Penelope vs. David: Taking Responsibility for Yourself
“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. ” I’m pretty sure we’re all familiar with, or have at least heard of, Newton’s laws of motion. But we’re not here to talk about motion. We’re talking about writing. So what’s my point?
For every action you take as a writer you create the potential for a reaction. Every word you write will spark some sort of emotion in your reader and, in some, those emotions may spiral into some sort of action. As a freelance writer you need to remain professional at all times - even if your writing focuses on controversial topics.
So why do I bring this up? Because social networking, blogging, and related venues, while they open you up to a world of opportunity, may also open you up to a world of confusion and turmoil. Case in point: the controversy between careerist Penelope Trunk and her now arch rival David Dellifield (if he even knows he’s the subject of such attention).
Penelope made a Twitter post about her frustration over the children being home from school during spring break (apparently she’s not too keen on being a full-time stay-at-home mom). David Dellifield commented in response and told her, “Sorry your kids are a burden, send them to OH, we’ll enjoy them for who they are.”
Let’s call Penelope’s original comment the action. We’ll call David’s comment the reaction.
But it gets better. David’s comment inspired Penelope to have another reaction of her own. What did she do?
She did a quick Google search and found David’s personal contact information for both home and work. She called both numbers and, when she couldn’t reach him, send him another personal message on Twitter asking why he was attacking her. She then wrote this scathing blog post called “I hate David Dellifield” and posted it on her very public blog. She even admits to stopping herself from posting his phone numbers in the public entry itself. The title of the post cleverly ensures that every time David’s name is searched in Google this post will appear.
What I’m sure Penelope did NOT count on, however, was the hundreds of comments she would receive accusing her of being a bad mother because of her original comment. I’m sure she thought she had a bone to pick with David; I’m sure she thought she was doing something witty. Truth is - she did not - on either count. How petty and dramatic can we be?
My point, however, is not to blow her ridiculousness out of proportion. It’s to prove that every action you take as a writer is going to cause a reaction. Whether those reactions are justified is beside the point - they’re still going to occur. You need to THINK about what you’re writing and decide if you’re willing to accept the consequences before you press that “publish” button.
Are you prepared?
May 21st, 2009 at 3:32 pm
On the contrary, I’m inclined to think that PT was very well aware that her post was likely to spark such a reaction, and that this was part of her motivation for doing so.
And I would not categorize most of the comments as “calling her a bad mother,” as much as she might like it to be to portray herself as a martyred mommy. Most of it was questioning the wisdom of the blog posts and the attempts at contact.
July 8th, 2009 at 1:11 am
On the contrary, I’m inclined to think that PT was very well aware that her post was likely to spark such a reaction, and that this was part of her motivation for doing so.