuously says that each editor has “full autonomy” to moderate how he or she sees fit. In other words, it’s not AoA policy to out critics they don’t like, but it is AoA policy if one of its editors feels inclined to do so, if you know what I mean. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Plausible deniability and all that, you know.

Indeed, “outing” its enemies is such a staple of antivaccinationist behavior, that I consider it standard operating procedure for them. They do it gleefully and gloatingly. They’re obsessed with “outing” anonymous bloggers and commenters and won’t hesitate to do it if they get the opportunity. I’ve been on the receiving end before, beginning nearly three years ago (the first time an antivaccinationist “outed” me). I will admit that the first time I was “outed” it was not by an antivaccinationist but rather a full-fledged cancer quack named William O’Neill of the Canadian Cancer Research Group, but the antivaccinationists followed a mere four months later. Heck, this year I was even “honored” by having J.B. Handley himself out me in a long, spittle-flecked tirade. He seems to think it would somehow intimidate me or shut me up. If anything, it made me angry. Indeed, you may notice that of late I’ve adopted a much more take-no-prisoners approach with antivaccinationists, although all these stories about the resurgence of vaccine-preventable disease have played a much bigger role in the hardening of my attitude recently than Handley’s childish rant a few months ago did.

In wondering why the mercury militia is so obsessed with anonymous bloggers, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s the paranoid conspiracy-mongering at the heart of their beliefs that leads to their obsession. They honestly believe that anyone they can’t identify must be a pharma plant sent to wreak havoc upon the Brave And Bold Antivaccine Autism Warriors Who Know The Real Truth About Vaccines. It simply doesn’t occur to them and they can’t imagine that there might be a perfectly legitimate reason that has nothing to do with being an astroturf agent for someone to decide to comment or blog under a pseudonym.

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