Is Prog-Blog John Pagani?

After some discussion with others I have reasons to believe the identity of the puerile poster Prog-Blog is none other than John Pagani, former chief press secretary to Jim Anderton.

Perhaps it was the personal attacks that gave it away, or perhaps the simple arrogance. Perhaps it was the repeated practice on misrepresenting the positions of others, instead of actually addressing the argument made. The writing style also seemed rather familiar.

While I would normally respect the right of a blogger to remain anonymous if he/she wishes, Prog-Blog has demonstrated that he does not respect the right of other bloggers to remain anonymous. In cases such as this, mutually assured identification should apply.

(This does not apply to the person who posts as 'Anon' on Prog-blog - generally his/her posts are more substantial).

Anonymous blogs can play an important function, especially where a person may have access, or perceived access to information of a public interest, yet identification would get them to get in trouble, most likely in a work situation. However when an anon blog is simply used for unsubstantiated abuse, anonymity is simply being abused. Consider this post from Prog-Blog (25-8-05), which from what I can make out from the garbled link appears to be aimed at National party blogger Aaron Bhatnagar.

"FAT CREEP AWAY FROM COMPUTER Foof it must be nice bludging on the old man. So much 'putin, playstation and Penthouse all day, you can't believe you're actually blinkin' in the sunlight for an hour or two. Super creep reports he will be away from his computer 'until later this afternoon'. WTF? This afternoon? Eeeee, we will be sure not to click refresh too much."

While one may disagree with many of Aaron's views, there is no need for this. Why bother with the personal attacks? Thankfully from my experience the NZ blogsphere rarely reaches such puerile depths. The comments above do not reflect well on Prog-Blog, nor on Jim Anderton's Progressive party Prog-blog claims to support.

And another question for Prog-Blog. If the Progressive MPs were so worried about the foreign ownership of TV3, an entirely reasonable concern, why did they not raise this issue when the Overseas Investment Bill was before the house this year? Many countries enact controls on media ownership through their overseas investment regimes. In fact, the bill effectively liberalised media ownership laws even further, as business transactions worth less than $100m now require no oversight. The Progressives supported the bill through all stages without raising a wimper inside or outside of the house. Either they simply do not believe what they are saying, or they are simply poor advocates.