User:DavidMatthews2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David J. Matthews II is sometimes known as either David Matthews 2 or simply David 2. He is a freelance writer living in the greater metropolitan Atlanta area. He is the author of "Brutally Honest", a weekly online commentary column that has been in operation in one form or another since 1996.
Contents |
[edit] Early Life
David was born in Connecticut in 1966. He spent much of his childhood life in a small rural area of Ledyard called Gales Ferry. Both of his parents were involved with various functions of local government, including the founding of that town's ambulance service.
He moved with his family to New Hampshire in 1980, where he attended Sanborn Regional High School from 1980 until he graduated with honors in 1984. Although he tried to be physically active in sports during those four years, David was always seen as an outsider in athletic circles, much like he was in many other social circles.
One of the few things that David did find a niche in was acting. His first local performance was for the musical "Annie Get Your Gun". He would later perform in "Father's Been to Mars" and "Sweet Charity".
David also developed a fascination with law enforcement, mostly because his father previously worked with both the Ledyard Police and Connecticut State Police. David joined the local police explorer program, and it was his participation in the police cadet training program that influenced his choice of college.
[edit] College Life
David attended Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire from 1984 until 1988, where he received his bachelors degree in criminal justice. During that time, he was heavily involved with student activities, including various forms of student government.
He also continued his acting through the Anselmian Abbey Players, performing in such various musiscals as "The Pajama Game", "Oklahoma", and "Fiorello", but his best work was in his performances in "Ten Little Indians" and his starring role in "You Can't Take It With You".
David also developed his love of writing and his fascination with computers during this time, although much of his time was spent with student activities.
[edit] Adult Life
David spend much of his early post-college years struggling to find his niche. Moving to southwestern Georgia in 1988 and having entered the job market during an economic recession, David found it difficut to pursue a career in law enforcement. At the time, local agencies were giving preferences to those with military experience, which David lacked. Physical ability was also a problem given past physical injuries to his ankles which made running difficult for him. Further complicating this was his progressively libertarian views on the world, which often conflicted with the authoritarian nature of law enforcement.
He eventaully gave up on his dream of being in law enforcement and focused instead on the marketable things that he was good at, namely writing and computers.
[edit] Literary Career
While David was involved with the local police explorer program, he wrote a weekly column for the Kingstonian Newspaper, documenting the activities of the explorer program. In college, David briefly wrote for the campus newspaper, The Crier. During this time, he also spent some of his free time typing short stories, none of which were ever published.
David's first nationally published article was for the martial arts magazine Inside Karate, appeared in the August 1993 issue. It was an aritcle about various sayings and perspectives submitted by martial arts students involved in an online message board for the service provider Prodigy.
In 1994, David was invited to take part in an experimental publication called the "Galactic Sun", which was a futuristic newspaper based on a short story from H.G. Wells. This publication only lasted one issue, but it helped inspire David to continue his writing.
In addition, David has written several opinion articles that were eventually published in local Atlanta newspapers. These articles helped inspire David to go through with his own online column.
[edit] Brutally Honest
The website that became known as Brutally Honest first began as an idea for a martial arts newsletter. Referring to himself during that time as "The Beast", David would dedicate one section of that newsletter as a personal column. The newsletter never materialized, mostly due to his move to the greater Atlanta area in 1994. But David used the banner for that personal column for his first commentary column called "From the Cage of the Beast".
His website first appeared through America Online on April 1st, 1996. At first his column served as a home for the columns that he couldn't get published in local newspapers, but he soon created plenty of original columns talking about a wide variety of subjects from politics to technology to social events.
In 1997, David changed the name of the column from "From the Cage of the Beast" to "Brutally Honest", capitalizing on his use of blunt language in his columns. He also developed his tagline of "Let's get brutally honest here...", finding a way to incorporate it into every column.
In 1999, David was invited to host and create an online radio show for the Talk Liberty Network based on his columns. His half-hour weekly show "Brutally Honest - LIVE" made its debut in May, and he eventually expanded it to an hour-long program. David helped to design many of the elements of the Talk Liberty Network, including writing and producing some of the commercials. David eventually hosted a second semi-weekly show called "Liberty Free-For-All", which was an ad-lib program talking about current events.
Unfortunately, the network couldn't generate enough money to stay on the air, and the online radio network came to an end in 2003. The website he helped to design continues to serve as a message board, and David continues to produce a weekly series of pre-recorded audio rants, which he hosts through his website.
David hopes that someday he will be able to return to doing live online broadcasts.
[edit] Libertarian Politics
David considers himself a libertarian. He is an off-and-on member of the Libertarian Party.
David's personal philosophy of libertarianism began in 1985, when US Attorney General Edwin Meese used his special commission on pornography to go after stores that sold Playboy Magazine. David considered both the commission and the subsequent use of its findings to be contrary to the promises made by President Ronald Reagan to get government off the backs of the public and out of their lives.
David's libertarian philosophy has often put him at odds against social and religious conservatives and was the chief reason why he left the Republican Party after joining it in 1988. His understanding and appreciation of freedom is easily seen in his columns and audio clips.
