Your headline grabbed my imagination because at first glance, I didn't know what the difference might be. I thought that it might be something like - one lives in a cage where it's master owns the key and controls what it does while it jerks off 300 times a day and the other is a monkey.
The mainstream media sold its birthright for a bowl of pottage and that's all there is to it.
Tam, I own what I post. That I do so under a pseudonym is strictly for personal reasons. I do value the reputation of that pseudonym, however, and believe that my integrity is out there for all to see. As such, I strive for accuracy and fairness.
If I fail in that regard, please point it out to me.
Frank's point makes perfect sense for one who publishes at least quasi-professionally.
Many who blog essentially in a stream-of-consciousness manner however, are simply taking the high-tech approach to the old and quite honorable practice of maintaining a journal or even a diary; letters to oneself as it were. The fact that it is published for any interested party to see and/or comment on is incidental to the primary purpose.
And I do find that many if not most of the blogs that I follow tend to add a pretty prominent disclaimer, for example Say Uncle's "I do this to entertain me, not you", with the clear implication that if you don't like it you should leave...and it's hard to see how anyhone can take such obvious opinion and be somehow harmed or offended by it.
Also as mts1 pointed out in comments at Frank's, there are some very good and informative writers who have posted (and commented) under their chosen names so often and for so long that their nom de plume has become their nom en fait. Their views have become known and give-and-take is invited; just because you knock on their virtual door in place of their physical one doesn't mean that nobody's home.
Points which, considering my own comment handle, might seem just self-serving defense from irony. Well, at least I'm not a monkey...unless part-time wookies are considered simian?
I don't that it's just about anonymity. It's about the new technology giving bloggers the ability to create a false history. For example, there's this blogger I know who is very smart and I agree with his views on practically everything, but he comes off like a pompous know it all who is never wrong, and acts like he is entitled to be presumed right about everything. He's giant ego is even getting boosted more by landing some interviews with some major U.S. political figures and heads of international organizations. But when he is provably factually wrong about something, and it gets pointed out to him in the blog comments, he makes excuses, and eventually edits his article and deletes all evidence that he was ever wrong. I've seen some commenters get him good on occasion, but he just doesn't have the integrity to leave intact the legitimate criticisms, preferring instead to make it appear that he is perfect. That's a problem in my view.
I drew a cartoon of Moto-Mohammed. Cartoons are in flux until you finally give up. Later I drew some refinements like shading and knocking out bad lines - stuff I would do with white-out I did with Photoshop, and then replaced the early cartoon with the updated one. I own all my iterations by copyright.
I was going to say that the way they throw the feces, but the point is still valid.
ReplyDeleteYour headline grabbed my imagination because at first glance, I didn't know what the difference might be. I thought that it might be something like - one lives in a cage where it's master owns the key and controls what it does while it jerks off 300 times a day and the other is a monkey.
ReplyDeleteThe mainstream media sold its birthright for a bowl of pottage and that's all there is to it.
Tam, I own what I post. That I do so under a pseudonym is strictly for personal reasons. I do value the reputation of that pseudonym, however, and believe that my integrity is out there for all to see. As such, I strive for accuracy and fairness.
ReplyDeleteIf I fail in that regard, please point it out to me.
Pax,
Newbius
WV: "tosidn"-how the hat arrives in the ring.
Newbius,
ReplyDeleteThese are generalities. If the shoe doesn't obviously fit, there's no need to try it on.
Frank's point makes perfect sense for one who publishes at least quasi-professionally.
ReplyDeleteMany who blog essentially in a stream-of-consciousness manner however, are simply taking the high-tech approach to the old and quite honorable practice of maintaining a journal or even a diary; letters to oneself as it were. The fact that it is published for any interested party to see and/or comment on is incidental to the primary purpose.
And I do find that many if not most of the blogs that I follow tend to add a pretty prominent disclaimer, for example Say Uncle's "I do this to entertain me, not you", with the clear implication that if you don't like it you should leave...and it's hard to see how anyhone can take such obvious opinion and be somehow harmed or offended by it.
Also as mts1 pointed out in comments at Frank's, there are some very good and informative writers who have posted (and commented) under their chosen names so often and for so long that their nom de plume has become their nom en fait. Their views have become known and give-and-take is invited; just because you knock on their virtual door in place of their physical one doesn't mean that nobody's home.
Points which, considering my own comment handle, might seem just self-serving defense from irony. Well, at least I'm not a monkey...unless part-time wookies are considered simian?
Al Terego
The Media hair-suit is more baggy than the monkey's.
ReplyDeleteSince I'll be retired this coming Fall, I've stepped forward and added my real name to my blog. The reasons for my previous anonymity no longer apply.
ReplyDeleteMike Watson, aka Crucis
Raymore, MO
I don't that it's just about anonymity. It's about the new technology giving bloggers the ability to create a false history. For example, there's this blogger I know who is very smart and I agree with his views on practically everything, but he comes off like a pompous know it all who is never wrong, and acts like he is entitled to be presumed right about everything. He's giant ego is even getting boosted more by landing some interviews with some major U.S. political figures and heads of international organizations. But when he is provably factually wrong about something, and it gets pointed out to him in the blog comments, he makes excuses, and eventually edits his article and deletes all evidence that he was ever wrong. I've seen some commenters get him good on occasion, but he just doesn't have the integrity to leave intact the legitimate criticisms, preferring instead to make it appear that he is perfect. That's a problem in my view.
ReplyDeleteanonymous at 7:15:
ReplyDeleteThat's lower than a well digger's boot heels, right there. Gonna cost him, in the long run.
I drew a cartoon of Moto-Mohammed. Cartoons are in flux until you finally give up. Later I drew some refinements like shading and knocking out bad lines - stuff I would do with white-out I did with Photoshop, and then replaced the early cartoon with the updated one. I own all my iterations by copyright.
ReplyDelete