Appropriately submissive
I saw a snippet from a documentary discussing whether or not bloggers are journalists. I don’t really care about that, but it provoked me otherwise. The talking head said, “I can write whatever I want and no one stops me,” or something to that effect. That man arrogantly rejects the services of an editor, or being appropriately submissive. My countrymen often suffer from this.
This dates back, at least, to refusing to follow the Crown’s rule. I live in Boston, home of the first battle of the American Revolution. I see the graves of the fallen Revolutionary patriots and wonder what they would think about Great Britain being our biggest and closest ally, but I digress. We are a country of scrappers; it is part of our DNA. We like to deny someone telling us what to do and sometimes (if not more than less these days) lack the diplomacy of pulling that off with aplomb.
I went to Texas A&M for my bachelor’s degree, where there is a full-time ROTC program. I observed their lifestyle and used to think it was absurd way of life for co-eds unless they wanted a military career or simply to be in the band. However, as a full-fledged adult I can now see the benefits of their program. There is something about their training that all Americans could benefit from: appropriate submissiveness, or obeying others while putting aside selfish reflexes.
For example, those lower in the chain of command, like the freshman, must follow the upper-classmen’s orders simply because they, by age and experience, are their superiors. It has nothing to do with being smarter or who is more right. You can have a boss that is no where as smart as you and completely wrong, but they are still running the show. This is a lesson in humility.
Recently when going through passport control when entering the U.K., there was a big sign directing passport holders which line to stand in.
Rest of [the
The Internet is like a desert. Instead of there being a lack of water there is a lack of content. People have been making money by making circular links (link farms, etc) for years. This only makes the lack of real content more apparent.
So, in a way I agree that proper grammar and editorial support is less important than simply getting some REAL content out there.
In traditional media an editors role, beyond helping mold the content into a format that best fits the media they are delivering, is deciding what content is appropriate. This decision is based upon economics, such as advertisement and political correctness.
The truth is rarely politically correct or helps sell Coca-Cola. Most people who write blogs hope to one day earn some money off of it so they are likely doing some self editing. I don’t blog because if I posted what I really was thinking it could possibly hurt my career.
So, I would consider those people out their writing blogs to be more journalists than those working for Fox News because they are more likely to at least be flirting with the truth.
As to the rest of the points you made:
If you take any of the money offered from the ROTC program at Texas A&M or stay longer than 2 years in the program you are committing to a minimum of 4 years service in the U.S. military.
I also agree that Americans, of who I am a part of, are very arrogant. We should try and learn that our way is not necessarily the best way and try to get along better with our neighbors. But, as more and more of our freedom is stripped away by our own government I don’t think now is the time to blindly follow our leaders. I think Benjamin Franklin said it best: “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” We should be questioning our leaders as much as possible these days. Our forefathers would accept nothing less. It’s our duty as Americans.
Nick
thank!
Karen,
Respect and submission are two entirely different things. The later seems more to the point. Americans should never be encouraged to submit to anything. It’s what makes the nation strong — at least, it used to. ROTC and other military institutions are another story altogether, because it can function without a chain of command. Well written.
Bloggers do not use the services of an editor because they are not writing editorials for which they intend to get compensated. Bloggers are not journalists and journalists have a hard time understanding motivation behind blogging.
Some people blog for fame, some for power, some to express themselves, while others post silly stuff because it amuses them and gives them something fun to do.
The beauty of blogging is in complete individual freedom of expression, in thinking out loud, and talking to the public at large. It’s an American dream and you’ll notice that citizens of other countries blog in a slightly different way. (For instance, most Russian bloggers use Livejournal to post their writing, not to share with the world, but with a limited community of chosen friends.)
In America, when people speak, they rarely ever think hard about what they say because our freedom of expression is guaranteed by our constitution. It’s our right to say anything and everything we want. By the same principle, majority of the bloggers post without thinking. Some bloggers may regret their posts and go back to correct their entries, but most won’t. Such is the gray side of freedom in this country. But most Americans would not trade that freedom for a well written editorial.
Excellent post thanks!
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