When did we become such pussies?
Disclaimer: Pussies as in cute, furry kittens!
One thing you will always get within Social Media (or any kind of social establishment) is differing opinions. This is a good thing. It allows for (somewhat) healthy debates. Sometimes these debates breaks out in fights. That is also not necessarily a bad thing. Friends do fight. Hell, my wife and I fight like cat vs. dog sometimes! It does not mean we hate each other! We simply differ in opinion and we sort it out over an undisclosed period of time using various tactics. (Of which the “silent treatment” tactic is B’s favorite! 
) Nevertheless, it is not a sign of sickness, rather it is a healthy sign.
With the SA Blog Awards, every year without fail, you get “arguments” with a somewhat unhealthy element. You get these pussies (as in cats, remember) that spray bullets in the sky with the attitude “if the shoe fits…”. Not very helpful. It is exactly that “if the shoe fits” mentality that gets us nowhere, since no-one wants to put on that shoe if it was not specifically meant for them, so NOTHING is resolved at the end of the day.
I’m talking about this post of Jarred Cinman on Thought Leader. The post is laced with innuendos of certain “entrepreneurs” who are working out of their bedrooms in their parents’ house [sic] which is a shoe I can fit on dozens of people. Even on my own foot to some extent. The thing is, I do not particularly think Mr. Cinman aimed at anybody specific (though, he must have been thinking about some folks specifically at the time of writing it), although if you look at some of the comments on Muti, people’s perception is different:
people [are] sick of all the egomaniacal crap that goes on from certain ‘players’ in the industry.” and
“Once again timbloem - ‘players’ Stop beating about the bush and actually name them. ” and
“I’m waiting for a blog post on who these “players” / “in-crowd” / “big heads” are. Everyone quotes the above sayings, but no one ever names them. Why? Scared? ” and
“I propose the following formula: Count the number of times the blogger has “web2.0″, “entrepreneur”, “seo expert”, “new media strategist” in their banner and add it to the number of photos they have of themselves on their blog, add another point for any “vote for my blog” icons and subtract the total from 10. This is the “South African Blogger Expertness Score”.
So why not simply say it? What are people afraid of? At least it would give the “players” the opportunity to defend themselves! Surely that is only fair? To label a bunch of people as these so called “players”, but no-one knows who these elusive “players” are is kind of stupid?! Its like saying “the illumenati is a bunch of wankers”. No one will take that serious!
People have a lot to say about Richard Catto’s troll tactics, but at least he has the balls to say “Stii is a doos” (”doos” as in the Afrikaans version of a “box”… tsk tsk tsk…)
Clearly there are a bunch of people who dislike another bunch of people for undisclosed reasons. How can they begin to know why if they’re not even sure who? In the end, all that will happen is that people will start to ignore these “innuendos” and stay out of the “debate”. As noted so many times, we’re a fairly young movement in Africa. We tend to still take this shit seriously. This too will change as it gets bigger.
Now I can hear it already: “So what you are saying is that whenever I talk of a certain group of people I now have to mention who I’m talking of?” Sheesh, don’t be silly! I cannot tell you what to do! Gmf…
What I will say is this: If you do not have something good to say about someone, don’t say it. If you do say it, say it so that person can at least defend himself/herself. Have some balls, FFS!! 
Peace! Out!
Blogging Stii
Buy a vine from Stormhoek
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Please, if you can afford it, buy a vine. If not, help spread the word and please Digg it here.
I’m in for sure!
Blogging, GeekDinner!, Social Web Stii
Our annual popularity contest is upon us! This year it seems the guys organizing is going to be much more strict with an entirely 
Thanks for the idea Charl! So I changed it so that you can click this little icon and it will toggle the tags to show and hide them instead of labelling them out all over your post. 
