{"id":4430,"date":"2014-01-11T01:18:37","date_gmt":"2014-01-11T01:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/highplainsblogger.wordpress.com\/?p=4430"},"modified":"2014-01-11T01:18:37","modified_gmt":"2014-01-11T01:18:37","slug":"blogging-is-a-blast-most-of-the-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=4430","title":{"rendered":"Blogging is a blast … most of the time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n

Now that I’m a more-or-less full-time blogger, I reckon it’s time to get a few things off my chest about this form of recreation.<\/p>\n

This blog has had its current name since the early fall of 2012 when I left daily journalism and pulled all my previous blog entries onto this current platform. With a lot of help from one of my sons, I have been able to share my blog posts on Facebook, Twitter, Google and LinkedIn — social media outlets that have served me well so far.<\/p>\n

The Facebook sharing, though, presents at times a bit of an annoyance for me.<\/p>\n

I share these posts on Facebook and they’re distributed among 400-plus “friends” — actual friends, mere acquaintances and even some people I don’t know personally but who are pals with others I do<\/em> know. And every so often, these posts develop a lot of conversation on Facebook among my shared friends\/acquaintances.<\/p>\n

Why the annoyance?<\/p>\n

Because sometimes these exchanges get personal. They’re sophomoric on occasion. They produce ad hominem attacks from one contributor onto another.<\/p>\n

I wish I could control that kind of activity. Maybe this brief message to my fellow Facebookers will sink in.<\/p>\n

A member of my family responded to a recent post about the New Jersey bridge lane-closing fiasco. Then an argument of sorts ensued between my family member and some others who hold differing views on the matter. Another respondent apparently wondered aloud why I don’t defend my family member. He responded with a few “maybe” suggestions, thinking maybe<\/em> I believe he can take care of himself or that maybe<\/em> I don’t want to offend my meager assortment of “fans.” <\/p>\n

He can defend himself. As for offending my “fans,” well, they do a good job of offending others while being offended by those on the other side of whatever argument they’re having.<\/p>\n

The truth is I have neither the patience or the interest — not to mention the time — to get involved in protracted discussions about issues on Facebook. My intent with the blog and other social media distribution outlets is to put stuff out there … period. I’ll let others take what they want from whatever I happen to say.<\/p>\n

I’ll respond occasionally to someone who might misrepresent what I say while making some other point. I have been known to set the record straight on factual matters or just offer two- or three-word responses to someone’s statements. <\/p>\n

I don’t have the stomach to keep going back and forth with someone whose opinion I won’t change — and who won’t change my opinion.<\/p>\n

Long ago I learned a lesson when I got started in opinion journalism. It is that everyone views issues through their own set of principles, core values and biases. I have my own. Others have theirs. I’ll state my view and then move on. If it makes someone perhaps rethink a position on an issue, then that’s fine with me. Do I expect anyone to change their mind? No.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I’ll just keep spewing out my take on issues large and small and add a few kind words when the need arises to salute those who have touched my life along the way. I also intend to write occasionally on life’s challenges, particularly as they relate to retirement and the onset of grandparenthood.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, let’s keep enjoying the ride together.<\/p>\n\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that I’m a more-or-less full-time blogger, I reckon it’s time to get a few things off my chest about this form of recreation. This blog has had its current name since the early fall of 2012 when I left daily journalism and pulled all my previous blog entries onto this current platform. With a … Continue reading Blogging is a blast … most of the time<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}