The Mommyblogger Controversy, A Primer

I finally found out what the mommyblogger controversy is all about. This year's, anyway. There was one at last year's BlogHer conference, too, but I can't help you with that one.

Here are the basics:

1. A female blogger wrote a vitriolic post about mommybloggers on her personal blog the night before Blogher started;


2. The Blogher community got wind of it and branded her a hate-monger;


3. She, in turn, invited people to review her archives to see that she is unapologetically opinionated and regularly blogs about things she hates;


4. Some have confronted and admonished her to make it clear that bigotry is unacceptable;


5. Others say it would be better to ignore her and thus deny her a forum.

Grace Davis weighs in on the hold-her-accountable side in her stink bomb post. It's a good read. I have yet to come across anyone who has weighed in on the just-ignore-her side, but then that makes sense, doesn't it?

I am all for ignoring her and letting her self-express to her heart's content on her personal blog. Isn't that what personal blogs are for? But I am also a realist. People love a good controversy. No matter how many ignore her, there will always be the lookey-loos. If you're one of them, choose your team and go buy the uniform. I'll be up here in the stands with my popcorn.

Technorati Tags: Blogher, Feminism, Bigotry

Comments

[GraceD]

Sheila, thanks for your link and for providing the basics of this issue.

There's another way of dealing with this issue other than...

1) Ignoring the stank
2) Giving the stank a lookey-loo

And it's what you said, "hold her accountable" for said stank.

Had this stank been directed at a community of color, there would have been a smackdown so swift and fierce that the blogger would have been hurled into next week. However, this rant was directed to a group of mothers who were discussing their children. Why not defend these moms in the same manner? It's bigotry all the same.

Anyway, it's all in the post and in the wealth of comments left by my lovely readers.

And now I will peruse your weblog. Looks interesting! And, brand new! Congrats to you.

Cheers,
Grace

[Jenn Bo]

Sheila: I did wonder why people kept referring to the m.blogger controversy. Now I know. Thank you for keeping me informed.

Oh, and ooo-la-la for getting Grace D to come by. I'm sure she'll discover what a brilliant writer you are - and maybe someday she'll discover how awesome you are to have as a friend. Thanks for the daily entertainment and for building a forum for G, you, and me to banter!

[GetSheila]

Grace, I'm so happy you stopped by!

I agree people should be held accountable for their bad acts. Unfortunately, bigots never seem to get it or worse, they just don't care (which appears to be the case with this one).

I do think it is important to educate the community so they recognize bigotry when they come across it in all of its ugly and ever-evolving forms. I thank you for stepping up and doing that.

Bloggers need to be reminded that having a public blog is like standing on a box in the middle of a bustling downtown and shouting out to anyone within earshot. Only this message is more permanent.

Do you believe in your message enough to defend it one day, my fellow bloggers? Do you?

[GetSheila]

Jenn Bo: I love my blog! And I love that you and G and Nat and my childhood pal J can fling comments back and forth willy nilly. If other people stop by too, how very groovy.

Didn't you mention you were thinking about starting a blog after the wedding...?

[Elise]

Hi Sheila,

I often advise, "Don't put anything on a blog that you wouldn't want on a billboard in Times Square."

The woman who wrote that hateful post was incomprehensibly stupid to write it in the first place, and utterly moronic for not owning up to her stupidity and publicly apologizing.

In this country, everyone is entitled to their opinions. But if you publicly express your opinions you need to take responsibility for the impact they have on those around you, and the impact expressing those opinions has on your reputation.

In my book, one's reputation is a precious asset.

She just ruined hers.

[Nat]

okay, this can all be summed up in my most favorite word this decade..."drama". i use "drama" to describe, quickly and succinctly, a situation that is just too intense or complicated for words. well, at least i don't have the words or the energy [slightly depressed] or both...but apparently all the blogher's do. *sigh* i guess i really need to expand my vocab beyond MTV, MP3, Tivo and Hyphy. i also rarely capitalize or punctuate properly...shout out to all of my english teachers! bwwaaahhhaaa! <--evil laugh