I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of a baby today! I have never met the parents. I don't know the husband's first or last name. I am not related to them. I don't personally know anyone who has met them before. Yes, you guessed it, I follow her blog (and twitter).
Lately, I have been grappling with the issue of exposing my true beliefs on my blog. I'm not lying about anything I write here, but up until today, I have kept my blogging to light-hearted completely un-controversial topics like bike riding and holidays. What I really want to write about is politics, religion, birthing choices, parenting (which I touched on today), etc. So why don't I? Well, that blog I follow? She openly writes about all these things and gets tons of horrible comments, emails, and formspring questions, people have even made yahoo hate groups about her. Now I don't agree with a whole lot of her beliefs, however, I appreciate her honesty and I have learned a lot about birth and the choices available to me from her many posts on the topic.
Earlier today I was trying to find out if she had the baby through other's tweets and engaged in a discussion with someone (whose blog and twitter I also follow - both were Weddingbee bloggers). She said she did a twitter search for the mom-to-be's name and found so many people rooting for her and begging for updates. I did the same search and was amazed at how many people (mostly strangers) were wishing her luck and asking for more news. I said that I wished I had that kind of support. Then I remembered that with that support comes a whole lot of hate and negativity.
It is so sad that I am afraid to blog about what I really want to say because there are people out there who are poised and ready to attack me for simply expressing my opinions. I love a good debate (hey, I even teach it in high school), but I am very sensitive and can't handle people calling me fat or wishing I was dead.
Is all that support worth all the negativity? Can you believe even NieNie gets hate mail?
3 comments:
I'm glad to hear I wasn't the only one checking for status updates a little too obsessively today.
I think your absolutely right that being opinionated brings both the crazies and the love. Really, controversy is just generally more interesting, so it brings in big numbers and even more passion.
Personally, I think it would be worth it. I love the honesty and full expression that comes with blogging, so not being willing to engage in what I care about, controversy or no, would strip the joy out of blogging for me. Not that I really blog anything super controversial (probably largely because the most controversial topics seem to center on parenting, and not being a Mom I would feel odd talking about that). But then again, everyone blogs for different reasons, and has different goals and tolerance levels. To each their own.
I blog for me, as a release, to get out my ideas and express myself. In that respect, I shouldn't worry what people think, but I do. I guess I could try and if comments get crazy, I could stop... Hmmm... Thanks Genavee!
Hi Amy, first time on your blog today.
It's a fine line between being 100% honest and opening yourself up to horrible people or telling half truths but not being complete true to yourself. I face this all the time. I would love to be more free with my writing, but a)I worry that I might offend certain people close to me (my parents don't get why I blog) and b)I'm very sensitive at heart and know how I feel after a positive comment, so to hate commenters would be awful. Like being back at school again
I love blogging and have 'met' so many great people through it. It my little corner of the web where I can share my thoughts and feelings. I need to just remember that at the end of the day, everyone is entitled to their own opinions and if they don't match with mine, I shouldn't worry about it.
I love TW's blog and admire her honesty and boldness. I was also awaiting the arrival of That One with anticipation too!
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