Live by the sword; die by the sword. It’s an all too familiar quote, and lesson, that many of us have learned by experience. Politicians and writers know this lesson well.
Blogging is a powerful new sword that exacts and enables great freedoms and celebrity, but it also can violently swing back at its wielder with greater viciousness. Debbie Weil knows this well and has been slashed by the darker underside of the blade that is not always seen when it is exacting great things. The well known blogger and afficianado, popularly known as the “Mona Lisa of blogging”, has developed (by all accounts) a very successful business from blogging and consulting about blogging.
Recently Weil was hit very hard by critics who were quick to show her the blade when she promoted a client’s blog, GlaxoSmithKline’s alliConnect blog (a blog for GlaxoSmithKline’s new weight loss drug, alli). Her critics were quick to pounce and were harsh and ruthless, as I revealed in my writings of August 7 (see Flogging). Weil was further upset by my writings relating the exchanges of her critics and called me directly to express her unease. Weil was polite and cordial, but notably upset with me and my piece.
Like Mark Cuban and I the week before (see The Internet is Dead, Long Live the Intranet), we agreed to disagree on some points, but agreed on a great deal of many things as it relates to blogging and my writings. Weil’s call to me takes guts, integrity and depth of character – traits well exemplified by her. It’s well worth noting that she could have sent me a flame email, responded with an angry comment to the blog, or launched into a verbal tirade. She did none of this and we had a very respectful conversation for about 30 minutes.
Weil was upset, not just with me, and very likely more upset with some of her harsher critics, in the blogosphere. She was very professional but passionate and I could her hear the depth of her dejection on the subject of her critics. I honestly wanted to just give her a big hug through the phone. She’s paying the price that all celebrities, politicians and writers frequently pay – getting hit by words that have made her a well-known entity.
The blogosphere is the ultimate tool and example of freedom of speech. Anyone can blog and influence many thousands. What makes the blogosphere so successful and powerful (universality), makes it dangerous and vicious too. You won’t find me slinging mud at other people, but you will find me disagreeing and debating others in what I hope is a respectful tone (beauty is in the eye of the beholder). But I could write just about anything I wanted – that is the nature and power of the blogosphere.
As I said in my writings before, I don’t know Weil… but after talking with her I’m certain she is a fine person and hope she considers me a colleague (as I would be honored to call her). And Weil, like Cuban and myself, also painfully knows that with freedom of speech comes great power, and that power has a double-edge that is both nice and nasty.
