Only a rant today folks, as I have some Mile High Veggie Pie* cooking in the oven, a ton of chicken to get cooked for the week**, and a staggering pile of sewing to get finished else I run the risk of having to walk around far closer to starkers then I really prefer in the incoming spring and summer months. The mature part of myself is telling me to let the following go... that is doesn't really matter what another blogger is doing.
However, the childish and petulant side hasn't had its noontime nap and is threatening to drop applesauce into my keyboard if it doesn't get a chance to vent. I've decided to relent... then go
about trying to be productive the rest of the day.
I really try to check the facts of anything I post about here on my site. While the only thing I consider myself a professional is in my ability as a smart-ass, I'm aware the web is an insidious creature and you never know when some 8th grader is going to site your page as the basis for their “CRAP! My reports due tomorrow... what was it on again?” project. Thus – I double check. Heck, I'll even cop to the simple fact that as a bona fide nerd I even enjoy researching a topic I'm interested in. This is how nerdlings act. It is in fact what makes us nerds. So when a writer of another site – a much LARGER site, who is developing quite the following first criticizes my views, questions my intelligence and possible inability to understand I am being led astray, THEN lifts my statements and posts them as her own... well. I get a tad tetchy. However... other then a mild mini-tantrum over on a myspace page*** I decided to just let it go. She lives over the Atlantic, I'm never going to have to deal with her face to face... - deep cleansing breath in, sound of rippling brook keyed into the background, and breath out – I'm fine.
Mostly. Honestly, I'm trying to be the better person here. I kept my shriek of “WHAT!” to a moment when I could only be heard by the cats, kept outside voice based verbal kvetching to a minimum – IE my mother (also a writer) and my husband, and while I may have written a few dozen letters to her critiquing everything from her writing style to her possible family genealogy – they were never sent and I didn't so much as write a comment on her blog. Vented – then erased. Shoot, I even wiped that part of my hard drive when I got it out of my system. So far, I'm succeeding at being the bigger person.
Thus far. But now? Well, my trigger finger is itching, and I am reallllllyyyy trying to keep myself from finally sending a zinger or two to her site. She has developed a lovely tendency to write out little “eco-facts” into her blogs regarding the U.S. Charming, except she doesn't bother to check to see if they ARE facts, and when quietly informed she is wrong, decides to fall back on “I'm English, how could I be expected to know these thing about a country I've never been to?” Never admits she's wrong, mind you. Doesn't pull the facts.
When challenged, she claims to only write a tiny blog with a few readers, although in the next sentence she reveals she is now listed as one of the 50 most powerful bloggers. She says she isn't a journalist and shouldn't be expected to follow the same criteria.
Sorry. But if what you write is read by thousands everyday – you ARE a journalist. You do have responsibilities. Either accept that fact, or stop writing.
Urrrgh.
* While its a bit grudgingly, we are beginning to take a few small steps toward a slightly less meat based diet. A veggie pie made from cleaning out the fridge and some leftover Panera bread will be this week's lunch for the Geek and I.
**Less meat based yes, veggie no. So a few dozen chicken breasts are getting cooked as well and then shredded for quick meal options. Spring is here and I'm getting too dirty in the garden for long meal preps.
*** Yes. I have a myspace page. No drunken photo's (one as a giant squirrel, but that was for a job), no admissions of illegal use of substances, no sexy shots. Just a way to keep in touch with outta state friends. We have covered I'm a nerd... right?
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2 comments:
I came across your blog today - through ravelry - and am DYING to know who is writing such ill-fated things across the pond! People are just plain stupid sometimes! Hope your week gets better.
jenna.. if i've been able to work out who you're talking about.. then others will too.. that thing about being in the top 50 blogs was a dead giveaway. not saying you should take this down, just mentioning it all so you *do* realise that its a lot more identifable who you're writing about than perhaps you might otherwise think..
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