Wednesday, November 15, 2006
On Causing Offence
My short blog yesterday caused a bit of a tempest. Some mildly miffed comments, and some not so mildly angry email. I’ve never received hate mail before, quite the experience really.
In reading back over my words, I was needlessly confrontational. As Imperatrix rightly pointed out, this is not a problem unique to the US. Natalia, again rightly, raised that this is not always a personal problem, but a societal one. MattMan just contentedly burped, the best reaction to a slur possible (btw the kids loved the loose meat sarni’s I fed em last week). I won’t repeat the few hate mails received. Lets just say they vociferously defended the US and claimed I suffered from a few societal ills.
So, if I caused offence, I apologise.
However, the reactions where interesting in the extreme. Part of this blog for me is an exploration of what people respond to, which they enjoy commenting on. I’m not sure enjoy is the right word in this context, but it certainly raised comment. I don’t intend to continue down a path of gratuitous US bashing, its not polite more than anything else (though often quite easy (big brother is always an easy target (my second son knows this very very well)))
So, a question. If you responded, why did you respond? If you didn’t (and none of my UK and only one European readers did) why not? A curious mind would like to know.
PS, not that I want to become an enviro-blogger, but just ask if you want a deeper exploration of societal waste. It’s a fascinating subject! Honest.
In reading back over my words, I was needlessly confrontational. As Imperatrix rightly pointed out, this is not a problem unique to the US. Natalia, again rightly, raised that this is not always a personal problem, but a societal one. MattMan just contentedly burped, the best reaction to a slur possible (btw the kids loved the loose meat sarni’s I fed em last week). I won’t repeat the few hate mails received. Lets just say they vociferously defended the US and claimed I suffered from a few societal ills.
So, if I caused offence, I apologise.
However, the reactions where interesting in the extreme. Part of this blog for me is an exploration of what people respond to, which they enjoy commenting on. I’m not sure enjoy is the right word in this context, but it certainly raised comment. I don’t intend to continue down a path of gratuitous US bashing, its not polite more than anything else (though often quite easy (big brother is always an easy target (my second son knows this very very well)))
So, a question. If you responded, why did you respond? If you didn’t (and none of my UK and only one European readers did) why not? A curious mind would like to know.
PS, not that I want to become an enviro-blogger, but just ask if you want a deeper exploration of societal waste. It’s a fascinating subject! Honest.
