Attention People: You Suck...Special NiT Guest Blogger Edition
I've adopted a live-and-let-live attitude toward bloggers in general. I get along with 99.9% of the ones I know, regardless of their political, religious and sense of humour differences.
But this weekend's guest blogger, The Homeless Guy, has crossed a line.
He's denouncing Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin as an attention-seeking antagonist who deserved what he got.
Never mind that any blogger who dismisses another person as "attention-seeking" is leaning from their glass balcony to hurl a boulder. And never mind that I think educating people about animals and nature is at least as viable a life's work as selling origami boxes on eBay.
A young man has just died in a very tragic way. A woman is now without a husband and two children are without a father. And perhaps you don't want to be so crass as to disparage a man whose body literally is not yet cold.
posted by Kat Coble @ 2:28 PM
15 comments
15 Comments:
100% agreement here. I was pretty pissed at that post today as well.
He's crossed the line guest blogging over there before.
On Veterans day, he called Bob Krumm and other sodliers murderers.
It was the only time I publicly called another blogger a name.
I thought Brittney would be upset about it, but she said she knew when he was a guest blogger he'd be controversial, so I am going to guess that will be her response now. But I would never speak for her. I only know that was her response to him for calling Krumm a murderer.
I am of the opinion and always have been that care should be taken on who says what on the WKRN blog, but they have a different opinion than mine, and by "they" I mean Sechrist. He sees it as a blog and that it shouldn't be held to a higher standard because it is affiliated with WKRN. On this, he and I disagree.
I thought how he went about this was quite crass myself and I blogged about it.
However, I think he had a point (albeit through a poorly written headline and expressed quite defensively.)
You know, I sorta liked Steve Irwin. I hate that this has happened.
He died the way he lived, and there is no shame in that.
I'm sorry if Kevin offended people. But I am not upset about it, nor do I think I should be. I didn't write it; people can tell from looking who wrote it. If I had to worry about what the guest bloggers wrote every time I turned the keys over, then there wouldn't be guest bloggers, I assure you. With that job comes enormous pressure: from readers who think they know what is best, from other bloggers who feel left out or misrepresented, from the bosses, the list goes on. I can only worry about so much, and that only extends to what I have written.
If people like the idea of a guest blogger on the weekends, then they will have to get used to the fact that they might get offended by someone's opinion.
I support K-Bar's right to offend people with crass and ugly posts. If everything I wrote had to pass the litmus test of inoffensiveness, my blog would consist solely of maudlin tributes to dead character actors and pointless book reviews.
However, those who live by the poison pen should get used to the blowback that results from using it. K-Bar is finding out that people who live in glass refrigerator boxes under a bridge aren't immune to the stones of criticism.
Brittney is right to maintain a laissez-faire attitude towards this minor outrage. Especially, when you consider the source of this tempest in a cup full of spare change.
I didn't mean to imply at all that you, Brittney, or Mike Sechrist or any of you official WKRNites should be held responsible. Or even that Kevin should be "held responsible."
He said something I thought was stupid. I just felt like I had to say I thought it was stupid. No big deal. I'd still rather see guest bloggers on the weekends, even if one of them occasionally narfs me up.
Sorry Kat, I was really responding to Sharon's comment, I guess.
For the record, I expressed Sechrist and I simply have different opinions about this. That doesn't make me wrong and it doesn't make him wrong.
NOT trying to get anyone pissed off or fired! Heh!
Doesn't Kevin capitalize on a gimmick he created? Pity me, I'm homeless, it's your fault America.
While I'm not up to date on everything that goes on over in Nashville, I thought I heard of an attempt to help him that was treated shabbily. If I am wrong, please correct me. Anyhow, at that point, my respect for him dropped to zero and I give little credence to anything he has to say. Some people are just asshats, they have a right to speak, but I don't have to take it seriously.
Doesn't Kevin capitalize on a gimmick he created? Pity me, I'm homeless, it's your fault America.
I think that's the impression several people seem to have.
I thought I heard of an attempt to help him that was treated shabbily.
Of course it depends on the definitions of "attempt to help" and "treated shabbily", but yes, to my mind there have been several of those. Free meals are attacked for not being delicious enough; places to sleep are attacked for requiring you to be in bed earlier than you'd like; any church homeless outreach is attacked for forcing the homeless to be at a devotional before they receive their goodies--whether it be food, clothing or shelter.
He was also helped into an apartment that he later abandoned to move to Las Vegas. Where he was homeless.
I am not going to judge, but yes, there has been lots of help given to Kevin that has been turned down or otherwise snubbed--for whatever reason.
I agree with you completely, I hadn't seen the post ahead of reading your response, but people with that attitude just disgust me. That'd be like telling someone's family who died in a car accident, "Car accidents happen all the time! Didn't you see it coming? Didn't you know it could happen? They got what they deserved!"
Steve Irwin was so passionate about his work and his life, he's a man who deserves our complete respect (even though most of us would probably NEVER do that he did).
I just want to know if there is ANYTHING a guest blogger would write that Brittney would think was over the top and upsetting? Are there any standards or is it truly anything goes?
Yes, anonymous, there are some things. This is not one of those things. Not by a long stretch.
Really, the thing is that this doesn't reflect negatively on NiT as far as I can tell. He didn't insult WKRN or its employees or advertisers.
Sharon's already pointed out that different people view the WKRN-affiliated blog differently. But since it's Brittney's job and Mike is her boss then how they view it is what counts. And if they don't have a problem with what Kevin wrote, then that's fine.
In truth, I didn't write what I wrote as an indictment of WKRN for what Kevin said. I've guest-blogged plenty and I can attest that the whole point of it is that Brittney doesn't have to babysit the site on the weekend. So naturally holding her responsible for what Kevin said is not really appropriate.
The funny thing is that I agree with what a lot of people have said about a death under these circumstances seeming inevitable for Mr. Irwin, given his job choice. But saying something is not a surprise is different from saying it is a well-deserved outcome.
But as far as horrific things you could say on NiT, this doesn't even rank.
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