Janice Wald
Political Bloggers:
An interesting conversation occurred between myself and my daughter yesterday.
“Mom,” she asked, “why don’t you become a political blogger?”
(She asked after a heated political debate.)
Do you want to know the truth?
Can you handle the truth? (Okay, it’s a reference to the movie “A Few Good Men.” I am a movie buff.)
The truth is I don’t want to offend my readers.
Yes, I love discussing politics.
However, I love helping people more.
For the last 3 years, I’ve helped bloggers be more successful by being a blogging tips blogger and coach, and I’ve loved every bit of it.
That makes me happier than venting about my political feelings while risking offending the 50% of the population who don’t agree with my political leanings.
Humor Bloggers
What about humor bloggers? Do they mind if their jokes are offensive? Clearly not!
Lifestyle Bloggers
What about lifestyle bloggers who use profanity in their writing? Do they mind if their swearing offends people? Clearly not!
Wrapping Up
However, I do mind. For that reason, I will stick to making all people happy who come to my site looking for help while making myself happy too.
To Each His or Her Own
Not everyone agrees with me. In my post, “Are High Page Views the Greatest Thing in the World,” I actually debated a blogger who wants to make herself happy and doesn’t care about high page views which come when readers are happy with your site. More information about my feelings on this matter and reader reaction to our debate can be found in Are High Page Views the Greatest Thing in the World?
What is your opinion? I look forward to your views in the comments section.
Janice, your blog is professional, so you are right to keep your controversial opinions out of it and to use the appropriate professional language without insulting or using profanity. I believe professional people should act professionally while working. I have a favorite medical professional we’ve been seeing for years, and our appointments are about half an hour long and pretty informal. Since her evaluations come mostly through what we say and our lab results, we just spend the appointments talking.
For the last year or so she has really relaxed with us. Her phone often rings during appointments for calls she has to take. If she gets frustrated about something her staff has done, we can hear her address them on the intercom or phone. She often uses profane exclamations when something like the computer frustrates her. She’s a great doctor, but I would be more comfortable if she would behave more professionally, since we do have a professional relationship.
I have learned to get high views on this site to give the readers what they want even though I do not agree with what people like in movies, sports and television. However I like to express my views on sports issues like some sports stars are liked one moment and when they make an error in judgement, they become rogue sports stars.
My preference has always been to teach, edify, and inform. I am a writer. By that, I mean that I will write, whether I get paid to do it or not. If I want to write for myself, I won’t publish it where anyone else will read it. (It would be for myself, after all, right?) Thus, everything I publish online is written with the audience as the focus. Okay, almost everything I publish online is for the audience…I dislike absolute statements in the first place and I do derive pleasure and satisfaction when people read what I write, especially if it helps someone along the way.
I should add that I’m not adverse to writing something that isn’t the popular opinion. I try to be objective (sometimes not successfully) and do a lot of research on a daily basis. Thus, I make every attempt to think logically and rationally. That sometimes conflicts with other people, who tend to think emotionally and irrationally, particularly with politics. I don’t often write articles with a political point of view, but when I do, I explain the basis for my opinion. People still sometimes try to shoot down my opinions and basis, but nearly always they do so from an obviously emotional point of view. Opinions are just that, and since they can be so emotionally based, they cannot be truly challenged because an opinion is never wrong, only the basis for it can be.
what a nice post.
I think, to respond to this article we need to consider quite a lot of things, such as the age, personal interest, character and experience of the authors. I personally have been away from politics full of the interests of certain parties. In terms of writing, I actually write for others, to convey ideas, points of view, knowledge, messages, suggestions of wisdom and others even though they may contain something unpopular. However, by writing for others, I also gain something through their responses, whether they are just plain, contextual or not, profound or just about something on the surface.
I agree with you
Thank you, Lucia