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….
When money — or lack thereof –is the problem