Blasting With Boyles
OPINION
Do Better Denver, known as @dobetter dnvr on x.com and Instagram, began its groundbreaking work with the concept of a secret identity where an individual maintains a public persona distinct from his/her true identity. I have had private communications with the person who launched the social media sites and when I told that person I was going to do this column, she asked me to tell you this: “My mission with @dobetterdnvr is to bring Denver’s drug and homelessness crisis into the spotlight by sharing video and information. I run my social media accounts with zero monetization, driven purely by a commitment to truth, transparency, and accountability. Not chasing money.”
This person’s fear is that Denver Mayor Mike Johnston will try to destroy her. The Denver Post is giving Johnston all the help it can with a recent hit piece on @dobetter dnvr, doxxing citizens journalists who requested public records from the city. Traditionally, the media serves as a watchdog to hold the powerful accountable. As the person who runs the Do Better Denver sites told me, “The Denver Post has inverted this role targeting me as a citizen journalist instead of scrutinizing those in power.”
We have a long history in literature, history, and popular culture of individuals protecting their identities and thus enabling them to operate outside of traditional media and establishment norms. Let me give you some great examples.
Clark Kent was Superman, by the way, a mild-mannered reporter. Bruce Wayne as the Batman. Peter Parker as Spiderman. Tony Stark as Ironman.
The Federalist Papers were written under the pseudonym Publius, and the actual authors were James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay. Eric Blair wrote under the name George Orwell for his famous works 1984 and Animal Farm. Theodore Geisel wrote under the penname Dr. Seuss.
We live in a world where most of talk radio no longer takes calls, and the city of Denver now owns the old Denver Post building and Channel Nine has become an extension of the state Democrat Party. They are bent on tearing this internet site down and exposing people who actually were doing the job that Denver Post and Channel Nine and text reading talk radio should be doing.
The person behind @dobetterdnvr told me they asked The Denver Post what the true purpose of the story was. “If their aim was to genuinely inform the people about @dobetterdnvr, why did it refuse to protect the anonymity of myself and my sources, putting their safety and livelihoods at risk. Exposing private citizens while shielding the powerful betrays the very principles journalism claims to uphold. The public deserves better. Denver deserves better.”
But as Kurt Vonnegut said, this is how it goes.
— Peter Boyles
