tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post115507507270533131..comments2023-06-16T17:14:06.305+01:00Comments on Dazed and Confuzzled: What are you scared of?Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14433208990172292664noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155411682943550442006-08-12T20:41:00.000+01:002006-08-12T20:41:00.000+01:00Hi Heather,Funnily enough I wrote a similar articl...Hi Heather,<BR/><BR/>Funnily enough I wrote a similar article this week for the Guardian's comment is free:<BR/><A HREF="http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sunny_hundal/2006/08/why_do_newspapers_hate_us_blog.html" REL="nofollow">Why do newspapers hate us bloggers</A><BR/><BR/>I didn't hear of the Abby Lee debacle until yesterday, but it's part of the same problem isn't it. I wish there was a way to make the Sunday Times feel sorry for what it did.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155326026186576092006-08-11T20:53:00.000+01:002006-08-11T20:53:00.000+01:00I have now started my own. As it's a revolution I ...I have now started my own. As it's a revolution I thought I'd better be in on it.realdochttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02084002807834145023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155307306563265222006-08-11T15:41:00.000+01:002006-08-11T15:41:00.000+01:00Fantastic post H. The media are definately running...Fantastic post H. The media are definately running scared. I know when I read news stories about something I know about such as health they are so full of inaccuracy and sensationalism as to be completely ludicrous. Now there is another way to get to the truth and it is not under anyone's control. The social aspect has been completely ignored by the media up to now and that's what draws people in and keeps them hooked. Blog on!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155285314251754352006-08-11T09:35:00.000+01:002006-08-11T09:35:00.000+01:00Found you via the Swipe. At the risk of adding to ...Found you via the Swipe. At the risk of adding to the volume of the nation's verbal diarrhea at such a time of critical lerts I would like to thank you for adding to the critical mass of musings of banal and under-educated anoraks. Good post. Nice to think that on my birthday I have finally become a zombie!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15888732615181532548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155265842127026282006-08-11T04:10:00.000+01:002006-08-11T04:10:00.000+01:00new here from bob swipes place.wonderful post, won...new here from bob swipes place.<BR/>wonderful post, wonderfully put. i'm beginning to think there just might be something to this blog fear we've been smelling coming from the direction of the pro's. at first i figured it was manufactured controversy because; come on, blogging? compared to upi or gannet it's passing notes in class. <BR/>but suddenly, i feel kinda...threatening. oo.<BR/><BR/>*waves in timid glee at patroclus*FirstNationshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13387748372500478809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155216863719554312006-08-10T14:34:00.000+01:002006-08-10T14:34:00.000+01:00Heather...first of all...thankyou for your wonderf...Heather...first of all...thankyou for your wonderful contributions last night. What larks!<BR/><BR/>I think that blogging is an interesting form. I started off doing just creative stuff. But then I branched into all sorts of stuff. I like the mixture of high and low. It makes for an interesting dialectic. I wonder if people believe that we have no brains. I like to play with that idea by posting vastly contrasting things side by side. I love the idea of having art next to quizzes for example. That, for me, is what makes it. It is a negotiated space that is not controlled. For me, it is a site of contestation. I want to play with ideas and prejudices surrounding women too. I want to write...but I also want to play. I like the discussions it creates. I like the freedom it has given me. And also, it has helped me through a terrible illness...so thank God for blogging.<BR/><BR/>Thankyou again for being so wonderfulxxMolly Bloomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15002045980797531079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155200768540718882006-08-10T10:06:00.000+01:002006-08-10T10:06:00.000+01:00Good article Heather - you should send it to the e...Good article Heather - you should send it to the editorial desk at the Independent.<BR/><BR/>"if Ms Alibhai-Brown had her way" God forbid! I'm starting to pass over her daily drivellings, I've rarely encountered anyone with so much to be angry about unless its Dominic Lawson. By the time I finish their articles, I'm angry too, but probably not in the way they intended. I have noticed this anti-blogging disposition in the Indie and was horrified to find out that their leader writer is in fact..Mary Dejevsky. Aaargh. <BR/><BR/>Anyway, its a hydra. And yes, I do think they're running scared, which can only be a good thing, maybe they'll up their standards of journalism a bit (how naive can I be?)