Wednesday, June 01, 2005

To delete or not to delete...

I am struggling with what to do. It would be really easy to hit that little trash can icon and delete all the comments. But I feel like that's playing dirty. And I would be fulfilling the role of "hider from debate."

Plus, I see all these comments as kind of a snapshot of the power of anonymity and the new world of the blog. I mean, in the days when we could still see our neighbors (you know, before the 20 ft hedges), could we have approached someone off the bat with such vitriol? I imagine it would have taken at least some kind of relationship before you could really lay into another human being.

And I also think it's all just more evidence of the fallenness of this world. At one point last night, late when I couldn't sleep, I got all kinds of weird ideas like maybe I was being attacked spiritually. Does the devil blog? If so, does he delete comments? Maybe just those from God.

Anyway that is not like me, to go all spirit-wacky, but that's how weird the whole thing is. It's just so out of the blue to be sitting there one day, going about your business, and then a person - actually, just words, not even a person - goes ballistic on everything you've mused on for the last several months. Just think about that. It's weird. It's something that could only happen now.

So for the moment, the comments are staying, if for no other reason than anthropological interest. We are a strange species.

One more thing that I thought about today: I wonder if when Paul is talking about unclean talk, he's referring more to the content of speech than to dirty words. I mean, is my saying "fuck" about something really worse than someone else saying that "God hates fags"? Is my saying that I'm pissed off (righteously) because of a perceived slight to my Lord worse than someone who tears down the humanity of another being? I just don't think so. Probably none of it is very good. But it's definitely more a social thing than a Christian thing. I have a hard time believing God cares very much about the grunts we make in our primitive tongues (yet being a wordsmith, I have to hope my grunts speak to my fellow cavepeople).

You know, I have nothing else to say about that at the moment that I feel is worth sharing. I'm going to try to get back to freedom, but know that I'm self-censoring in a huge way right now.

And what about pints? Is anybody in LA? Or I'll be in Utah, Idaho, Colorado and Vegas in a couple weeks...? And then in Iowa...
(how about me, the big world traveler!)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Feminary:
Here's an idea. Just use Statcounter (statcounter.com) to keep track of who's on your site. At least you'll have an idea of where this writer lives, when they comment, etc. It's helpful. It really does winnow out the cowards! Or, there's always the delete button. It IS your blog, after all.
Good luck.

Anonymous said...

Wasn't Paul a little earthy in his speech as well? I seem to remember something about "I count all things but loss" as a cleaned-up translation of the original.

Karen Sapio said...

I think I take issue with the notion that by blogging one enters and implied convenant to engage in "debate". People blog for all kinds of reasons--some folks are up for fisticuffs and some aren't. There are plenty of internet forums for people who want to duke it out. But if that isn't what you want your blog to be about, it shouldn't have to be.

Kathy L. said...

Feminary and JB,

Well, pints can most easily be shared in the Bay Area. Don't get to LA much.

Speaking of the Bay Area, anybody heard about the BlogHer conference on July 30 in Santa Clara? I'm thinking about attending the beginners sessions because I don't know how to link to stuff yet! But Feminary, you'd be a great participant. Of all the religious bloggs I read or that are out there, not so many are by women. (Wonder if Going Jesus knows about this conference. Its right in her back yard.)

Best regards.

Kathy

Devon said...

Hey Feminarian,
I've been reading your blog for awhile, but I don't think I've ever commented before. Anyway, just want to say that I love the blog and that you should be able to post rants about whatever you want. That's the great thing about having a blog (in my experience)--unlike a journal, which for me just captures my worst moments--a blog tends to be a more complete picture of who we are. So you have the pissed-off days and also the flying-high days. Anyway, not meaning to write a book, just saying, rock on.

Anonymous said...

Colour me baffled. A journal is something you keep in the privacy of your own room; a blog is public. Rant all you want, but of course people are going to drive by and post their ha'p'orth.

Good heavens, I've been banned from BigBulkyAnglican for suggesting that vicars should obey the C of E canons and provide public MP and EP daily in their parish churches--a notion he found "perverse." (Or was that in reference to my complaint about extortionate petrol taxes? Who knows--the posts are all gone.)

Anonymous said...

Bugger. Forgot to sign that.
--Radfempo

Delia Christina said...

i have no problem deleting posts. one guy stopped by and left a comment that just worked on my last nerve. you know that immediate flush of anger? yeah, well, i flushed his comment then blogged about it and felt better.

my blog is my house. and sometimes the house is pissed off.

on the other hand, the only time i've deleted my own posts was when i posted something that was personal about another person that i later felt to be unfair. it was self-censoring, true, to remove it; but it was sketchy of me to air another's dirty laundry. in other words, the line shifts all the time.

but i still love your blog.

LutheranChik said...

I'd have no hesitation at all in deleting a post I found detracted from my blog content. That's what the little trash can is for.;-)

And as far as using the F word...well, so does Bono.;-)

South Pas Blogs said...

Hope your Friday's going well.

Ted

revhipchick said...

just another reader who loves your blog--each and every way that it is. honor yourself, and if on one day that means deleting nasty posts and on another leaving them be, so be it. you have an amazing voice that needs to be heard. prophets have always encountered rebuke and downright nasty mudslinging and worse. the status quo never likes change or changes willingly. but you already know all of that. but sometimes you just need to know that others, like me and all the other commenters on this article, enjoy and grow from reading your blog.

Anonymous said...

Intrigued by the anonymous post above which has just been bought to my attention. I have banned three comment sources - mostly for racist or abusive comments - or ( as might be the case here I can't remember it) cos people choose to rant on my blog rather than on their own. As a strong advocate of the daily office who shares with others in it each morning apart from my day off, and then keeps the evening office with 12 others in the parish I probably thought anonymous had consistently missed the point!