First off, let me welcome my readers (classmates) to my first official blog post for the quarter. Please bear with me as I am completely new to this form of writing. Being new to blogging, and the usage of social media for anything other than personal means, writing this blog and hashing out what is acceptable and "un," is probably a very good thing. So, that being said I'll start my official rants and raves about social media i.e. Twitter.
I created my Twitter account sometime last week, and reopened my Facebook at the same time. Coming into the class and learning that we would be using these tools as reporting agents put me at unease. I originally thought that "multimedia" was exactly just that pictures, videos, audio. Certainly more-so out of the stone-age than just black on grey print, but surely not Extra-Terrestrial-Beings advanced.
I see a news room in terms of 1950's Chicago: middle aged men dressed in suspenders, waist high dress pants, and chain smoking unfiltered Lucky Strikes. Each time the 19 year old secretary struts by its all cat-calls and hiney pinching. I certainly can't picture a news room as my kitchen table. Who wants to work in the one place every nosey member of their family walks by. Constantly asking what the writer is working on, or just trying to edge their way in on the action. Let me ask you a question, have you ever tried to wolf whistle at your mom? Honestly? You can tell me the truth just write me a comment on this blog no one will ever find out.
Yet here I am in exactly in that position. No I did not whistle at my mom that would be a hard smack to the face and a call to my grandpa. 20 years old and my grandpa is still the most intimidating person in my life and probably always will be. Do I feel comfortable writing here? Of course to an extent. Would I rather be in a professional environment where my colleagues have basically the same things going on? Yes. I really can say I envy the 1950 Chicagoans. But, my envy of that time period is exactly the problem our culture faces with the new form of information.
As we have discussed in class a certain point has been dragged, beaten, dragged again, and hung up on the white board gallows, self censorship. We see it all the time, athletes, movie stars, politicians, and sometimes Average Joes' make the social media mistake of blatant bigotry. The ultimate career suicide. To me, your opinion is your opinion. If you don't like someone because of their color, faith, sexual orientation or gender that's your right. I honestly don't feel anyone has the right to attempt to destroy you for that opinion. But like the wisest of rabbits Thumper said, "If you cant say anything nice don't say anything at all." I mean it's pretty basic, certain things you can say in public and certain things are meant for your own mind. Unfortunately ladies and gentlemen, even though there should be one, there is no button next to your spell-check that goes through your off kilter ravings and presents alternatives to stupid things you said. Even though there should be one, a little bubble doesn't pop up and say, "Hey, that was pretty hateful and has some potential to ruin your life for a while. Are you sure you want to send this? Click nowhere, go back, and take another look dummy."
Personally, I think Twitter has the easiest capability to destroy your life if you were to do that. Twitter is the ultimate instant gratify machine there is. I can think of a million disgusting, terrible, dirty things to write in less than 140 characters and send to the masses. Twitter is the friend that everyone has who drunk dials consistently and just spews everything you didn't ever need or want to know. Twitter is the loud mouth girl at the bar with a vile mouth, that only the six foot four bald guy has the guts to attempt to quiet down. It's not only the simple ease of mess that can fall from Twitter that I carry a great disdain for, its the cockiness. Twitter is a way to constantly shove into peoples faces how great your life is in comparison. "Hey I just bought a new house, its huge." " Hey I'm on TV and you worthless vermin have to watch me." "Hey just wanted to say follow this other beautiful being @soandso #ImTheGreatest." I think Twitter is a bad idea.
So maybe we shouldn't jump back a few decades and be stuck in a smokey, dimly lit, den of debauchery. But at least if someone wrote something that was just plain awful it had to go through a few other people first before it went straight to the press. I don't think people can mediate themselves, I probably just wrote a few hundred words that need to be put through a ringer. (I love comma's a whole lot.)
I don't believe in censorship, but I do believe in common courtesy.
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