In comp.mail.eudora.ms-windows, on Sun, 11 Feb 2024 21:43:58 GMT, Cindy
Because a few of them are vindictive. And some of them have more power
than the average person, either because of their job or the rest of
their situation.
And I challenge the idea that it's unprofessional when you have good
reason to want to protect yourself. It's neither professional nor
unprofessional.
About 35 years ago the reason was that I didn't want to get a reputation
as a complainer or troublemaker in my community, but I still wanted to
call attention to what others were doing wrong. Actually I wanted to
ask two of them how they got past what I considered the big objections
to what they were doing. I didn't use my name but I did use my address.
One didnt' answer and the other answered with hostility. I think I
leared that even if I think my logic is unassaible, those it negatively
impacts won't think so. But my reputation was still intact.
About 2 years after that, there were situations where the problems
happened in my presence, and I had to call attention to them right then
and there, for the benefit of those who didn't understand something had
been done wrong. For some I was tactful (though tact is often not
enough to stop people from being annoyed, to say the least. For others I
responded quickly, without tact. Sure enough, no one in authority
complained to *me* (only one person complained, and I partially knickled
under), but I didn't get promoted to a community position. Fortunately
I'd alreayd found something else I wanted to do more, but I still
noticed the silence from those who should have been calling me.
The older I get the less important this is. A big watershed occurred
when I retired. No one can interfere with my job now because I don't
have one.
Things that take time, years, to cause problems get gradually less
important as I have less time left, but otoh, I may not have 70 years
like I once did but I think I have 20 more years, until I'm 97, and
that's enough time for a lot of things to come back to haunt you and
hurt you.
One more related thing. When I was in law school several groups were
looking for members or participants. One was the National Lawyers
Guild. I didn't feel I had a lot of time for extra-curricular
activities, but if I had I might have enrolled without checking them out
well enough. There was no internet then. Fortunately for me perhaps,
one other student told me that they were considered far left and being
affiliated could hurt me when it came time to get a job. Only years
after I had dropped out of law school did I read references to their
being tied to Communists. There is tied and there is tied. I don't
know how tied they are and otoh I don't know how much I would have
appreciated their meetings. I know I'm the most stable person I know in
terms of my views, and they probably wouldn't have affected my views
much, but the 70's weren't so long after the McCarthyite period where
people who barely did anything, or nothing at all, got in big trouble.
If I wanted to join, it would have been better to join under another
name (or anonymously would be better yet). Though that would be
unprofessional. ;-)