Tag Archives: blog

Regulating Bloggers?

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Disclaimer: I certify that I have received no financial renumeration, goods, or services for the content of this post.

I know you’re all shocked that the superPacs have yet to contact me, but under a proposal before the California Fair Political Practices Commission, bloggers expressing political opinions might have to insert such a disclaimer.  Last Thursday, FPPC chairwoman, Ann Ravel, announced plans to make such disclosure “suggested” for this November’s elections, and mandatory thereafter.  http://tinyurl.com/773olq2

This stirs up many questions, the first and foremost being, why?  Why focus on bloggers when we all know victory in this election will cost hundreds of millions of SuperPac dollars?  For attack adds on TV, not a few hundred blog posts.

The current FCC push to force TV stations to post the sponsors of political adds is news.  A district court decision to allow superPacs to solicit political add time on PBS stations is news.  The fact that bloggers post their opinions is not.

I believe some politicians cannot abide a medium that is beyond their control, and political blogging is a macguffin as defined in Neal Gabler’s marvelous book, Life, the Movie (look under Book Reviews here for more info). Gabler writes:

“It was with Kennedy in mind that Norman Mailer in 1960 prophesied that ‘America’s politics would now be also America’s favorite movie’…Candidates were the putative stars, the primaries open costing calls, the campaign was an audition, and the election itself the selection of the lead, while the handlers served as drama coaches, scriptwriters, and directors.  As for substantive issues, though they couldn’t be purged entirely, they largely became what film director Alfred Hitchcock…once called macguffins-that is, they were the excuse for setting the whole process in motion though they have virtually no intrinsic value.”

That helps me understand why Ms Ravel would float such a silly proposal.  How would the California FPPC try to regulate bloggers living out of state?  How much money would I have to rake in to be required to disclose?  Five dollars?  Fifty?  Five-hundred (I wish)?  Will twitter or Facebook users have to disclose as well?  What about book reviews?  Will I have to disclose which publishers are buying my pearls of wisdom?  What about lucrative Hollywood kickbacks for my movie reviews?

I think this proposal is a bluff intended to float the notion that bloggers need to be regulated, a move toward the slippery slope of controlling what we can and cannot say.  This being America, the pols still have to tie such actions to some concept of “fairness,” although here it’s pretty thin.  To go after bloggers who might somehow make a buck when Citizens United rules the day is like meeting a Martian invasion with mosquito spray.

But now it’s time for a quick commercial break:

Come on, SuperPacs, make me an offer!  Show me the money!  This space for sale!  Get it while you can!  Bargain prices!  Show me the money!  Will write for loot.  Everyone has their price.  Show me the money!  Did I say that already?  Try me out!

Call me….

My 301st Post

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Confession time.  I slipped in post number 300 without saying anything. Double-digit posts, like end-of-decade birthdays, make me a little nervous.  Such events seem to require wisdom, but I don’t do wise-on-demand especially well.  So here are some blogging thoughts, commemorating post 301, which I think we can all agree is a more humble and friendly number than 300.

Blogging as a means of discovery.  I’ve experienced this in other modes of writing, notably fiction.   At times I’ve also kept a journal, not to record my thoughts, but to discover what they are.  Because of its public nature, I wasn’t sure for some time that blogging had that capacity.  I discovered once and for all that it does while working on some recent two-part posts.  Every time I ended with, “I’ll share my conclusions next time,” I wondered what those conclusions were going to be.  Typically all I had was a hunch – nothing as solid as a conclusion.  I found in every case that the act of writing itself generated conclusions.  

It’s immensely satisfying to know that blogging can help me discover where I am in the present moment.  Everything changes, and it’s important not to be bound to outworn habits of thinking, feeling, and acting.  If the public nature of blogging sometimes causes self-consciousness, it also demands a rigor that (hopefully) keeps me from entertaining or posting my silliest notions.

Just Blog.  If you visit writing blogs, read writing magazines, or go to a writer’s conference, you’re likely to hear about using social media to “build your platform.”  I don’t want to put this idea down, just look at it critically.  I’ve met several successful ebook authors who work very hard to promote their fiction and think up inventive ways to do it.  But the reason for their success is compelling fiction.  Promotion works because they have something worth promoting.

I started this blog because I’d been told I should get a platform.  That idea lasted only a week or two.  Curiosity about blogging as a unique medium took over.  There are lots of Zen stories advising us to do what we’re doing with single minded focus.  Just run.  Just cook.  That kind of thing.  My effort here is, “just blog.”  If the day comes when I need a platform, I’ll do what I have to do.  Like I said in a recent post, I’m skeptical of “whisperers.”

What to write about my social and political concerns?  I don’t like blogs that harp, yet I find it hard not to write about these issues.  I’ve never had so much concern about the future of our democracy, or feared that the very word, “democracy,” is an artifact of nostalgia, like a Norman Rockwell painting.  Consider the following definition from Webster’s College Dictionary:  oligarchy:  a form of government in which the ruling power belongs to a few persons.

