This is a partial response to Uptown’s post from a couple days ago. He said: “Last week, in an emotional moment, I posted a picture of Bush playing guitar during Katrina--it was incredibly partisan and inappropriate for BlogAsheville. After an hour or two, I realized my mistake and took it down. My apologies; it won't happen again.
We created BlogAsheville to blog about our fair city, and despite our many differences, we have maintained focus and purpose since the beginning. I hope we continue to do so.” Nicely said, Uptown, and yet…
In addition to Uptown’s photo (which I, personally, got a kick out of), there was some drama over the weekend on BlogAsheville during a debate around Katrina. The particularly offensive comments were removed, some apologies were made, and everyone moved on (I think).
This morning I noticed that there’s some feistiness going on in the comments from yesterday’s post about a letter from the Mountain Xpress.
Okay, so here’s what I think. We, as bloggers, are opinionated, intelligent folks who like to spew forth our ideas, thoughts, and reactions. Those of us at BlogAsheville, for whatever reason, seem to be a fairly liberal group. I think this is okay. Unless you are a trained journalist, it’s difficult to write without slant (and, as we all know, even trained journalists screw up—a lot). And, for me, at least, blogging is about expressing opinions. I like writing about controversy and promoting healthy debate. The key word here, however, is “healthy.” That means: disagree with me, give me counter-arguments, send me links to other sites, but DO NOT be nasty, or rude, or inappropriate.
For example, I’d like to post here about the Merrimon Avenue Rezoning Issue. BlogAsheville is the perfect forum for such a post; most of my readers on Edgy Mama have no interest in or knowledge of this issue. But I’m slanted. I live just behind the Merrimon “corridor,” and what happens on this road directly affects my family’s quality of life.
So, all this is to say that I think we can be partisan, hopefully, without being offensive. We can spark healthy debate about what we want to see in our beautiful city. We can agree to disagree every once in a while. What do y’all think?
13 comments:
Agreed, EM.
Since BlogAsheville's purpose and content is (and perhaps always will be) a work in progress, I think that we ought to be free to explore / write about whatever our little hearts desire. But to maintain a modicum of decorum (which, incidentally, is a lot of 'um'), we can agree to disagree and not get nasty about it.
Also, there is a difference between naked partisanship (the likes of which you might find at Scrutiny Hooligans) and policy/issue disagreements. Intelligent discussion and debate benefits everybody.
I can't wait to learn more about the Merrimon corridor zoning issue, because I'm woefully underinformed.
Thanks!
there was also talk of rezoning broadway between 240 and w.t. weaver (near where i live), but i'm not sure if businesses really want to move into that neighborhood. i'll have to look into it.
and yes, please post some links or info on the merrimon rezoning issue.
I believe the good people here at Blog Asheville can debate and discuss partisan issues tactfully.
As Screwy sez..we can maintain a modicum of decorum. In the auditorium.
scrutiny hooligans uses, if i'm not mistaken, the haloscan comments system, which is notorious for that. which is the main reason why i put "NOSPAM" inside the e-mail address whenever i post on a haloscan-powered blog.
looks like you didn't consider all of the data before jumping to the conclusion that screwy is a liar.
is that how the right argues?
Okay, Nuffsaid. I just asked that you NOT be nasty, rude, or inappropriate. You've done all three, and as a result of poor research, have accused one of MY friends of inappropriate behavior. If you have a problem with Scrutiny Hooligans, take your problem there. There was no need for you to vent here on BlogAsheville. I would like an apology to Screwy, in particular, and to the rest of us at BlogAsheville.
ive known screwy hoolie for 15 years; he wouldn't stoop to such tactics. you are mistaken, and since you have no proof at all, im amazed you would make that accusation.
I think that the folks who are being nasty and rude here on BlogAsheville aren't even Asheville residents. They are just looking to provoke a fight with no regard to who they offend.
I had asked a particular anonymous person to stop being nasty here and they took it as a cue to attack me personally. Comments of which have been deleted.
Anyway, my answer to the anonymous comments and comments that come from faux blogs (ahem...Nuffsaid) is to ignore them and wait for an administrator to erase the comment.
If we respond to comments that are obviously fabricated to push buttons and spark comment wars they are getting out of us what they wanted. A reaction.
Some jerk is on the other end getting his jollies from ruffling some lefties feathers. We don't need to give said jerk something to brag to his simple minded friends about.
I don't want BlogAsheville to become a cesspool of trash and snark. Agreed? Does it seem fair to ya'll for the comments to just be deleted and ignored?
And for anyone who wants to know, this blog doesn't just belong to one person, such as Screwy, it belongs to everyone who posts here.
I wonder what the accusation was... got deleted before I could see it... someone email me with this juicy tid?
check the email he sent you to scrutinyhooligans; it was verbatim, still can't figure out why he brought it here.
Sorry to have missed all the action. I will blog appropriately later. I'm intrigued by all the navel-gazing ...
i missed the start of whatever is being discussed here. maybe it's the idea of a group blog: ie can anybody get their words up and visible (anon comment) or just the blogging group? i'd say the latter is more meaningful. there is plenty of opportunity elsewhere on the net to say things you'd never say to someone face to face.
I missed it, too, and I sure don't like anyone talking trash to you guys. I agree to just ignore the offender's posts, then delete it as soon as possible.
Hope everyone is having a great Friday. Isn't it a beautiful day?
that concrete monolith with the interesting graffiti tags? i've been wondering that myself, future. (can i call you "future"?)
if i had to guess, i'd say it was either a public parking deck or overpriced condos.
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