Having blogged for some time now, I've come to realise that blogging has become a dangerous activity of sorts. Let me explain.
1. The Sunday papers once again questioned the moral dilemma of teachers blogging. The debate revolves around what they write, and what would happen if a student of their's stumble upon their blog? What if a teacher posts a photo of him/her having a good time in a club, drink in one hand, and a ciggie in another? We've all heard of people getting fired for blogging about work. But where do the lines of personal space and professionalism start and stop?
2. Apparently, the person who started the 400 (or was it 4,000) Frowns campaign to counter the STB's 4 million smiles was "called in for questioning". It just goes to show the Big Brother is really taking a looking glass to blogs now. Even our PM has said that the government would try to reach out through blogging. Scary. You know what that means. Some government department would be set up just to monitor our cyberspace. With summons and arresting officers on the ready.
3. Some of us write cryptic posts in a bid to disguise what we actually want to say. At some level, the writer definately hopes that the person he/she is writing about would read the post and go... "Is he writing about me?" and perhaps feel react emotionally (be it in pity, rage, lust etc). But in my opinion, more often than not, there is just a sense of nonchalence, or self-denial that it is not about "me". And the effect is lost.
4. You know how people date other bloggers. What happens when they break up? Its harsh, but a fact of life. Getting over someone is never easy. Getting over someone when he/she posts lovey-dovey pictures of the person-after-you is even harder. Can you consider your ex insensitive? Not really, as the common refrain of "Its my cake and I want to eat it my way" comes about. But really, from experience, it stings like mad.
5. What about the flame wars that come about whenever someone writes a post that is controversial, even if there was no intention to be? Like Mr Brown posting pictures of Miyagi and himself attending the ACS OBA dinner. People came on and starting shooting down ACS old boys. Whats the point in that? Blogging, chat groups, newsrooms have made it all too easy for someone to shoot something off their hip. Its vindictive, and it hurts people.
6. And the list goes on.
The best way to circumvent all these has been said many a time. Self-censorship. But I think if one has to censor his blog from so many angles, why bother to write at all? If the reason we write is to express ourselves, self-censorship is the kryptonite to expression. This all leads me to think, why am I still doing this?
What is the upside, if any, to blogging?
1. The Sunday papers once again questioned the moral dilemma of teachers blogging. The debate revolves around what they write, and what would happen if a student of their's stumble upon their blog? What if a teacher posts a photo of him/her having a good time in a club, drink in one hand, and a ciggie in another? We've all heard of people getting fired for blogging about work. But where do the lines of personal space and professionalism start and stop?
2. Apparently, the person who started the 400 (or was it 4,000) Frowns campaign to counter the STB's 4 million smiles was "called in for questioning". It just goes to show the Big Brother is really taking a looking glass to blogs now. Even our PM has said that the government would try to reach out through blogging. Scary. You know what that means. Some government department would be set up just to monitor our cyberspace. With summons and arresting officers on the ready.
3. Some of us write cryptic posts in a bid to disguise what we actually want to say. At some level, the writer definately hopes that the person he/she is writing about would read the post and go... "Is he writing about me?" and perhaps feel react emotionally (be it in pity, rage, lust etc). But in my opinion, more often than not, there is just a sense of nonchalence, or self-denial that it is not about "me". And the effect is lost.
4. You know how people date other bloggers. What happens when they break up? Its harsh, but a fact of life. Getting over someone is never easy. Getting over someone when he/she posts lovey-dovey pictures of the person-after-you is even harder. Can you consider your ex insensitive? Not really, as the common refrain of "Its my cake and I want to eat it my way" comes about. But really, from experience, it stings like mad.
5. What about the flame wars that come about whenever someone writes a post that is controversial, even if there was no intention to be? Like Mr Brown posting pictures of Miyagi and himself attending the ACS OBA dinner. People came on and starting shooting down ACS old boys. Whats the point in that? Blogging, chat groups, newsrooms have made it all too easy for someone to shoot something off their hip. Its vindictive, and it hurts people.
6. And the list goes on.
The best way to circumvent all these has been said many a time. Self-censorship. But I think if one has to censor his blog from so many angles, why bother to write at all? If the reason we write is to express ourselves, self-censorship is the kryptonite to expression. This all leads me to think, why am I still doing this?
What is the upside, if any, to blogging?
1 comment:
And now Theatreworks blog war with ST. Sheesh
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