Back in the ’90’s, my employer, like many others, provided free training in Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Success.  One of the concepts that stayed with me is “circle of influence vs. circle of concern.”  Covey taught that outcomes I can affect lie within my circle of influence.   My circle of concern, however, includes things I cannot change.  If I spend my time worrying over these, I miss the chance to do what is in my power.

It’s like the serenity prayer:  God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the power to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.  Covey goes a step further.  He says that changing the things I can will grow my circle of influence.  For example, complaining about the government is a useless hobby, but it is within my power to write to elected representatives.  All of them say direct communication carries weight because so few bother.  If I do so, my circle of influence grows a little bit.

Growing one's circle of influence by acting within it

What about blogging? Does this activity alter outcomes?  I believe it can, by carrying information if nothing else.  Have you heard about the “99% Spring,” initiatives starting on April 9?  Here’s a link: http://billmoyers.com.  Elsewhere on the website, Bill Moyers offers these words of hope:

Many of you have asked what you can do to fight back. Here are some thoughts. First, take yourself seriously as an agent of change. The Office of Citizen remains the most important in the country.

Second, remember, there’s strength in numbers. Find others like you in your neighborhood, apartment building, community – and act together. The old African proverb is still true, “If you want to walk fast, walk alone; if you want to walk far, walk together.”

Amen to that!  There is strength in numbers and strength in sharing hope.  As bloggers, that lies within our circle of influence.

Writings.  I appreciate all of your comments; they are one of the main things that keeps me going.  I’ve been especially happy with the response to recent articles on mythology and folklore.  This is like returning to something I lived and breathed 20 years ago.  In one way, it seems like a new emphasis for thefirstgates, but in another, it clarifies what I’ve been reaching for all along.  I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, for it has really become my mission statement:  To discover the reality in our fantasies, and the fantasy in our realities.

Thanks to you all and stay tuned!  Here’s to the next 101 posts.

Blogging Reflections

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Have you noticed how people use the word “whisperer,” where they once used “guru?”  Both terms imply a super-normal expertise, in some cases justified.  I’d love to have the Dog Whisperer visit our home!  Meanwhile, a quick check revealed you get 13,800,000 hits when you google on “blog whisperer?”

Last year, at a local writer’s conference, a “social media expert” who I think called himself a blog whisperer, offered to critique the blogs of those willing to come for the pre-session and pay $20.  That’s a bargain compared to the first blog whisperer to pop up on google, who charges $900 for a 90 day course on how to speak with “the voice of your soul.”

Think about that.  Though we might balk at the price, we live in a world that accepts the idea of hiring a coach to teach us to speak from our soul.  Afterwards, I guess we can look for a seminar on how to reclaim our power.

We live in a world of specialization and necessarily rely on experts in every phase of our lives.  In many cases, I think it’s a boon.  Those who long for the good old days are not in the throes of a toothache or facing surgery.

I have nothing against experts.  I like to have them around when the car breaks down or I break down.  For the garden, or home repairs, or internet security.

Yet something within us demands room to make our own discoveries and mistakes.  To come to our own conclusions.  To find out where we stand on things, what we really believe, regardless of the experts.

I used to think of writing as such an activity, but no longer.  Google on “writing, how to” and you get 1.9 trillion hits.  That’s a lot of whisperers!

The one little niche that is still free and clear, as far as I can see, is blogging, a medium that is unique because it allows us to think out loud in public.  For me, it is like a journal, a place to explore ideas, but the threat and promise of the “Publish” button forces me to go a step further.  When I pull the weeds from a first draft, I may find the seed of a new idea, or two, or three, or none.  Sometimes a draft lies fallow for weeks, and sometimes I publish within the hour.  More than a few get deleted.  One time I hit “Publish” when I meant to “Save” and got some practice in really fast editing.

I’ve heard some expert advice on blogging, and tend to ignore it all.  Before you say, “I knew it,” let me tell you what I mean – tips like:

  • Don’t write more than 250 words in a post.
  • Do not write about politics or religion.
  • Pick a single theme for your blog and stick to it.

The feedback I really take seriously comes from readers.  First there are simply the stats; people vote with their eyeballs.  Beyond that, is the power of even a single comment.

I’ve recently gotten enthralled, as I have in the past, with looking at old stories and legends.  When Adam, who blogs at Reviews and Ramblings http://blizzerd03.wordpress.com/ said he likes such posts, that was all the confirmation I needed.  “Yeah, this is road I have to follow.”  I value some of your comments more than 1.9 trillion articles on how to write.

As I have quoted more than once, as Joseph Campbell told the legends of the Holy Grail, he said every knight sought their own path into the forest; it would have been shameful to follow another’s trail.

This post is a way of thanking you all and a wish that we may all find our own way through the forest.