Monday, November 28, 2005

It Ain't Just About Etiquette, Darlin':
Blog Critics, the Digital Divide and the Legion of Doom?

I got a link e-mailed to me a while ago. A friend of mine, who'd forgotten my blog URL, hit up some search engine and found a rather bizarre critique of one of my posts at some site called Democratic Underground.

Apparently, some woman I've never met, nicknamed the Scrivener, decided to offer a critique of a post of mine regarding the double-murder of a husband and wife a few weeks ago.

Apparently, this person thought it might be amusing to make fun at the number of people who linked to the accused killer and his girlfriend's blogs, including a college student from Northampton, Mass., a Christian System Administrator's blog, and the 6,000 others who posted about this tragedy.

And then the Scrivener went back to joining the more than 300 thousand bloggers posting about politics.

This friend of mine was wondering what I thought about this and what I was going to post in response. Apparently, she was more appalled than I was.

My reaction?

I literally was rolling on the ground, laughing so hard I could barely breathe. I laughed so hard I got hiccups and I think I bruised my ass when I fell off the couch.

I got this image in my head, of the old cartoons (one of my favorites).

I got this vision of my friend visualizing me under attack from some blogger version of the Legion of Doom, the Zenformation Professional doing battle with the mysterious Scrivener.

Jeez, if that were the case, I'd rather be Green Lantern...a cool emerald ring controlled by my will is so much more badass than the ability to bang away on a laptop and hit "Publish Post."

For those out there who take too seriously or think that somehow that the makes them some sort of World Wide Superstar, how about some of the latest statistics - little more than 15 percent of the world's nearly 6.5 billion people have access to the Internet.

Don't take blogging too seriously, because most of the world could really give a rat's ass.

Yeah, that's why they call it a .


Now, off to a Justice League meeting ... heard something at work about the Batmobile losing a wheel and the Joker getting away.

Damn, I hate Spandex.



Special Shout-Out to Zydeco Fish, who's had some jackass post-bombing his site with worthless drivel, and Stephi over at BlOgbuefi, who's been busting her tail and fighting apathy for the Miami University Students for Staff Campaign.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

that was a really nice post

Anonymous said...

HAH! That's too funny, dude. I had an anonymous poster for awhile who seemed to think I was committing the sin of the world whenever I made fun of the Religious Right. Think they got tired and moved on, eventually.

Blogging's a cool thing, but it's not a big thing. Just a relatively new phenomena (in terms of the mainstream conception and adaptation, anyway). It's amazing how many people are out there who think it's so much more than that. Or worse, those who blog thinking they are the news, that the world would fall apart without their own slant added to the story every day. They can be useful blogs, yes; but they fall well short of necessary. Would be nice if their owners had enough of an offline life to realize that.

Long enough rant. Back to pretending to work. Later dude.

Anonymous said...

I came via a link at wonderland . I read her daily even though I have no blog and periodically check out the links.

You are an intereting link so I'll be checking you out in the future.

I am watching this whole blogging phenomena from the sidelines and am finding it quite interesting.
Overall the actual number of things worth reading is pretty low but I'm all for it anyway.

joe

zydeco fish said...

I've been reflecting on the whole blog reviewer/critic thing, and I may just have to take it up full time. If only I could get paid.

Leigh said...

I too loved Superfriends, and hopefully your ass didn't take to much damage! Can't take blogging too seriously.

The ZenFo Pro said...

Pia:
Hey, thanks! Hope you're feeling better :)

G:
Yeah, I think I remember the religious anon poster from a while back. Luckily, no one's told me to go to hell online in, oh, a few days ;)


Joe:
Hey man, thanks for stopping by. Glad you like what you see. And Alice is indeed worth reading daily.

ZF:
Hmmm...a FPO in your future perhaps? A start-up side business? LOL...if only they paid without the spam or pitching of penis pumps.

Leigh:
Lol...ass is undamaged as far as I can tell, just trying not to sit on my tailbone. Loved the SFs, still dig comic books too, though no longer of the level of Kevin Smith and the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons ;)

Anonymous said...

hey i saw you at the living wage event at mcmillan tonite and I just wanted to say hi. I would've said hi in person but well im shy and you were talking to some girl. i'm a regular reader but I'm totally afraid of doing my own blog.

Cooper said...

lol

zenpro talking to some girl......shocked.....


That was pretty funny but I'm sure your friend was weirded out.

WHAT???? Blogging not serious????????????????????????????

DAMN....

Peace Out

The ZenFo Pro said...

Anon:
Hey, I'm sure the Students for Staff group...and the staff and faculty who spoke as well...really appreciated you being there. I hope you got a lot out of it and spread the word about the cause...
-SFS Site -

No worries about being shy or blogging. And I was either talking to a library coworker or another OxBlogger - neither of whom bite :-)

Thanks for reading and posting!

Coop:
Lol, yeah, just realized that seems to be an...uh...reoccuring theme.

Yeah, she was prety freaked. She remembers me in my broadcasting days...its so surreal to be boiled down to a link on a blog review after having been a voice on the radio to thousands in the SLO media market. Hey, at least I don't have angry grandmothers coming up to me in the grocery store and bitching about their grandkid not getting airtime anymore ;)

Yeah, I agree with G. Blogging is a neat communication device, but its no news service. Its a way to exchange ideas and stories, but it's nowhere near a news source.

LOL...I just realized there must be at least few readers out there who think I'm the the "brooding alcoholic librarian who's kinda smart but a chronic flirt."

Lord, I'm one pair of Dr. Scholls and a cardigan away from being a male spinster :)

Anonymous said...

Again, I stop by your site and read that you are attacking a key proponent of the Progressive movement.
I find it appalling that you find it necessary to make light of the number of people spreading the word about the Bush regime and its unjust and illegal policies.
I shall not return to your blog. If I want Bill O'Reilly I can watch FOX.



Marilyn P.

The ZenFo Pro said...

Well...uh...thanks for stopping by and reading and sorry if I offended you. Not really sure, exactly, how talking about a blog critic is an attack on progressives, but I'm not sure being "Progressive" necessarily equates with being a "Democrat."

As for the Bill O'Reilly/Fox comment, I'm sure you're waiting for some scathing response. Not gonna happen. Not playing the web-pundit game.

Oh, thanks for the e-mail expressing your disapproval of my opinions...of course, nobody forces you to read so feel free to quit reading at any time.