When Blogs Attack — When Agreeing to Disagree Fails
By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon
I idolized my paternal grandfather growing up. He was always larger than life. I wanted to be like him when I grew up. He worked for the city for nearly two decades — he was a bus driver and later a dispatcher for the Brownsville Urban System. He owned a dump truck and his days off were spent delivering loads of dirt he would pick up at a dirt pit off Military Highway. I wanted to be around him every chance I got. He never seemed to be bothered by my presence, and even if he was, he never showed it. During the summers, breakfast was at G&A's Cafe, lunch was at C&L, and dinner was at the Brownsville Coffee Shop. Every once in a while, he had this folded up newspaper with him. It wasn't the local Brownsville newspaper. It was smaller. It was laid out in the format of the New York Post. It was not a large newspaper like the Herald. It had a strange title. As a kid, I had absolutely no idea what El Rocinante meant. It wasn't until later on in my life that I would learn that was the name of Don Quixote's horse in Miguel de Cervantes' novel Don Quixote. My still developing mind had difficulty following all the stories and articles as I read through it. I found it entertaining that someone would print curse words in a newspaper. I would try and follow the local politics and palace intrigue as best I could. As a high school student, I found it humorous when my 11th grade English teacher was mentioned in one of the articles. The author mentioned my teacher had gotten up to "take a piss" after engaging in a debate.
El Rocinante has since passed on to the memory banks of Brownsville's underground newspapers. It has been reincarnated as The McHale Report. A few days ago, I noticed one of my cartoons made it to the Report. Very soon thereafter, I received a friend request and a message from the Report's publisher asking if he could post some of my articles on his blog. I couldn't say yes fast enough. I am honored one of Brownsville's more established bloggers would even think to publish anything I would write.
The Brownsville Blogosphere, or the Brownsville Blogging Mafia, is a very tight-knit group. I was very pleased that one of the Brownsville Blogfathers would help me out. In one of his messages he wrote, "the more, the merrier." I am glad the McHale Report has welcomed my fledgling blog into the blogosphere. I can only hope my articles live up to the lofty standards people like McHale, Montoya, and Barton have set.
I get bloggers engage in jabs, pokes, and general back-and-forth with one another, but I have always read that as a "boys will be boys" type of ribbing. However, there are some who take it to a whole other level. There's one local blogger who thinks his work is the stuff that belongs etched on the stone tablets Moses brought down from the mountain. His blog is the one true blog and all the other bloggers are absolute crap and must cower and bow their heads in his blog's presence. He is right, you are wrong, and if you dare question his journalistic integrity you are labeled a troll and called every name in the book from "stupid" to "whore" and everything in between.
I'm talking about The Brownsville Voice, aptly referred to as The Brownsville Void by The McHale Report. He's the quintessential blogger who cries "wolf!" I don't particularly want to get into his conspiracy theories and his pseudo-journalism; and I don't want to get into how he heavily censors his readers' comments yet rants and raves about other people blocking him from commenting on social media. I don't want to get into the levels of hypocrisy when he accuses others of being homophobic, sexist, and misogynistic then calls people names that a homophobe, a sexist, or a misogynist would use, and I certainly don't want to get into accusations other bloggers take it easy on certain local politicians because they've been paid off, yet initially the Voice printed articles bashing politicians the publisher would later embrace.
I have always believed in the term "agree to disagree." I have never thought being friendly, respectful, or cordial with someone meant you had to agree with their beliefs or their politics. I don't have a lot of close friends, but the ones who are in my circle are all different — we all don't believe in the same exact thing, yet we all are able to get along and discuss things without it turning into a wrestling match.
There is absolutely no reason why someone posting editorials on their blog should call other people names. Forget for a minute that it's a childish thing to do; if you are posting an editorial without any facts, it is simply your opinion. I understand the staff over at the Voice claims to have a treasure trove of evidence and sources, but none of that evidence ever appears in any of the articles. None of those sources are ever quoted in any of the articles.
It really is sad people mistake their opinions for facts, and that's exactly what happens over at the Voice. Editorial and opinion articles posted there are not any more valid or credible than any other opinion posted on the internet. If you want to post something as fact, use your sources — use any source — just don't post your opinion as fact then get upset and call people stupid and trolls just because they ask you to provide proof.
I really think the staff over at the Voice needs to look up the true meaning of a troll. A troll, in the manner in which the Voice uses it to attack and insult people is defined as:
All told, you don't have to viciously attack someone for having a different point of view. I'm sure this post will be dismissed, as my comments and my blog have both been called "irrelevant" by the Voice in the past, but I think there should be more bloggers offering more perspectives on more issues. The age of citizen-journalism is alive and well, and if you believe you should be heard, by all means start up a blog and start publishing stories about your community, but you don't have to engage in character assassination or outright attacks. You don't have to drag other people through the mud to make yourself look squeaky clean.
Jerry McHale was right. The more, the merrier...
And if one of Brownsville's most respected, and read, bloggers can have that attitude, maybe you can, too.
