Blogging
Controversy: the Always Hot Topic for Freelance Writers/Bloggers?
There are two topics I rarely engage in debate about: religion and politics. I avoid these controversial topics, because I’ve learned I can’t debate them without losing my temper (and often a friendship) in the process. As such, I avoid blogs on these topics. Logical, yes?
Why, then, am I willing to take time out of my workday to follow discussions on blogs where folks argue relentlessly on the same unresolvable topics ad nauseam — often talking to themselves through a variety-pack of cloaked identities. Sure, rather than talking about religion or politics, they’re talking about low-paying writing jobs, writing for free, or whether or not writer-blogs should contain curse words. But isn’t this just as bad, if not worse?
Why are we willing to play along with these things online, simply because it comes from a blog within our niche? Because we justify it as a career-benefiting learning experience? Because it comes from the mouth (fingers?) of someone everyone else in our field seems to respect?
Or do we just crave controversy?
Has the fact that we’ve trapped ourselves behind computer screens all day, devoid of human interaction, when we would rather be outside playing caused us to mutate into degenerates? Do we really have nothing better to do? Or is it the false sense of anonymity online that feeds our silly impulses?
My theory is that it is simply human nature to want to stick around and watch things go up in flames. A car crashes on one side of the highway, and ten other cars pile up on the other side because the drivers’ impulses were to turn and look. A tornado comes through the sky, and the neighbors line up outside with video cameras. Idiocy seems to be part of the human experience; otherwise, why would we need so many Idiot’s Guides and For Dummies books?
I think I attract a pretty intelligent, self-respecting crowd here. So I would love to know your thoughts. Are you put off by controversy on the blogs you read, or do you dip right in to join the debate? Are there hot topics you won’t touch, or do you happily post controversy on your own blogs?