This past week, Catholic blogger Mark Shea posted the following on his Facebook page:
"So yesterday I posted some snippy memes
griping about people who are griping at the new Pope. I don't think
they helped anything and were not kind or peaceable. I thought better
of it and took them down. Mea culpa to all I hurt or offended. Let's
start Holy Week in peace."
My response? Exactly! and Likewise!
So maybe all my posts about the TRAD response to the new Pope weren't the most helpful or charitable. But I leave them stand because I still think they make points that need to be made and considered.
However, I have deleted a few other things from my blog today. A long time ago I read some "Blogging for Dummies" sort of book, and it was saying that it's unethical to take down previously-written blog posts or to significantly edit/amend what you've already written. I believed that book for a long time, but now have decided that in the spirit of Christianity (thoughtfulness, examination of conscience, detraction, forgiveness, etc., etc.) that such advice only makes sense for very secular/worldly blogs.
So, I thank Mark Shea for his example, and state here that I reserve the right to take down anything that makes me feel bad, that I regret, that makes me anxious, or that in retrospect wasn't well thought-out, and even might have been pure garbage from the start!
Next: To everyone who emailed me and messaged me on Facebook disappointed that I blocked them from the blog or uninvited them, please remember that this is NOT the old blog. Thus, there are NO invites out there in the first place, so no one was uninvited or blocked. All I did was turn the blog off because 1.) A troll appeared that I didn't feel like dealing with, and 2.) I got mad at myself for things I wrote that weren't being received that way I wanted.
I know! Wah! Wah! Wah!
Believe it or not, I often don't think I have the spine necessary for blogging, even though it's approaching five years of this. More specifically, the spine necessary to take the heat for the very opinionated things I say. If such a statement surprises you, recall the hell we have been through with my husband's co-workers over the old blog and do the math. (They haven't found this one yet, but hey, give it time! Ha!) And actually, there is MORE HELL that we were put through, but I couldn't blog about it for obvious reasons, and never will. You all don't even know how bad it got!
So anyway, as always, this blog is a journey and a work-in-progress, with plenty of f'ups to spread around.
You absolutely have the right to take down anything you want for any reason. I wish I could delete my old blog but have lost the password and the old email I used for it doesn't compute on new blogger. If my family EVER finds that blog I am dead meat. And emailing blogger is no help - it's all automated.
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I had a blog at a homeschool site but got sick and tired of the non-Catholics trying to rip me apart for stuff I wrote. I couldn't make it private either. I copied the entire blog over to a word document (yes, that took forever) and deleted the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteAs much as some things are bothersome, I think there is a lesson in all of this to be learned by everyone. You've already mentioned what you've learned, Mark Shea mentioned his lesson... but others must learn that "In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas" (for those that don't read Latin- "In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity")
Glad you are back up and running. :)
It's your blog and you can do as you think best. I always enjoy reading what you write. Your candor and honesty are refreshing in a world which is so much about "pretend."
ReplyDeleteOne thing that many people fail to realize is that we are all "works in progress" and the opinions I held adamantly last week or last year are not necessarily the same as those I hold today. People who write put those previous thoughts into a sort of typographical concrete which might be helpful in gauging for themselves how much they've changed over time. People who publish have additional risks. However, readers see only a sliver of the real person and often fail to realize that it's all liquid, part of a process as we all seek truth and our real selves. That's why dating things is so useful.
I loved the movie "King Ralph." The line by the incognito "should be" king is one of my favorite lines ever: "Sir Cedric Willingham: It is far easier to whisper advice from cover than to risk its merit at the point of attack."
"sort of book, and it was saying that it's unethical to take down previously-written blog posts or to significantly edit/amend what you've already written."
ReplyDeleteFor those who have a creative spirit, the desire to tear apart and rebuild, or remodel and touch-up is ever present when looking at a work no matter how finished it may appear to others.
And in that vein, one of my favorite parts of blogging is that I can treat all my writing as drafts that I can always go back to and amend and correct and rethink. I suppose I like it all the more because in architecture, the final product is beyond my ability to change it which I invariably want to do because there are always flaws.
I think if you've ever attacked someone personally and made judgments about their character that you should absolutely apologize to that person, on top of deleting the posts where you attacked that person. Saying that "they weren't received well" is a bit of a cop out. Just sayin'. -Foofer
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