by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Maybe HE likes all the hubbub.
But will you?
The calm of my Cambridge, Massachusetts
neighborhood
was punctuated the other day by student
protestors outside
Harvard University's Science Center.
There 1960's wannabees
chanted "Harvard, Harvard, shame
on you, honoring a
racist fool."
The cause of this mayhem was Professor
Martin Peretz
and his latest blog post on his The New
Republic website:
"But, frankly Muslim life is
cheap, most notably to Muslims."
It was more than enough to stir up a
reaction from the
politically correct, who live to chant
and picket.
They shouted... they taunted... they
heckled... and HE, owner
of The New Republic, the subject of so
much fuss, got valuable,
eye-catching full-page publicity in The
Boston Globe, New England's
paper of record.
Bingo!
One of America's most experienced
provocateurs
had succeeded, yet again, in using his
blog to get
even more publicity for his "take
no prisoners"
opinions.
Martin Peretz' blog had done its work
and done
it well.
Will yours? It most assuredly will...
if you understand
the true purpose of a blog, run it
accordingly, and
learn to be a responsible blog
publisher and blog
reader. Here are recommendations to
assist you.
Bogs MUST be honest.
The purpose of a blog is to give ANYONE
ANYWHERE
in the world, whatever creed, class,
station, nationality,
or political position, the opportunity
to be heard on any subject
whatsoever.
Thus, your task as a blogger is to open
yourself up...
to tell the truth, straightforwardly,
honestly, bluntly. The
blog is, first and foremost, about
you, its publisher and
focus. To write anything other than the
whole truth, so help
you God, is to demean the medium -- and
yourself.
If you are new to blogging, you'll find
this kind of
openness difficult, challenging. Most
people grow up
adept at masking their true opinions.
For fear of what
the listener may say or do, we moderate
and water
down the way we really feel and what we
say.
That will never do on a blog where
truth is called
for at all times.
Now, you may think you are a
straightforward,
honest person but blogging will show
you soon
enough that you, like all social
beings, are considerably
more adept at masking how we feel, our
true views,
rather than telling them.
In the novel "To Kill a
Mockingbird", for instance,
there is an incident that makes this
point lucidly,
succinctly. Atticus Finch is walking
with his children
past Miss DuBois' home. She is a
notorious termagant
and scold. Does he say that to her?
Certainly not.
He lifts his hat cordially, saying
"Good afternoon, MissDuBois.
You look pretty as a picture."
Scout, his young daughter,
says just loud enough "You notice
he don't say a picture
of what." Miss DuBois just catches
a few words and
wants to know what the impish Scout has
said... but
Atticus Finch is a wise man, a
gentleman and knows
the value of good relations, over the
strict, unyielding
truth. He lifts his hat again and moves
his children
along. Most of us would do the same.
But bloggers cannot. Bloggers must opt
for candor,
honesty at all times.
The more honest YOU are, the more
reactions you
will get. Take Professor Peretz, for
example. Given
that he is an experienced blogger, I
take him at his
word, when he writes his latest
anti-Muslim diatribe.
Others, who feel differently, will
abhor and detest
what he has written... and propose such
sanctions
as having a speaking engagement at
Harvard cancelled.
But this is wrong.
Voltaire, that very clever fellow, said
it best:
"I do not agree with what you have
to say, but I'll defend
to the death your right to say it."
Unfortunately, sanctimonious members of
the
Academy (usually the least intelligent
on campus)
have forgotten their true calling:
facilitating
free speech, not suffocating and
penalizing it. Blogs, then,
do the work academicians should do (the
reason they
are given tenure to do), but are now
too often emasculated,
self-protecting and lazy to do.
Thus, when you write, the objective is
always to achieve Harvard's
ultra clear motto: "Veritas",
the pure and always unsimple
truth.
Write regularly,consistently.
One of the major problems with most
blogs is that
they are not regularly produced.
Remember, whatever
else a blog may be it is also and
always the story
of your life. It is a window into your
thoughts and
occupations. Blogs must therefore be
regularly
undertaken. Don't start it.... unless
you mean to do it.
Write regularly and consistently, being
always aware
that the first day you do not feel like
writing your blog
is the very day you must be sure to
write it... or risk
the ending of your blog altogether.
The more honest you are, the more and
stronger
reader reaction you should expect.
When Professor Peretz posted his
incendiary
opinions about Moslims (a subject on
which he writes
often), I suspect he knew that tea cups
in Cambridge
and beyond would be rattled. What's
more, being a
true provocateur,he probably relishes
the instant,
insistent responses of those he has
provoked. He
might not like being followed through
Harvard Yard by
hecklers... but he cannot truly have
been awfully
surprised by such a response. Relish,
rather than
alarm, was most probably his reaction.
You, too, need to reach this level of
reaction and
response as you achieve greater candor
and honesty
in your bog. Because as my grandfather
used to say, some
damned idiot is sure to protest; the
stronger the opinions
rendered, the stronger the response
from those disagreeing.
(He would have been a great blogger,
grandfather Walt would have
been.)
Prepare for the reaction... expect
it... ignore it.
Blogging is one of the jewels of the
Internet... treat it
with care and consideration.
Millions and millions of folks have
come and gone
on this planet without leaving even a
foot print in the
dust. To our chagrin and detriment, we
do not know
them in any way at all. But blogging
has changed all that,
not merely for the potent and
celebrated... but even
unto the lowest among us. At last they
have a place
for their opinions...not matter how
alarming, uninformed,
and (to the rest of us) silly they may
be. And this is a very
good thing... for our job is to cherish
the bloggers, protecting and
defending them, even at their most
reprehensible and
loathsome. And that includes you, too,
Professor Peretz,
as you sit in comfort and security here
in Cambridge, spewing
venom. I defend to the death your right
to say it... and blog it
worldwide. Defending you, I have done
the right thing, while taking
joy from the fact that every hostile
word you blog drives down the
certified circulation figures of your
moribund rag, The
New Republic. In the end the
marketplace, not censorship,
will determine your fate. So blog
on....
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is
CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where
small and home-based businesses learn
how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and
receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your
choice! Republished with author's permission by Vaurn James <a
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http://SuccessRoute.biz">SuccessRoute.biz</a>.
