Offending your audience for fun and profit: how to say controversial things
Do you blog? Then offending your audience should be the least of your concerns. And here’s why.
I’m going to begin this article with a single thought: I’d rather you insult me than have you be dishonest with me.
And here’s why.
Lies and deceit in pretty words
Let me lift a couple of words from one of Paul Graham’s writings:
Another approach is to follow that word, heresy. In every period of history, there seem to have been labels that got applied to statements to shoot them down before anyone had a chance to ask if they were true or not. “Blasphemy”, “sacrilege”, and “heresy” were such labels for a good part of western history, as in more recent times “indecent”, “improper”, and “unamerican” have been. By now these labels have lost their sting. They always do. By now they’re mostly used ironically. But in their time, they had real force.
We have such labels today, of course, quite a lot of them, from the all-purpose “inappropriate” to the dreaded “divisive.” In any period, it should be easy to figure out what such labels are, simply by looking at what people call ideas they disagree with besides untrue. When a politician says his opponent is mistaken, that’s a straightforward criticism, but when he attacks a statement as “divisive” or “racially insensitive” instead of arguing that it’s false, we should start paying attention.
The message in this? Say what you mean. Impopular speech is still valid speech.
Political correctness: censorship in disguise
What’s the difference between political correctness and honesty? One lets people offend with fancy words in disguise. The other means “honesty first, respect and consideration second”.
Which one would you rather apply? If you said “political correctness” to yourself, let me ask you one thing: do you think honest discourse is less valuable than popular discourse? I beg to differ. If you are a moron, and I call you a moron, it’s the truth, no matter how unpopular. If you’re a moron, and I say “but, well, you’ve got your own opinion, and we’re both right”, then I’m a bigger moron for being politically correct and not telling the truth. Political correctness is just a way to make discourse “less offensive”… and less truthful.
Say what you mean; use transparent, contundent, honest words. For example: have you heard the word “handicapable” being used? That’s a great example of political correctness, because:
- Can someone honestly think people with hindrances are “more handy and capable” than people without them? The word “handicapable” certainly suggests a falsehood.
- The fact that handicapped people are, well, handicapped, doesn’t mean they are worth less than a non-handicapped person. Fortunately, we live in a society where everyone has the same rights and the same intrinsic value is bestowed upon all of us.
So, in this particular example, just because it’s “hip” to call handicapped people “handicapable”, doesn’t mean it’s an honest word. If you ask me, equating self-worth with capabilities is offensive to handicapped people. Using “handicapable” reeks of political correctness, a “feel-good” word that conveys a falsehood in disguise.
Don’t just stay there, bitch about it!
In short: if you want to bitch about something in your blog, then fucking bitch about it. Don’t try to cater for people with thin skin. Odds are, they’ll be the ones marketing your writings.
Do yourself a favor: and attempt your best to deliver your ideas them with the most punch and the greatest veracity. Use your balls to say things. And, for the love of all things dear: don’t shut up!
Leave the “politically correct” and “slanderously afraid” angle to newspaper journalists; after all, almost no one reads them anymore.
And for the love of all things dear to you, please don’t shut up.
Pages: 1 2
January 12th, 2007 at 15:50
Rudd-o: Ya que no me vas a dispararme por decirte lo que pienso, te lo digo directamente:
Me parece que has daniado tu site un poco. Tienes demasiados links por todo lado, sin excluir lo que parece ser una mayor cantidad de ads. La nueva funcionalidad esta super buena. Me gusta el diseno en aspecto a los colores y hasta el layout. Pero la pagina inicial creo que te beneficiaria regresarla a la tipica de los blogs. Aqui estas exigiendo por lo menos un click de cada visitante.
Espero que este comentario te ayude. Saludos
January 12th, 2007 at 16:06
Habla! Quién dijo que no iba a dispararte? Jajajaaa, naaaa, es broma, tu comentario es muy bien recibido, y aun si fuera mal recibido, ¿cómo se me ocurriría hacerte daño?
A ver… acepto tu punto de vista, completamente. Pero quiero que tengas esto en mente. Creo que ya lo había mencionado en otro artículo anterior, pero también creo que vale repetirlo para dejarlo claro:
Gran cantidad de visitantes llegan al sitio a la página frontal o a las páginas seccionales. Como podrás ver, ambos tipos de página han cambiado a un estilo que presenta 50% artículos recientes, y 50% artículos populares. Este cambio es intencional y fundamentado.
Por qué?:
Por otro lado, es verdad que para leer un artículo, ahora hay que hacer clic en el link. Lo que también es cierto, es que antes también era así, porque generalmente los artículos sólo comenzaban con un párrafo y necesitaban que el lector haga clic en “Read more”.
Ya tenía pensado agregar un link que permita a los lectores ver de golpe el blog, cronológicamente, como antes lo hacían. Obviamente el link será bookmarkeable, para evitarle a la gente doble camello y más tipeo.
En todo caso, te agradezco por tu comentario. En general, siento que mi trabajo ha sido muy elogiado por él.