Bloggers be bitches....(sometimes)

This is a post that's been brewing in my head for a long time now, but I wanted to wait until I couldn't be accused of writing this in response to some specific post. Because quite honestly, it's not.

That and I haven't really been able to sit down and formulate a new post because my brain is mush and I've been terribly distracted. If you follow me on Twitter you can probably gauge why.. I'll be back soon to explain, hopefully.

 

I'm a new blogger, so on one hand I feel "unqualified" to comment on bloggy politics,.... on the other hand, I feel like I'm intelligent enough to raise the bullshit flag when it needs to be raised.

 

Here's a newsflash: People are allowed to disagree with you

 

and here's my disclaimer,

 

so long as they do so respectfully.

 

There's a cycle I've noticed in the comment sections of blogs. It goes like this:

 

1. Blogger writes a blog post that has the potential to invite dissenting comments, i.e. "controversial"

2. Commenter disagrees, points out some hypocrisy, or otherwise voices an opinion that is counter to the bloggers. DISCLAIMER: I am only referring to dissenting comments posted in a respectful tone. There's a difference between

"hmm, I'm not so sure I agree. In some respects, you're even acting a little like those people you profess to dislike..? I don't mean to be rude, just pointing it out."

 

and

 

"you're a stupid hypocritical idiot."

 

3. Blogger, and/or her "gal pals" gang up on dissenter in the comments, usually with a litany of

"if you don't like the blog, CLICK THE X/stop reading/move on" followed by a chorus of "we got your back!"

 

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaittttt a minute. Because someone disagrees with ONE THING the blogger has posted, ipso facto they must dislike the entire blog, and are labeled a "mean girl" for continuing to read, for disagreeing and "wasting the time to comment just to be mean/disagree"..?

 

I fail to see the connection from A to B there.

Here's an honest question... is there to be NO dissent in blog world? If you follow a blogger, do you have to agree with 100% everything they post, or click the unfollow button?

 

That's not rhetorical either, if anyone wants to offer me some insight into this, PLEASE do in the comments.

 

It just honestly baffles me the frequency with which I see this. Someone is leaving nasty negative anonymous comments ALL the time? No room for that, anywhere in life. However I don't think we should be demanding people go away when they hold or express a viewpoint that is slightly different than ours on ONE issue. Guess what folks, that's LIFE. I know we like to insulate ourselves in blog-world to happy positive things, but my goodness if you can't handle someone disagreeing with you on a blog, how do you fare at your 9-5? with people you encounter on the weekends?

 

Not to mention it makes the attacker-backs look juvenile. Responding back negatively has never personally made me feel better. I leave the situation feeling crummy. I can even understand where an outsider may objectively view a comment, whereas the blog author may take it more personally, they may not read the same tone into it as say- I would. But why can't we then (maybe wait 5, 10 minutes for the intial "fight" response to cool down) and send an email saying, "hey, I appreciate the comment, I'm not sure if you were being mean/sincere and no I didn't consider things the way you suggested.. I appreciate you still reading though!"

Respect and kindness never killed anyone.