Rules to Blog by, for Blog Publishers and Readers

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.

Blogs 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….

Of me I sing. 4 things you really wanted to know about the Baby Boomers…. but were too polite to ask!

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Peggy Lee sang an insinuating song in Disney’s “Lady and
the tramp” that pretty much summarizes how we Baby
Boomers feel about ourselves  — and those who are
not ourselves. (Released in June, 1955, the film was one
of the first that cashed in on my always media driven generation.)
“We are Siamese if you please.
We are Siamese if you don’t please.”
Face it, we (and I must include myself, riding
hard towards 65) are the Most Important Generation
in the History of the World. Of this there is not nor
will there ever be a whiff of disagreement, capiche?
Today, as we  massively approach 65 (at the
rate of 8000 per day), one truth about the Baby
Boomers remains consistent: everything we touch
is transformed forever and stamped with our irresistible
brand.
That’s why you must know about us… and why we don’t
need to know nearly as much about — you! Let us begin…
Baby Boomers are smarter than you are.
We are the first generation that transformed collegiate
instruction from the preserve of the well-to-do and privileged
into a de rigueur Rite of Passage, mandatory for anyone with
pretensions to professional standing and deference. As a result, higher
education is now ineffably part of the American Experience, something
that we mortar boarded Boomers have now bequeathed to future generations.
They should be grateful.
Without us , they would have found it more difficult to party hardy at
Alma Mater, at inexhaustible 18. You owe us…. and we shall surely collect from you…
as we draw our senior serenity from your Social Security fund.
Thanks.
We are not organization people.
If the prototype of our parents’ famously regimented generation was
“The man in the gray flannel suit” by  Sloan Wilson (published 1955),
we want it to be clear: we own no flannel, gray or otherwise… and
wouldn’t be caught dead wearing this mantel of corporate thraldom.
Jimmy Buffet and margarita soaked parrot heads are more our style;
we have set the pace for casual apparel, worldwide travel and insipid
ditties like Buffet’s, the anthem of a generation that wishes to get
wasted more often with better company.
Let me be very, very clear: we hate regimentation. We don’t take
orders well. We cannot abide and will not do the mundane, prosaic
tasks that keep organizations ticking along. Whereas my mother
worked hard (for free) doing things like writing and printing (with a hard-to-
jiggle gelatin press) “The Percolator” newsletter for Puffer School,
Downers Grove, Illinois, my generation has No Time for such lowly
(much needed) tasks. We have Better Things To Do.
As a result, organizations of every kind, in these Boomer dominated
times, are hard hit by a degree of indifference, apathy, disdain that would
have horrified community-spirited mum and her “he’s a good provider”
hubby, your dad.
We do have better sex, and oftener.
Okay, you’re wondering, whether ye be of pre- or post-Boomer vintage,
you’re wondering, I say, whether all the scuttlebutt and (sometimes)
scurrilous tales of lubricity and  pagan Woodstock love-in-the-mud stories
could possibly be true.
They are.
And even more so.
We discovered, early on, that we liked our bodies tremendously…
and that others, gay and straight, liked them, too. It was all “if it
feels good, do it.” And it still is. The fact that our parents Strongly Disapproved
of such glorious,  indiscriminate minglings made it inevitable that we should
have and enjoy them the more.
After all, for the first time in human history, we, the bona fide possessors,
owned our bodies, not the state, the church, or even our “forsaking all
others” spouse. “Till death do us part,” indeed; quaint, antediluvian
idea that.
Divorces skyrocketed, so did couples counseling… but  sex gave us something
other  than Scrabble to pass away a few hours, as pleasantly (and freely) as
possible. We took to it with avidity, enthusiasm, and (too often) boredom and
bruised feelings. Perfection, in anything, is difficult to find… but we keep the
search going.
So there.
We aim to live forever, and remain forever young.
Now to the crux of the matter, the focus of fervid Boomer interest
and actions. Since we as a generation either already own or will own
shortly own (at the demise of our careful Great Depression touched parents),
every single thing on earth worth having… we are now engaged in the
hot pursuit of eternal youth, being the first generation to secure
forever for itself.
Oh, yes, make no mistake about it. Having gathered the lot, we
want to keep it “forever and ever, hallelujah.”
This means obsessive focus on the foods we ingest (and avoid),
the pounds we put on(or take off), gym bodies and sweat inducing
exercises. It’s all part of our massive assault on Eternity; for let’s be clear:
whatever we have wanted, we have secured. With only this, the biggest,
the Big Prize to go.
We regard eternity not as a miracle, but as a problem, greater perhaps
than any other problem we have assayed and solved… but still nothing
that we can’t handle in the hard-headed, inexorable fashion we have
made our own and which has affronted, aggravated, and threatened
other, lesser folk. We care nothing for that. After all the stakes are
enormous this time. So far, we have challenged and rebuilt ideas,
cultures, even an entire civilization, now we want more, the whole
enchilada.
Now, indeed, is our past our prologue, for we are determined not
to go gentle into that good night. (Dylan Thomas, 1951) Absolutely
not.
We know what we want.
We are at work on its achievement.
And in due course, if not sooner, we shall seize Eternity and
savour it. This is our destiny., and yours. Truly it’s better than
any science fiction book ever written.
In all previous generations, for every person in them, eternity
was unimaginable, stuff for philosophers and theologians.
Now, each us of us, in the most pivotal of generations, can
not merely dream, but (soon?) own this, too. After all, millions of us are now
at work on thousands of pathways to eternity. One of us Boomers
will find the way, you betcha. With consequences to fall out later…
when we, massively, have gone on to Something Else.