There are some hugely influential bloggers online. Example? Perez Hilton. Heh. Not an example?
This. (Edited to add:)
Or this. It's awesome to be a legend in ones mind. Truly. I sure as fuck am. With all my flaws and inconsistencies, I still try to grow and evolve as a person constantly. Sometimes, I do it to perfection. Other times, not so much.
What I don't do is lie to my readers. Never.
Don't care if there are six of you or sixty of you. Never mattered to me. Never will. (Well, now, in retrospect, that's not true. I do admit to being a blog whore once upon a time. I gave it up for lent.) Whoever reads this is just as important to me as the next person. And while once upon a time I considered a large readership to be a status symbol, I have definitely grown from that.
What interested me today was that someone asked an "influential blogger" to utilize her blog space to support a charity organization (which I will get to shortly). The person who was supporting the charity was someone who said influential blogger dislikes. However, what in the price of eggs in China does that have to do with you supporting a charity? You have the means, the tools and the time. You blog for several different reader sites. You have FRIENDS who would actually BENEFIT by this program! Military friends! You have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of so many people...but because you don't like someone, you reply with "are you fucking kidding me?"
Really?
This is the same "influential blogger" who loves to tell everyone how compassionate and loving she is.
Reality check?
If you have to TELL people you are compassionate and loving? Um, you're not.
It would be like me having to tell you I'm a bitch. If you can't surmise that about me in the first 30 seconds of meeting me you are either A)Blind as a fucking wombat or B) Dumb as a box of rocks. There is the third option, of course, that I am simply not doing my job as a bitch. That, however, is highly unlikely.
Now, I don't mind so much that you turned this blogger down. It's your blog. You don't want to expend the energy posting about their charity event...cool. That's fine. Would have been the nice/right/humane thing to do and given you the chance to show that you are a bigger person, but hell, why do that?
No. What bothered me was someone saying (and I'm paraphrasing here) "She blocked me off of facebook and twitter so now I can say whatever I want without consequences".
Excuse me?
The blogger that said this to me? Love her. Known her for a long time. Great girl. But really? Consequences? For not liking someone?
What kind of circa 1985 time warp did I fall into here? Are we back in high school? Is there a cool kids table that I don't know about? Why on earth would there be consequences?
Why? Because there is.
Because said "influential blogger" has a whole lot of sheep "baa-baa'ing" at her heels. Sides have been chosen. It boils down to you either like "US"...or you like "THEM".
In the past few weeks during
"the DRAMA" (didn't I say I was never going to speak of this again? Heh. C'est la vie. My blog. My rules to break), I have discovered who the sheep really are. There were a lot of mutual friends between US and THEM. It was like a divorce. They got divvied up. Some went to their camp. Some to ours. There have been some who have been "walking the line", so to speak. In other words, they are trying their damndest to stay neutral and remain friends with all parties.
I respect the FUCK out of those people because, man. I know it surely hasn't been easy to do.
But, back to consequences.
I, for one, believe for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I am also a believer in karma. A VERY strong believer in karma. Everyone gets their comeuppance eventually. I don't WISH this on people. It's just the way the world works.
What a phenomenal thing it would have been for said "influential blogger" to have said, you know what? I think I WILL send out a post about this charity. After all, I have whored out my blog before for lesser things (and honestly, who among us has not?) and this would be a great opportunity for me to show the world that I am so much smaller than the big picture!
No. Instead, we have people worrying about what other people are going to think.
I was at a point earlier this week where I was going to apo-apo-apo...*gags* apologize *cough* for some of the things that I said to and about said blogger. Some of the things I said were cruel and inadvertently directed at a victim of the scenario and not the perpetrators. I felt bad about that. I did. It's been eating at me.
But then, as Cyndi Lauper so eloquently put it...I see your true colors shining through.
And suddenly, I find myself apathetic as opposed to apologetic.
After all, if nothing changes...nothing changes.
And that, ladies and gentleman, is my Razorblade Tomato for the day.
That said, let me leave you with this:
Think for yourselves. Be yourselves. Don't worry about what other people think of you. Life is too short for you not to live it to the fullest. Keep yourself raised up. Do for others, not out of pity or obligation, but because it really makes you fill up the happy tank. Stay charitable and humble. Remember when you are in crisis, someone out there has far greater struggles than you. Pain is temporary, ugly is forever.
Be beautiful.
Please. If it meets your life criteria and you can find it in your heart to click, head over to
this site and simply vote for this idea to win the Pepsi Refresh Grant. Nothing to buy, no money to give. Just a simple click on a simple idea that will help thousands of veterans.
Thank you.
