Have any of you seen the films Larry Crowne and Contagion? For those who have than you already know precisely where I’m heading with this post. Those two movies literally made me cringe and uncomfortable.
In Contagion, Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law) represents a skeevy freelance writer who goes against the pharmaceutical companies and government agencies by dosing himself with ““Forsythia,” a fictitious all-natural remedy . Alan vlogs his swift recovery from the fatal virus which lures in millions of supporters and makes him four and a half million dollars. Krumwiede is accused of being a liar by the authorities and never having the virus once the lab discovers there was no anti-bodies present in his blood. The movie keeps you speculating if the government was just covering up the real truth or if perhaps Alan was merely a low-life unethical person who got rich by falsifying a cure. In either case, Contagion doesn’t shed favorable light upon bloggers.
Bryan Cranston plays as Dean Tainot in Larry Crowne, a washed-up self-published author and deadbeat professional blogger who surfs the online world all day looking for large breasted women while his wife Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts) works as a community college professor. Dean attempts to defend himself not having an actual job to Mercedes by stating “I had three postings today alone. FogCaster, SkyScan, and ParsecTwelve.com.” Mercedes snaps back with a response of “Those weren’t postings. They were comments.” His complete defense to being a lazy porn surfing jerk was he was a guy just being a guy. I wonder how many people actually believe bloggers are like Dean—-lazy wannabe authors who have nothing better to do, but surf the internet and goofing around when their partners are out in the real world working their butts off?
Your argument could possibly be those are merely movies and the majority of knowledgeable people today fully grasp that bloggers aren’t anything at all like Alan Krumwiede and Dean Tainot. I hope you are correct. Nonetheless, it doesn’t help when the president springs on the anti-blogger bandwagon and questions blogger ethics when dealing with if the newspapers seriously needed bailing out back in 2009. Obama said and I quote “I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, that what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding,”
How did this happen? Exactly why do bloggers get this type of contempt within the media world? I suppose it’s kinda the way the lawyers acquired such an undesirable reputation. Should you question most people what their thoughts are of attorneys you’re going to get the answer that they’re bottom feeding scum suckers who feed off and reap the benefits of human misery. They were given this standing from the poor examples within their carrier field getting to the top by performing unethical actions. It doesn’t necessarily mean all legal professionals are this way, however the trustworthy ones get grouped along with the shady individuals and have to establish themselves to be honest. It is the identical scenario with bloggers. We are continuously endeavoring to prevail over the stigma of being deceitful, ignorant, and traffic whores, as a result of bloggers in the blogosphere who’ve made all of us appear poorly.
In my opinion here are the seven reasons why bloggers get little to no respect from the media.
1. Five Finger Content- The majority of bloggers write their own personal content. Like I said the majority…meaning there are a few lazy pond scums who steal content material from hard working blog owners. Why they do this is beyond me. The information isn’t unique and the major search engines won’t look favorably on a site that contains duplicate articles or blog posts. Plagiarism is a serious offense to authors as almost EVERYONE is aware of. If a journalist got caught thieving content they might be reprimanded and in all likelihood laughed out of their carrier field. Blog writers possess a terrible wrap for being cookie cutters and copying plus pasting anywhere they are able to without making use of quotation marks and giving credit back to the original author. Recognizing these kind of blogs is easy and generally they are short lived.
2. Selling Out Family- How can anyone take someone seriously who sells out their very own family members to achieve attention? I detest reading private stories which are extremely humiliating for family members who have no idea the blogger is scattering their dirt throughout the internet. Once its out there it’s nearly impossible to retract it. You can remove the sensitive material from your blog, but the moment the webpage is cached within search engines it’s rather a nasty process eliminating it. The general guideline is by no means to publish anything you could possibly in the future regret or embarrassing subject material about a child who may have no say in the matter. Under no circumstances post improper content regarding a minor. This is the primary reason blog owners get no respect.
