The Untold Consequences of Blogging
For anyone interested in blogging, now or in the future, we recommend you take a look CNN.com to see what just happened with the John Edwards campaign. Turns out Edwards, like many others in the Democratic Party this year, tried to go mainstream and hire a couple professional bloggers to jump start his Internet movement and reach out to more "liberal voters and activists."
Unfortunately the hired bloggers, Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan, also have personal opinions that they feel open to share on other blogs outside of the Edwards campaign. (We're sure it has something to do with that whole First Admendment thing.)
Now the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is demanding they be fired for personal comments they made against the Pope and the Church's stance on homosexuality and abortion.
Edwards isn't talking and neither are the two bloggers. Yet what happens next could set the standard for professional blogging as well as the blogging community as a whole. But this incident brings up a serious conversation that everyone who blogs need to ask themselves: are we prepared to own up to the comments we post and are we prepared to let people speak freely without consequences?
For example: Should the McDonald's fry cook lose his job because he rails against the company in a blog devoted to fast food industry reform? Can a bank manager be trusted to be objective with Hispanic clients at the bank, when he or she writes paragraphs on blogs about Pro "English-Only" legislation?
On the flip side, should we be giving the blogs that much value or should they looked at them as mere bulletin boards for any Tom, Diane, or Harry to come write a personal message? Should personal names be removed, and pseudonyms be put in their place to protect the livelihoods of those who dare speak out? Does anyone have legal recourse on either side?
There are far more questions than answers and the gray area on this subject is pretty large. But these questions need to be addressed before the blogosphere becomes the birthplace for a 21st Century Spanish Inquisition. So to anyone and everyone who writes on a blog, remember Michael Jackson: "I always feel like, somebody's watchin' me..."
posted by DC Young Dem @ 8:00 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Unfortunately the hired bloggers, Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan, also have personal opinions that they feel open to share on other blogs outside of the Edwards campaign. (We're sure it has something to do with that whole First Admendment thing.)
I'm curious, are you lying to us, or to yourself?
Or do you just really not understand the First Amendment?
The problem is not that they have opinions. The problem is that their opinions may cost their boss votes.
You know, it's that whole First Amendment thing. You can say whatever you want, and so can I. If you say political things while working for a political campaign, voters can, will, and should judge the candidate (who, after all, decided to hire you) based on what you said.
If you say things things that I don't like, I can say "I won't vote for your candidate." If I represent a group, I can say "I will encourage everyone in my group to vote against your candidate, unless he fires you and thus shows that he disagrees with what you said."
If your boss disagrees with what you said (or agrees with it, but really wants the votes of the people in my group), he can fire you.
The First Amendment. It's not just for left-wing bloggers.
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