So there I was half-way to the buffet table holding my huge empty
heavy dinner plate, and got waylaid by a familiar face who's more
interested in what I was doing there than who I was with. Sometimes
familiarity and history tend to make people think that they have every
right to shoot all kinds of questions at you and you're obligated to
answer. And sometimes you answer anyway because you tend to think that
you owe them some sort of explanations and all that we-go-way-back crap.
Actually,
I was a little irked and annoyed that someone with that level of work
experience, field expertise, education, and so-called openmindedness
could be both sarcastic and cynical when it comes to technology and
social media. I mean, the world is revolving, and if we don't catch up,
or at least follow the progress from a safe distance, we'll forever be
backward and stuck in the dark ages of our own mind.
Oh
I was talking about blogging actually. Getting there now. Everytime I
think about that few minutes of bothering to explain myself to the man, I
just get riled up all over again. He knew I had been blogging for a few
years already, and admittedly when I first started, the content were a
little immature, personal, sometimes too dark and depressing, and
without any focus. But now the content is more guided and focused and
has grown up with me.
Still... I think that's the
beauty of a blog. You can be random, you can be focused, and you can be
you the best (or the worst) that you can be, or even grow up with it,
like I did.
So, his questions? Bits and pieces of them sounded like this...
"I
remember some of you were in the group with the media when we were
doing this development coverage. I mean, bloggers? Come on. Have you
seen any of the stuffs they write?"
To myself: Oh yes I have, they're good stuffs too. Good job. Nice. Knowing you even read them makes me proud of them bloggers yo...
"Why are you telling the world what your room looks like, what
toothpaste you use, what you eat, how you hold your chopstick, bla bla
bla ... as if anyone would be interested? And then mixing with the press
as if you're a reporter, I'm sorry to say, but your reports are not
even newspaper stuff. Some of them are not even qualified to be called a
writer... If you can call yourself that. A blogger.. come on. I don't
know why you guys even get invited. Free stuff?"
Ok I have to stop myself right here before I make myself upset again. Oh
yeah, it was that hostile, stemming from, I suspected, the threat of a
mere blogger standing right in front of him who gets invited to the same
event as he was, treated with the same respect, and probably gets more
hits and readership than he does. But then again, he wasn't talking
about me, he was merely generally expressing his opinions (although I
don't remember asking for them) about blogging and those closely or
directly associated with it.
I let him finish before I
politely answered. Was even getting a little defensive already because
oh that did touch a nerve. At best, blogging is something I do in my
free time, I write about stuffs that caught my fancy, I defended issues
that are close to my heart, I expressed myself freely but always within
the bounds of proprietary and the law, I tried not to offend any parties
or groups or race or culture, I vent about life in general, and I read
all other blogs that are worth reading. But then, anything worth writing
is always worth reading.
That's the best part about blogging. It's not the same as writing
for the press, sir, as if you don't already know. It's not even pure journalism stuff. In fact we didn't
learn this in MassComm classes in my days. True, we're reporting on
something sometimes, but you can't compare lil known us with you
reporters from the press. We never even claim to be one. Those that do, they probably earned it. I'm humbled
that I could even be invited to the same events as you are, to do a
little coverage on the same stuff we attended, to write my piece in my
own words, and to construct a complete entry that will never get through
the editor's desk before I hit the 'post' button.
So
what if we write day to day accounts of our journeys? So what if we take
pictures and share them? So what if we have grammar mistakes sometimes,
or that we repeat ourselves, or that we write not according to your set
of rules? So what if we state our views and even be vain sometimes? We
don't have an editor that checks our drafts nor do we need one, because
we are each responsible for whatever we put up in the Internet. Don't
you think we know that? Those who don't or ignore that bit, well, that's
up to them.
You see, when writers are not being
edited or corrected or rewritten, that's when the real opinion comes
out, as honest as it gets. You don't have to like it all the time, you
only need to evaluate it and decide whether to believe it, accept it,
challenge it, or push it aside and discard it. Or if you want to drag
some of them to jail, that's up to you too, since we have all been
warned and so do you.
If you worry about
why I'm here, ask the organisers, they're the ones doing the
invitations. Don't be threaten by me or my peers, Sir, we're merely
journal writers. Half of what we write will never even make it to the
press. We are all aware that the medium is evolving very fast ... But
that's another enty.
What I don't get is he is being
paid for his job. I'm doing it for free. So, what is the problem again? I
won't stop blogging just because you call my writing worthless. You
should try it sometimes too, it's really therapeutic.
P/s:
If any of my reporter/journalist friends is reading this, please
don't be offended. Merely having a moment. And I claim the above as my
own sole opinion on blogging/bloggers and not influenced or have
anything to do with anyone/anything. And yes despite this difference in
opinions, I am still friends with the man.