I idolized my paternal grandfather growing up. He was always larger than life. I wanted to be like him when I grew up. He worked for the city for nearly two decades — he was a bus driver and later a dispatcher for the Brownsville Urban System. He owned a dump truck and his days off were spent delivering loads of dirt he would pick up at a dirt pit off Military Highway. I wanted to be around him every chance I got. He never seemed to be bothered by my presence, and even if he was, he never showed it. During the summers, breakfast was at G&A's Cafe, lunch was at C&L, and dinner was at the Brownsville Coffee Shop. Every once in a while, he had this folded up newspaper with him. It wasn't the local Brownsville newspaper. It was smaller. It was laid out in the format of the New York Post. It was not a large newspaper like the Herald. It had a strange title. As a kid, I had absolutely no idea what El Rocinante meant. It wasn't until later on in my life that I would learn that was the name of Don Quixote's horse in Miguel de Cervantes' novel Don Quixote. My still developing mind had difficulty following all the stories and articles as I read through it. I found it entertaining that someone would print curse words in a newspaper. I would try and follow the local politics and palace intrigue as best I could. As a high school student, I found it humorous when my 11th grade English teacher was mentioned in one of the articles. The author mentioned my teacher had gotten up to "take a piss" after engaging in a debate.
El Rocinante has since passed on to the memory banks of Brownsville's underground newspapers. It has been reincarnated as The McHale Report. A few days ago, I noticed one of my cartoons made it to the Report. Very soon thereafter, I received a friend request and a message from the Report's publisher asking if he could post some of my articles on his blog. I couldn't say yes fast enough. I am honored one of Brownsville's more established bloggers would even think to publish anything I would write.
The Brownsville Blogosphere, or the Brownsville Blogging Mafia, is a very tight-knit group. I was very pleased that one of the Brownsville Blogfathers would help me out. In one of his messages he wrote, "the more, the merrier." I am glad the McHale Report has welcomed my fledgling blog into the blogosphere. I can only hope my articles live up to the lofty standards people like McHale, Montoya, and Barton have set.
I get bloggers engage in jabs, pokes, and general back-and-forth with one another, but I have always read that as a "boys will be boys" type of ribbing. However, there are some who take it to a whole other level. There's one local blogger who thinks his work is the stuff that belongs etched on the stone tablets Moses brought down from the mountain. His blog is the one true blog and all the other bloggers are absolute crap and must cower and bow their heads in his blog's presence. He is right, you are wrong, and if you dare question his journalistic integrity you are labeled a troll and called every name in the book from "stupid" to "whore" and everything in between.
I'm talking about The Brownsville Voice, aptly referred to as The Brownsville Void by The McHale Report. He's the quintessential blogger who cries "wolf!" I don't particularly want to get into his conspiracy theories and his pseudo-journalism; and I don't want to get into how he heavily censors his readers' comments yet rants and raves about other people blocking him from commenting on social media. I don't want to get into the levels of hypocrisy when he accuses others of being homophobic, sexist, and misogynistic then calls people names that a homophobe, a sexist, or a misogynist would use, and I certainly don't want to get into accusations other bloggers take it easy on certain local politicians because they've been paid off, yet initially the Voice printed articles bashing politicians the publisher would later embrace.
I have always believed in the term "agree to disagree." I have never thought being friendly, respectful, or cordial with someone meant you had to agree with their beliefs or their politics. I don't have a lot of close friends, but the ones who are in my circle are all different — we all don't believe in the same exact thing, yet we all are able to get along and discuss things without it turning into a wrestling match.
There is absolutely no reason why someone posting editorials on their blog should call other people names. Forget for a minute that it's a childish thing to do; if you are posting an editorial without any facts, it is simply your opinion. I understand the staff over at the Voice claims to have a treasure trove of evidence and sources, but none of that evidence ever appears in any of the articles. None of those sources are ever quoted in any of the articles.
It really is sad people mistake their opinions for facts, and that's exactly what happens over at the Voice. Editorial and opinion articles posted there are not any more valid or credible than any other opinion posted on the internet. If you want to post something as fact, use your sources — use any source — just don't post your opinion as fact then get upset and call people stupid and trolls just because they ask you to provide proof.
I really think the staff over at the Voice needs to look up the true meaning of a troll. A troll, in the manner in which the Voice uses it to attack and insult people is defined as:
A person who starts quarrels or upsets people on the internet to distract and sow discord by posting inflammatory and digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses and normalizing tangential discussion, whether for the troll's amusement or for a specific gain.Asking you a question or asking you to back up your claim doesn't make someone a troll. Asking for clarification on some nonsensical rambling you post during one of your episodes doesn't make someone a troll. Just because someone challenges your infinite wisdom and asks you how you came to the conclusion you came to doesn't make you a troll. Just because the comments you censor and delete provoke an emotional response to you, and only you, doesn't make you a troll. While we're at it, it would do the Voice well to brush up on the definition of "off-topic," since everything that anybody ever comments over there is usually off-topic, despite it being relevant to the discussion.
All told, you don't have to viciously attack someone for having a different point of view. I'm sure this post will be dismissed, as my comments and my blog have both been called "irrelevant" by the Voice in the past, but I think there should be more bloggers offering more perspectives on more issues. The age of citizen-journalism is alive and well, and if you believe you should be heard, by all means start up a blog and start publishing stories about your community, but you don't have to engage in character assassination or outright attacks. You don't have to drag other people through the mud to make yourself look squeaky clean.
Jerry McHale was right. The more, the merrier...
And if one of Brownsville's most respected, and read, bloggers can have that attitude, maybe you can, too.
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