There are bloggers who have a lot of trouble. Just yesterday, I read about a lady called The Skinny Blogger who had made some comments about Kate Upton being fat. (Don't know what photos she was looking at. Ha, ha. ) Anyway, this lady blogger received death threats and rape threats over this stuff. Are we as a people getting too serious about certain things? Well, yeah, I think so.
Some bloggers have been put in prison over things they wrote, I guess. Especially when they are blogging in a country with a totalitarian regime. I admire their grit. Several bloggers who stepped on the wrong toes down around the Mexican and U.S. border have been killed.
Bloggers have been hauled into court over messing up somebody's business sales. Certain items like blogs and Facebook are commonly used in divorce settlements. I suppose that all levels of law enforcement monitor the blogosphere to one degree or another.
So, prison, harassment, threats, financial ruin, even death. Probably a few busted marriages thrown in for good measure. Why in the heck would any sane person want to blog? A small percentage of people make a good living at it. For some it is a hobby. For some it is a bully pulpit. For some it is a cheap way to market themselves or to build their brand. The reasons are probably as varied as the people. There are noble and base causes, I am sure. The internet is a huge, global jungle of beautiful sunny fields and seamy back streets, dingy, creepy dungeons and lovely lakes. Some places you go into and say to yourself, "Uh, oh, I shouldn't be here." I'd like the green retreat to be a place where anyone can feel comfortable.
I have reviewed games and had the developer contact me. Hey, saying that just reminded me of something I read yesterday. Some people have been threatening reviewers who slam the new Batman movie on the web. I guess I don't understand this. The 'freedom' of the internet should at least allow people to voice their likes and dislikes.
Mom used to tell me, "If you can't say something good about somebody, just don't say anything." This is good advice for a blogger, I guess. I have typed a blog, published it and deleted it within 5 minutes. I remember one in particular in which I was pretty buzzed and telling about dancing on my sidewalk while I listened to Honky Tonk Women on my Podster. Hey, it was true but nobody needed to know it. Mick might have got angry if he'd heard me bragging about my moon-walking abilities. Ha, ha.
When I do a blog, I try to remember that people are touchy about things they work on for a year. These people that create books, movies and games have moms and dads and spouses that can be hurt. Then again, there are certain people that just want to be offended and can twist something around the wrong way.
I like to blog. That's obvious, since I have done about 600 posts in less than 3 years. I actually started the blog with the idea of talking about my books, hopefully spreading the word about them. Now I blog to the exclusion of writing, which I understand from other authors is very common. It sort of gets a hold on you and you can start to tell about things like what sort of seafood you like. (I don't like seafood. Ha, ha.)
As I talked to Carley about this, she said, "Blogging is nothing next to the stuff that goes on with Facebook." I don't know because I've never been on Facebook.
The global playground of the internet is a massive supply of good and bad things.
From a reflective CE Wills.
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