3. Product Review Stinker- When a product or service stinks and a blogger claims it’s fantastic, they quickly lose their believability. The worst- complete WORST occurs when a blogger swears they’ve tested a product and it is featured STILL IN THE PACKAGE! How does a reader determine if a blogger has truly tried the item if they aren’t even willing to take a handful of snapshots utilizing it. There has been instances in which bloggers have been caught selling the intended evaluation product as NEW on eBay. These blog writers are a good reason why genuine reviewers have got to work doubly hard!
4. The Drama Momma- Writers who make an effort to bring down other bloggers by dreaming up drama is inexcusable. There’ll be an occasion when these bloggers trip up and make a blunder and they’ll become the ones on the chopping block for ridicule.
5. Get Rich Quick Bloggers- Google allows virtually anybody to have a blog. Provided you can operate a mouse and type you’ll have a free platform to host your written content. WordPress on the flip side is a bit more complex and possessing your own personal website incurs expenses, including hosting and domain registration. Plan on shelling out a lot more than you are likely to make the initial year of running a blog if you choose to invest in a domain. Many people have a false impression bloggers are earning a small fortune from businesses seeking reviews and low-cost advertising. I wish this was the truth, but the reality is there’s over 156 million puplic blogs and the competitiveness to get an organization to sponsor you is exceedingly fierce. Bloggers don’t get rich quick and maintaining a website normally takes long hours away from family, friends, and treasured activities. Developing a successful blog requires commitment, perseverance, as well as the capability of not crumbling under rejection. Newbie bloggers who voice how they’re going to get rich off companies and generate thousands within the first year have a rude awakening. I’ve been blogging and site-building since 2008 and still waiting for this to occur!
6. The Expert Blogger – To me this is definitely the most significant and destructive blogger. In addition to the key reason why the media channels looks at bloggers as worthless information sources. A blogger who boasts to be an authority within their niche and gets readers to trust in misconstrued facts is hazardous. They’re utilizing the effectiveness of social networking to pull in supporters by employing elegant terminology and sensational promises. The blog writer doesn’t have any instruction to support their expertise with the exception of what they’ve read through on the internet and undoubtedly are a master of word manipulation. Should you be this particular blogger I pre warn you that sooner or later your misguiding will result in a reader to discover a way to hold you accountable and slap you with a substantial lawsuit. Personally, I won’t have a pity party for you when it transpires.
7. Poop Stories Are Better Left For Oz- Really poop experiences? I don’t find the humor or fascination in stool content. Bloggers who have a blog packed with the yucky brown stuff and can’t find anything else to focus on need to seek out another type of pastime. You’re making all of us look like ….cough…crap! Poo is better left for the Dr. Oz Show. He can make nearly anything appear and sound good!
*Photo credited to Andy Piper
About the movie Contagion, the CDC was basically “in charge” of that movie. (It’s why they were protrayed in such a wonderful light, after given their actions over the H1N1 pandemic, is absolutely nonsense). There are some very specific pandemic flu blogs and forums. I belong to one in particular, that the CDC despises. We aren’t out to sell snake oil or make a profit. We are out there to keep the CDC’s toes to fire, to make sure they know that we are watching them and keep track of active influenzas.
It is truly ironic, about 5 years ago the goverment had a 6 week ” blog” meeting. They got together people that were in the heads of industries, medical, they even had the head of the mortuary association, etc. to get together to make pandemic plans for the country. I guess they didn’t hate blogs back then.
They have since found out there are a few they can’t control. Did you see, a week or so ago, that article about the DOD monitoring certain groups on the internet? Flu blogs were specifically listed.
That is the great thing about free speech. It can’t be stopped.
Sorry, about the off topic, but Contagion, is a direct reflection of the CDC using the media to paint blogs in a bad light. It is a real shame.
This post is very well-written and I agree with many of the points made. I’ve had my blog for 2.5 years and I’ll never claim to be “the one that does all things right”. However, I try to keep it real, have never stolen someone else’s content, and won’t outright embarass my family. It amazes me that there are some very well known blogs that get anything and everything under the sun to review and their posts are very generic and the photos are always stock.
Yes 7x