Or,
The Media is like a dog on the other end of a sock.
This kinda shit makes me crazy. Parents everywhere will tell their kids not to blog, it could get you killed. The story, the events, the situation, have absolutely nothing to do with these kids blogs (which were just MySpace blogs, no design work, no artistic integrity, no writing, design, or creativity of any value. MySpace is basically the Special Olympics of blogging.) They lost it, did the Menedez on her parents, they’re spoiled, they’re evil, they’re misguided, they’re mean, whatever. Their blogs didn’t kill anyone.
Blogs don’t kill people. People kill people.
However, that doesn’t make any money for Time-Warner or MSN. Sensationalism had everyone afraid of anthrax (only two people got it) or the bird flu (you won’t get it), or shooting at terrorists on planes (those guys did the best they could for being rednecks with guns and a W training video, but does anyone think they wouldn’t have shot the dude if he had been white? Sorry, another argument.)
Meanwhile, the media puts onto Page One whatever they have that fits. How irresponsible was that mocked up photo with the gun pointed at the computer? That makes it Page One Important, whether it really is or not? The link above was the first thing I saw when the MSN page launched on my computer at work, and I thought, “Wow, somebody got so angry over a blog post they murdered the blogger.” I clicked the link right away, and read the story, only to find that it was about two murderers WHO HAPPENED TO HAVE BLOGS. This is possibly some of the most irresponsible media coverage I have seen this year. Plus, as a Blogger it infuriates me for another reason.
I am currently dating one of the best, bravest parents I have ever known, right up there with my own mother. She is also a blogger of talent and will undoubtedly teach her kid the same. She’d let him know that having something to say isn;t dangerous or wrong. I have always published my blog with one deep seated rule.
Blog without Fear.
I know nothing of code. I am not a programmer. Kevin built my megaphone, I just yell into it. It is, without question, an infinitely tiny part of the cacophony of voices on the web, and I could give a shit. I have something to say, from time to time, and I will think it through and then say it. Or not. And regardless, I speak from the heart, I blog from the heart, and I defend what I say.
All bloggers should. If not, you have missed the point and are poorly misusing the power handed to you. “This is Interactive, what I am thinking, both right this second and in my bones,” would have once been my answer. If someone wanted to take a swing at me for my words, or God forbid worse, then so be it.
No matter what the Media says, or the national outcry that my result, don’t buy into it. It won’t stop me from speaking.
Nor should it stop you.
Agreed. So..what are they saying..that the internet *literally* killed someone? Seems somehow less than plausible.