Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Tuesday Twitterdeedum


I've been reading about the lady who disclosed yesterday that she was an anonymous blogger who inspired a court lawsuit after posting material in "Huckleberries Online" about a Kootenai County political worker.

According to this morning's Spokesman-Review, the blogger will now have to defend herself in a defamation suit.  

This situation clearly illustrates how careful we must be in what we write or say in the public arena.   

It also illustrates how seriously the world of blogging is taken since its infant days when the medium was so often incorrectly termed as a "blob."  

That seems like just yesterday.    People just didn't take me very seriously when I told them seven and eight years ago that I posted on a blog every morning.  

"What is that?" they'd ask.  

I'd explain that it was a web log, just like a journal,  only online.   Later some of these same people would tell me they had been looking for my "blob," but couldn't find it.

Well, these days the word "blog" has reached a point of fairly universal understanding. 

I've been posting almost daily (just a couple of exceptions) on "Slight Detour" since 2004.   

I wish I could find someone who has the know-how to take all those posts and print 'em off for me cuz they certainly reflect a good portion of the happenings around me during all those years.

Maybe there's a book:  the best of "Slight Detour."  Maybe my brother JIm,  who came up with the blog moniker,  would illustrate it.

Who knows?

What I do know for sure is that there has been an abundance of material over the years that has NOT appeared in "Slight Detour."   

Many, many times that unpublished material has weighed heavily on my mind---it may make me sad, or it's something that makes me angry or even something that makes me so angry I want to scream out to the world.

But I don't. 

This morning, for example, I have a couple of situations weighing heavily in my thoughts.  

They'll stay put in my mind or shared only within the realm of a few people whom I trust. 

Years of working with journalism has taught me to take great care in what I share.  

Also, being on the receiving end of an untrue statement meant to hurt makes me sensitive to both sides of the present Spokesman-Review blogger issue.

I was once called "an old cow who should be led out to pasture."  This descriptive term referred to me----the 20-something SHS Drill Team adviser after one of her troops slipped to the gym floor during a performance. 

The reference appeared in an underground newspaper, which was distributed all over Sandpoint and eventually throughout the state of Idaho.

Talk about a test of whether I really wanted to continue on as a teacher.  This was it. 

Talk about a low time in one's life as the subject of such public discussion.  This was it.  

I was advised to get a lawyer.  I did.

I received apologies from most of those involved.  Sadly, at the time, those apologies had to be printed yet another underground newspaper.   

Needless to say, my agony continued. 

With support from family and friends, I made it past that difficult period.  I eventually became good friends with a few of those teenagers responsible for my unfair public embarrassment. 

I've forgotten the disappointment I felt toward them but have never forgotten the incident----which certainly helped me build some character and resilience. 

So, when I'm tempted to spew off steam publicly about something that makes me really, really mad, I think about the potential consequences.    

And, my keyboard remains idle. 

And, for the most part, I stay out of trouble. 

That doesn't mean there isn't a lot of Irish steam spewing around my house, though.  I've got the patient husband to prove it.

So, on this Tuesday morning, I'll end on a positive note. 

It's beautiful outside.  More peas are waiting to be plucked,  and we Mariners fans shall survive life after Ichiro.  

1 comment:

Word Tosser said...

yes, you have to have a thick skin to be a blogger.. and I try..but sometimes words get thru to me..
of late, I have decided that positive is worthy of my time.. neg. isn't..
Even letters to the editors seem harsh, and they use names. We have to understand the far outreach of our words.. so I try to be careful.. so hang in there.. with your blog, you always take good care not to offend.