3 posts tagged “qotd”
When did you really get to make a difference for someone else?
Submitted by bodhibound.
HERE ....and it has truly been a blessing!
O.J. Simpson is back in the news again. What are your thoughts on the release of "If I Did It" and his recent arrest?
What are the positive and negative associations that you and those around you have with blogging? Have attitudes changed over time?
People blog for various reasons.
For some it's a personal journal. An outlet for their thoughts and emotions. An update on their life - what they did - who they saw - what they're thinking or feeling. It can be a way to let off steam when a person feels passionate about something. Or a way to sort out a problem when a person feels confused.
For other's, blogging is about community. Friends - either online or in real life - where members frequently read and/or comment on each other’s blogs.
But unfortunately.. with every positive there must also be a negative.
Example...
People who post false information in their blogs (on purpose).
Blogs like the Kaycee Nicole Swenson diary, in which a woman pretended she was a young girl dying of leukemia. Individuals sent money and gifts to this girl because they believed she was dying.
Was this blog acceptable because it raised an awareness of leukemia? I say....NO, it wasn't!!!!
The blog of a woman who extracted $1000 from a caring individual by lying. She said she was without heat and food for her children.
Was this blog acceptable because it raised awareness about the difficulties of divorce and single parenting? Ummm..I say....NO!!!!
Or the blog of a woman who pretended to be a man while developing a romantic relationship with another woman.
Was this blog acceptable because it gave some lonely woman 6 months of
falselove? I think not!!!!Blogs, and the internet in general, make it easy to trick people. Hoaxes and lies like these show how willing people are to believe everything they read.
Why is telling the truth so important to people?
Well....because....
Most of us rely on blogs to be the voices of real people. Genuine people we can respect and trust - even learn from. People we welcome into our online communities (and sometimes our private lives). People we share our day to day stuff with (and sometimes share our secrets with) because we trust them. We trust they are giving back to us what we are giving them..honesty and respect. And when we discover we have shared a piece of ourselves with someone who was lying to us..we feel hurt, stupid, and betrayed.
Blogging brings with it a responsibility. A responsibilty to provide truth to our readers.
That's not to say fiction doesn't have it's place. Because it certainly does.
Some of the cat stories and dog stories I have read (from the pet's perspective) have been funny as hell....but we all know they are not real. The blogger is not deceiving anyone - we are not fooled by what we're reading.
It's the intentional lies. The fake pictures. The fake stories. The proven stuff..not the speculated crap!!
The false information, in order to gain something (attention, popularity, more comments, money, etc) from the trusting reader.
That is just plain wrong!!!!
To these people I say "fake off"...lol
But in the end, blogs are uncontrolled. They provide freedom of speech. And however we choose to use them is up to us.
If we want to be honest, or we want to be fake, it's an individual choice.
If we want to talk about baking, or knitting, or sex, or we want to post nothing but song lyrics....it's an individual choice.
Just like it's the readers individual choice to decide who they read, what they believe, and who they accept into their neighbourhood.
