Apologies to IDW

Based upon a couple of comments received, it appears that I may have inadvertently upset Identity Woman. I hope that she will accept this sincere public acknowledgment of her concerns, her preeminence, and her leading identity as the first, the one, and only IDW! However, I do pose some of the same questions she addressed to me, in return, only for the purpose of opening what I hope could be a productive dialog.

For instance, why not open up the ID[W|M] franchise to the public? Why not encourage people to claim themselves as an IDENTITY WOMAN or an IDENTITY MAN? To my mind, this could be a great way to expand buy-in and participation. Personally, that's one of my actual motivations here ... to expand awareness and ACTION by everyday folks for whom OIM is a very real issue; but who may not yet be fully aware of the implications.

On the other hand, I suppose that in the wholly unexpected case that IDW is not on the side of expanding awareness of OIM issues and increasing participation in OIM causes, then I may have misunderstood her crusade and must sadly position myself in opposition to her otherwise noble cause!

To my mind, asking the public the questions: Are YOU an Identity Woman? Are YOU an Identity Man? ... could be great banners for RAISING AWARENESS. The answers of, "Yes, *I* am IDW ... IDM!" could thereby become monikers of EXPANDED UNDERSTANDING.

A person self-identifying as an IDW or IDM says, in effect, "Yes, I've read up on this stuff to some extent ... I've become somewhat aware ... I think I basically understand what all the "identity rants" are all about and I too ... Mrs. Jane Average ID and Mr. Joe Average ID ... believe in the importance of The Cause and support the efforts of those doing this important work.

Certainly, I gain nothing and contribute nothing in offending; so I hope that the authenticity of my motivations will become clear as others explore these possibly quirky contributions to OIM. After all, this is not my profession by any means; the thoughts captured herein merely represent one current socio-technological issue category among many categories that I view as important to our near and long-term personal and collective liberties.