That stuff about blogging ...

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.