Seems there’s been a bit of drama around the blogosphere lately, at Kevin’s last week, and this week at Caleb’s, which migrated back to the source, and then over to Tam’s. From Caleb’s post:
I am not trying to start blog drama here, but recommending that people trust their life to a 10 dollar piece of nylon stitched together in a sweatshop in Vietnam is irresponsible. You spent good money on that gun, take a little time and spend money on a good holster.
But any time you take a strongly held position on a topic that’s very dear to people, you are going to create drama, as those that strongly disagree take great offense to your challenge to their deeply held belief. You might not be trying to summon the Drama Llama, but you know he’s thinking about stopping in for a visit soon. The only way to avoid it, is to not take a stand on anything. That’s a common response in corporate environments, and I’ve seen suppression of passion or disagreement in corporate cultures repeatedly drive the best ideas into the background, and bring the worst ideas forward. An environment where everyone is afraid to hurt everyone else’s feelings is a breeding ground for disaster. So why apologize for taking a stand on something because you know people will take offense?
I have certainly, in my blogging career, and meatspace career, picked fights that were stupid, on issues that didn’t really matter, with people who weren’t worth antagonizing. It’ll happen from time to time, and sometimes it’s only in hindsight that you’ll realize when you’ve picked the wrong fight. But the only way you will avoid drama is to stand for nothing. While I’ve met more than my fair share of people in real life corporate culture who fit that bill to a T, those of us here in the blogosphere, especially the gun blogosphere, aren’t here to stand for nothing. We’re here because we have something to say. I don’t think any of us should feel like we should have to apologize for it.
Dammit! I thought they said “Llama” and I already set one up and shot his ass over this!
I agree that people should take a stand from time to time…but over holsters???
Caleb is going to call one of the premier gun bloggers and a person who volunteers to offer firearms training to victims of violence (often elderly or disabled and of limited income) “irresponsible” because he disagrees with him on holster selection???
Yes, we all have strong feelings and we all have something to say or we wouldn’t be doing this…but is it really necessary to be so demeaning and insulting in the process?
That’s the problem. It’s not the disagreements, it’s the self-righteousness on display whenever any of these philosophical disagreements comes up.
Caleb is young. I imagine that someday he’ll learn he really doesn’t have the answers for everyone.
In all my years of education and experience, the most important thing I’ve learned is how much I don’t know.
I wasn’t saying I agreed with Caleb, just to get that out of the way. But I don’t think we should necessarily label disagreement as drama. My assertion is that we all ought to be able to disagree on things, even passionately, without taking it personally.