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155179022705370892006-08-10T04:03:00.000+01:002006-08-10T04:03:00.000+01:00Brilliant post!I must confess that I have enjoyed ...Brilliant post!<BR/><BR/>I must confess that I have enjoyed the Girl from time to time always wondering if this was all fabricated...but still...gulp!<BR/><BR/>Your expose on certain elements of the mainstream media and their paranoia about bloggers was great. The Old school communicators should be nervous. This is a much more intimate (albeit highly risque at times) form of gathering and sharing information. That being said, since I began blogging, I have never felt so connected to so many funny, witty, conscious, humans in my entire life. It is amazing how quickly you can bond despite hidden identities and regardless of opposing ideologies. I appreciate the opportunity to just be heard.<BR/><BR/>I love blogging. How else would I have met you???<BR/><BR/>This post is exactly what it is all about.Romeo Morningwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10826410608415260786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155167088376782632006-08-10T00:44:00.000+01:002006-08-10T00:44:00.000+01:00Even if 99% of blogland is crap, that still means ...Even if 99% of blogland is crap, that still means there are hundreds, maybe thousands of blogs out there written by people who are better writers than Street Portaloo and her vastly over-rated ilk. If the cream of British broadsheet columnists want a benchmark of banality, I suggest they read each others weekly dribblings and see who falls asleep first.iLL Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08107892879700381858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155161021337898372006-08-09T23:03:00.000+01:002006-08-09T23:03:00.000+01:00Ill Man, I too love Charlie Brooker's writings, wh...Ill Man, I too love Charlie Brooker's writings, which was part of ther reason I was so dissapointed with his views on blogging. <BR/><BR/>FLT, Janet Street Porter's superiority complex amuses me. She claims to be above us all and then partakes in one of the most senseless reality shows of all time. What a tit. <BR/><BR/>Also, her article was entitled "Do You Really Care How Much I Weigh Today?" or something of that ilk. Suggesting that such posts by bloggers were banal and irksome. She then went on to round off her own column by talking about her love of porridge. The level of hipocracy displayed there is beyond belief. I don't know about you but I for one do not give a toss about Janet Street-Preacher's choice of breakfast.Heatherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14433208990172292664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155158650009729112006-08-09T22:24:00.000+01:002006-08-09T22:24:00.000+01:00"Their only hope is to escape to an island where t..."Their only hope is to escape to an island where there's no internet"<BR/><BR/>I believe Streetporter did this . . . was she not a 'celebrity' in a certain jungle? Sadly, she came back.<BR/><BR/>Well said Heather!<BR/><BR/>I think what truly scares them is that there are intelligent and well educated people out there who have found a place to express their thoughts and opinions and aren't afraid to do it (and to do it for free). <BR/>And in Ms Dejevsky's case, she's probably just frightened of our proficient use of the shift key!Fraudulent Little Tarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13436037438025534216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155153464891924222006-08-09T20:57:00.000+01:002006-08-09T20:57:00.000+01:00To be honest Charlie Brooker is a cantankerous old...To be honest Charlie Brooker is a cantankerous old git whose writing I love, so I can forgive his mutterings. Streetsweeper and the other non-entity can fuck off, quite frankly. Who are ya? Who are ya? as they say at the footy.<BR/><BR/>I smell fear, and going by the dismal toss that passes for writing in a fair few broadsheet columns I'm not surprised.iLL Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08107892879700381858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155148461544555882006-08-09T19:34:00.000+01:002006-08-09T19:34:00.000+01:00Thanks Patroclus, it's just something that has bee...Thanks Patroclus, it's just something that has been niggling at me for weeks now. As a blogger who does have ambitions in the media it has surprised me that the press has been so consistantly negative about blogging. Your analogy is brilliant, and very true. Blogging could also be compared to a mythological creature, which I can't remember, the one with many heads - when you cut one off 2 rise up in it's place. <BR/><BR/>You really should try watching a few more Zombie films, Night Of The Living Dead, the original Zombie flick is utterly superb. Not to mention groundbreaking what with it having a black protagonist. Also it is in black and white and I find watching a film in black and white always makes you feel smarter.<BR/><BR/>Thank you Jules, wow! - I can't believe your blog was the inspiration for one of those plays. I'm very impressed.<BR/><BR/>Baggie I agree completely, except about the football of course.