I don’t know about you but it doesn’t seem to take much to start controversy on the Internet. Yes, my friends, the Internet can be a ugly place to visit. As a reader I was rather baffled by all the discussion surrounding an Amazon review. I’m not linking to it. It just goes to show you that the smallest things can turn into the biggest controversies… There must be a secret to starting controversy.
Just what is the secret recipe for creating controversy? I thought that they initially started with people who had nothing else better to do like me. Hell, I don’t know but it usually starts like this:
- Have an opinion—-on anything
- Share that opinion with everybody
- Pick a topic or review from anywhere and highlight the important parts
- Important to have links in your post otherwise we’d have to search for it and everybody knows that is a no-no
- Send out a wolf call to all rabid fans and have them post like crazy
- Doesn’t hurt to email about a million buddies about the alleged incident
- Knowledge about the incident is not necessary to join the discussion (nada, nothing, just jump right in like I do)
I am guilty on that last one and sometimes, I can’t help myself. Alas, lately it hasn’t been worth my time to read over every scandal that crops up. Sometimes it is entertaining stuff but other times–not. I should start leaving comments like “big deal” and “free speech” and “first amendment rights” all over the place just for fun.
Everybody has an opinion and I usually don’t agree with over half of them. Especially on the famous speech that starts with the “My mama taught me that if I can’t say anything nice.…” Want my opinion on that? You can stuff that quote up your arse. What people have to say isn’t always nice but sometimes it can be helpful. I agree that it doesn’t have to be hateful. I found nothing wrong with the review in question (and no I’m not linking to it). The author’s response to it was amusing and it should have been left at that.
Tip for posters: humor, sarcasm, all the usual non-verbal communication skills are significant when communicating with people face to face? This is obviously missing on the Internet and thus your post maybe misconstrued, misunderstood and completely insulting without your knowledge or intention.
Just sayin…
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s true that everyone has an opinion about everything but I swear the crap people are fighting about online these days is enough to make you want to puke blood…it’s so retarded!
I love Anne’s work too. (Still hoping to get my hands on her Theresa Weir stuff). She runs a pretty cool blog, though I normally lurk. heh.
Hi Ladies and thanks for stopping by! A couple of comments:
Jaq — I love Anne Frasier’s books so I am disheartened to learn that she has a smaller print run. I need to read your blog to get the juicy details. See, can’t helpful myself. Sigh.
Hey Suisan — I know, I’ve read your blog and get an idea of what you go through —I’d probably go crazy having to deal with deliberately obtuse people. Whoops. I already do.
I dunno but to me it seems that they are starting to happen more often — maybe because more and more people are blogging these days. And you are so right about a big part of the problem being we can’t see and hear the tone when it’s just a written response. I think that’s how a lot of them get out of hand. A post might be made tongue in cheek by the poster, but that part is missed when reading.
I agree with you. I just shake my head and move onto something more interesting — because it’s all the same sh*t, different day.
For the most part I’ve been lurking during all the bruhahas. Though lately I’ve started to skim.… Same shit, different shovel. Know what I mean?
Ironically, I just linked the the Jill Barnett thing (lol), but only because I then linked to Anne Fraiser’s post about her decreased print run for her upcoming release (the decreased print run thing was a point of disagreement re Barnette). Anne also outline some marketing plans to combat the low print run in that post, which allowed me to linked to several other author blog posts on marketing. So my intention wasn’t to feed the fire, but to do a sort of ‘daisy-chain’ effect. heh.
And it doesn’t take much to start a controversy in public, political life either. You’d be floored by what stupidity shows up in our School Board Meetings. “Because when you asked that this item be placed on the agenda, you clearly had an ulterior motive! Let me explain to you what it is!”
Um, guys?
Chill.…
I swear people have totally lost the concept of *listening* to a different point of view, *shutting up* while listening so that you can listen effectively, and then *replying calmly.*
Deep breath in.…Deep breath out…