It seems Tom MacMaster, the US graduate student behind the lesbian blogger hoax, has never heard the phrase “once bitten, twice shy”.
He was subject to international criticism after he was unmasked as the true identity behind the Syrian blogger Amina Arraf. Posing as a lesbian activist, MacMaster’s writings drew a wide following around the world, and highlighted humanitarian and political issues in the Middle East. But he was “outed” (if you’ll excuse the pun) when he claimed “Amina” had been abducted by Syrian security services — sparking a man-hunt which ended with MacMaster himself.
Now the beleaguered blogger has been accused of a similar trick, after he admitted that a comment defending his actions on the liberal Jewish news website Mondoweiss was written under a false name.
“Miriam Umm Ibni” wrote a supportive message about MacMaster, saying that although “he misguidedly placed himself in the guise of an Arab woman…he did so from real compassion… He is an individual with no budget, trying to bring attention to issues through writing.”
But the post was found to originate from the same IP address used by the American blogger, raising allegations that he was again assuming the identity of an Arab woman to make a point. In an email later posted by the editors of Mondoweiss, MacMaster admitted Miriam Umm Ibni was an assumed identity, but claimed he was not behind the comments.
“A friend of mine who would really like to remain nameless recently posted a comment defending me on your site. She used a pseudonym as she is a committed activist on the Palestine cause as well as a fellow international student here at the University of Edinburgh. To post it, she used the same wireless connection I use. She was, after all, visiting my wife and I at the time.”
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Emanuelle Degli Esposti is a freelance journalist currently living and working in London. She has written for the Sunday Express, the Daily Telegraph and the Economist online.
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