<BR/><BR/>Billy if anyone is begging for a columnist I'd take them up in a flash. Four years of study only to work in a shop. Blegh! This is why blogging is my release. <BR/><BR/>Chatterbox, you are correct, insulting bloggers and blogging only seems to make it seem more glamorous and subversive than it really is. Won't they ever learn?<BR/><BR/>Jules, but why don't they understand it? Surely people are only following exactly the same urge that inspired them to be journalists albeit in a smaller way. Freedom of speech is indeed wonderful, however if Ms Alibhai-Brown had her way it is a liberty we would find severly curtailed. I thought the Independent was a liberal paper?!Heatherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14433208990172292664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155139889727689772006-08-09T17:11:00.000+01:002006-08-09T17:11:00.000+01:00As always people fear what they don't understand, ...As always people fear what they don't understand, especially if it threatens their livelihood!<BR/>Freedom of speech is a wonderful gift and if you don't think something's worth reading then don't! I certainly don't read every article in a paper and don't read papers that don't appeal to me or I feel that the writing is sub standard..personal choice.Joolshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15078649445899448783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155139622857991902006-08-09T17:07:00.000+01:002006-08-09T17:07:00.000+01:00Hear hear HeatherAs a broadsheet and a newly conve...Hear hear Heather<BR/><BR/>As a broadsheet and a newly converted blog reader, I look at both for the comment and debate about issues of the day, whether they are global or what is happening in other individual lives. I agree that the columnists must feel threatened (I love the zombie analogy Patroclus) but there are poor and badly researched articles in newspapers as well, and quality still shines through, whatever the medium. Slagging off the competition is never a great tactic anyway!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155134686578194862006-08-09T15:44:00.000+01:002006-08-09T15:44:00.000+01:00Nice one Heather.If I had a newspaper begging for ...Nice one Heather.<BR/><BR/>If I had a newspaper begging for a columnist, I'd offer the job to you.Billyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17841187654606981532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155125290730835722006-08-09T13:08:00.000+01:002006-08-09T13:08:00.000+01:00Nice one H. I agree with you totally. I see bloggi...Nice one H. I agree with you totally. I see blogging as a way of interacting with people you may never have had the opportunity to speak to otherwise and making new friends. I also think it's a good tool to vent the frustrations of your day, or to share a comic moment, or even just to air an idea you have. In my humble opinion blogs are ment to be fun things, a daily enjoyment. Personally I love to read other peoples blogs, it's nice to know there are other people out there having a similar day to you. I've learnt a lot of people who blog. My spelling and gramar has imporoved no end! <BR/><BR/>I'm new to blogging having only recently taken the plunge. I don't consider myself to be a geek and I certainly don't spend all my time sitting staring at a computer screen (apart from when i'm at work that is) I'd also like to say i'm far from under-educated and banal. Quite frankly i'd rather read blogs than anything Janet Street Porter has to say, at least most bloggers aren't pompus and over opinionated. As for blogging about children and gynocolgy... well I don't have any children and quite frankly what happens in the gynocological area stays between me and my gynocologist! I have far more intersting things to blog about, mainly football but that's far more intersting than my last visit to the doctors.baggiebirdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11882346997738830282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29957391.post-1155096589139094652006-08-09T05:09:00.000+01:002006-08-09T05:09:00.000+01:00What a great post, nice one Heather. At times like...What a great post, nice one Heather. At times like this I like to air my zombie analogy - the media are scared of blogs because blogs are like a horde of attacking zombies: they look like the media, but they're all disfigured and horrid, and there are millions of them, and you can't kill them, and even if you 'kill' one or two (e.g. by hiring them as columnists), hundreds more rise up in their place. <BR/><BR/>Brooker and Street-Porter and the others probably feel like a motley band of plucky, intelligent individuals who have been surrounded in a shopping centre (yes, I have only ever seen one zombie film) and are under attack from all sides by hordes of hideous undead that they're at a loss to explain. Their only hope is to escape to an island where there's no internet and they can continue to write self-aggrandising rubbish in proper newspapers in peace.patroclushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01933476561340044351noreply@blogger.com