Watching the news has always been a necessary evil. It seems filled with tragic and depressing stories. On occasion I have doubted the wisdom in showing what is shown. In an unofficial and unresearched opinion, it seems to me that the more murder suicide stories they show about a man and his family, the more that occur. Sick people are not helped and deterred by seeing the stories. Healthy people are no safer. I’ve had the unfortunate task of going with the police to give news of a murder suicide to a family. Should I Twitter, Facebook, or blog about it?
Paul Carr over at Tech Crunch has written a second time about the subject of unwise and foolish micro-bloggers. My summary: Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. We have had storm chasers, now we have Twitter and blogging chasers? It frightens me. Many times I’ve heard Todd Cochrane, the host of GNC, say “I’m not ready to comment on this until I’ve thought it through.” How can we pass on some of Todd’s common sense to the rest of the world?
Censorship and regulation frightens us. Anarchy and absence of accountability scares me much more. I have friends who are citizens of countries other than the United States. They know what it is like to live in a dictatorship or close to it. As a matter of fact I am currently touring countries with much less freedom. I am not speaking without a foreign awareness. The same freedom of the press and freedom of speech that we hold dear, we could be using as a weapon of destruction upon ourselves. We must act responsibly. Hold our tongue. Getting the news out is secondary to immediate concern for the people involved.
This week in Florida a missing baby was found alive. Further news revealed that the mother was part of the disappearance. That baby will forever be etched in the inter-webs and sought after for interviews when she is a teen. “How does it feel to have had your mother fake your kidnapping when you were a child?” Maybe it should be a live Twitter interview.
Well enough of the rant. Next article I’ll give some of my opinions on responsible blogging and micro-blogging. Thanks for reading and taking a few minutes to think through it all before you react.
