Anonymity is vitally important. The claim is that sunshine is a good disinfectant, and that's generally true, but when it comes to communication, sunshine (the scrutiny of others) can have the opposite effect, it can infect your speech with false ideas. Our time is as bad as any other when it comes to heresy.

There are groups out there who will persecute you for saying the truth. If you don't believe this, try taking a public stand against the actions of a certain new religion. Or try making any criticism at all of a certain old religion. These groups and others like them have made it extraordinarily costly for an individual to associate themselves with perfectly correct beliefs. And now the same groups would like to strip others of their anonymity, ostensibly so they can stamp out any dissent at all.

As someone who values the truth, I find this troubling.