India Uncut
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Tuesday, January 03, 2006
On getting personal
One of the things that most upsets me about the blogosphere is the tendency of people to get personal. I love it when people discuss issues, and there's disagreement and argument, and new points of view come out. But I hate it when suddenly, in the middle of these conversations, the focus shifts from the issues being discussed to the people discussing them.
It could happen with people attacking your motives. Or questioning your credentials. Or speculating on your parentage. Or just abusing you. In the time that I have been blogging, I have seen so many posts, so many comments, focussed on just attacking fellow bloggers or commenters.
It is actually an easy trap to fall into. Someone attacks your worldview, you take it personally, and get personal. Hell, I've made this mistake myself months ago in the comments of someone else's blog, and decided to never repeat it after that. And to address only issues that come up in a discussion, strands of thought, and to not get personal.
I've been at the receiving end of a lot of personal attacks recently. A lot of it has come from people who claim not to stand my blog, and to hate me personally, but who read my blog religiously, and remember details of posts I've written that I myself have forgotten. It raises the question, why do they read me so regularly if they hate my blog so much? Why don't they go get a life?
In fact, this world is full of both beautiful things that can make us happy, and bad things that irritate the hell out of us. To maximise enjoyment, it makes sense to focus just on the wonderful things and the wonderful people around you. Why look at the negatives? Concentrate on what makes you happy, and you'll be happy. No?
It could happen with people attacking your motives. Or questioning your credentials. Or speculating on your parentage. Or just abusing you. In the time that I have been blogging, I have seen so many posts, so many comments, focussed on just attacking fellow bloggers or commenters.
It is actually an easy trap to fall into. Someone attacks your worldview, you take it personally, and get personal. Hell, I've made this mistake myself months ago in the comments of someone else's blog, and decided to never repeat it after that. And to address only issues that come up in a discussion, strands of thought, and to not get personal.
I've been at the receiving end of a lot of personal attacks recently. A lot of it has come from people who claim not to stand my blog, and to hate me personally, but who read my blog religiously, and remember details of posts I've written that I myself have forgotten. It raises the question, why do they read me so regularly if they hate my blog so much? Why don't they go get a life?
In fact, this world is full of both beautiful things that can make us happy, and bad things that irritate the hell out of us. To maximise enjoyment, it makes sense to focus just on the wonderful things and the wonderful people around you. Why look at the negatives? Concentrate on what makes you happy, and you'll be happy. No?
