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Blog Wars: Why Do Bloggers Think They Must Curse and Spew Hate to be Effective?

Blog Wars: Why Do Bloggers Think They Must Curse and Spew Hate to be Effective? by Paula Neal Mooney

Twice this long weekend I've caught Blog Wars -- an excellent documentary by filmmakers James Rogan and Phil Craig on the Sundance Channel.

Blog Wars covers political bloggers and their effectiveness or (bulldozing) in a variety of campaigns. Thru Blog Wars, I was once again reminded of conservative bloggers like Michelle Malkin and other smart folks.

I admit I don't subscribe to a lot of political blogs, save for The Huffington Post, but that'll change in 2007. Blog Wars taught me that I need balanced views from both the left and the right.

But the main thing I kept thinking while watching Blog Wars was, What is up with this trend that bloggers think they must be so negative and ranting with cuss-filled posts to be effective?


I'm not necessarily speaking of the blogs featured in Blog Wars -- I've only scanned those. I'm talking about folks like Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr, who runs the addictively readable blog PerezHilton.com that was featured in a 20/20 piece that was pre-empted Friday night on the east coast with news of Saddam's hanging. Anybody got it? It's no longer available from the code I just embeded. Here's another report of PerezHilton from Geraldo:



So, I admit I'm a hypocrite cause I can't help clicking over to old PerezHilton or the folks at PopSugar to check out the latest celebrity they've skewered. But I always ask myself: Why do these and other blogger think they need to dog out other folks to be celebrity reporters? I'm all for the truth, but can't we write about other people in a positive manner?

I admit that in my real-life, I still let a cuss word fly here or there when I'm really angry. But when it comes to writing, I like the advice Will Smith's grandma wrote to him in his journal (but didn't speak of) when she found cuss words in Will's initial rhymes. She wrote that a person with a real vocabulary doesn't have to rely on curse words to be effective.

I agree. In fact, it's more challenging and effective to come up with other adjectives that f*$k.

So there's what on my gut for today. It'll be interesting to see if PerezHilton is taken down in the mega-millions lawsuits pending against him. On one hand, I hope the Lord strikes a deadly blow to all the hateful blogs out there, but on the other hand, I kinda like PerezHilton. He seems so cuddly and lovable. Not on his blog, that is.
Paula Mooney's Musings

Bookmark http://www.paulamooney.blogspot.com/ for some cuss-free (I hope) blogging or Add me to Technorati Favoritesplease, please, please Add me to your Technorati favorites!!!

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Comments

kystorms said…
Hi Paula
I just wanted to say Happy New Year to you, and thank you for the great posts. I will continue to read your posts with interest and I know I will learn much from you as well.
Anonymous said…
I remember when I got first on the internet and send lyrics I wrote to a random stranger over IRC.. she said without the cusswords more people might listen to what I had to say. I have to admit, that advice took a long time to sink in, but eventually it did. Not just because cussing is offensive to some - but because it contains zero information, and bloated language is what I find "offensive".. so I should try to reduce it in what I write.

Why do we bloat up our language? So we don't have to actually think, that is my guess at least.
Anonymous said…
Excellent post. I actually think that I'm more sensitive to cussing when it's written than when it's said because it took extra effort to put it in... and they have every opportunity to remove it.

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