Trash Talking In The Blogosphere: Celebrate Our Differences
February 29, 2008
While I really appreciate the “spotlight” given to me by Rising Rainbow in this trash-talking controversy that’s taken the horse blogging community by storm, I hope we can all focus on the issue at hand rather than the people surrounding it.
In case you hadn’t seen it yet, there’s been a lot of talk going around in the horse blogs regarding another new blogger who is severely trash talking equine breeds and disciplines outside her own experience and preferences. She shows little knowledge and a lot of cruelty in the topics she discusses. As a result, many other horse bloggers who are committed to keeping their writing positive and edifying are jumping on board to refute the negligent claims made by this blogger. But it’s not really about defending ourselves, it’s about educating people so that they can respect and appreciate other people’s preferences. MiKael has written several great posts about Arabian horses, dressage, and older riders, which were a few of the spotlight issues. You can read about them at Life in the Blogosphere: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
I purposely didn’t link to the blog in question for two reasons:
- I didn’t want her blog to get the attention and traffic. She doesn’t deserve it.
- I didn’t want my fellow horse bloggers to have the chance to trash talk back, or even waste time refuting her statements in her comments. It’s obvious those attempts would have been futile, and would have convinced her even more strongly of her position.
I think we’ve succeeded in goal #1. I know several people have found the blog. But I visited it today just to see if she’d caught wind of the storm, and it’s obvious that she hadn’t. In fact, her most recent entry began:
“It has been a whole two days and no one on the internet has called me an idiot, troll or a b***, I feel kinda lonely…. Oh well I am sure I can piss someone off enough before the weekend. Apparently there are not that many people who find me funny, this is a little baffling to me because I am pretty sure I am hilarious, all my friends think so, and my mom does too. Doesn’t that make it true?”
I love that in the 2-3 days we have been buzzing, she’s had less people joining in her discussion. And I think that’s a major victory. We don’t need to dignify her negativeness with a direct response. It will only encourage her. If we don’t respond, and if we commit ourselves to staying positive on our own blogs, maybe she’ll get tired and give up.
As for goal #2, I’m a little disappointed to see that there has been some trash talking about this blogger in the comments on our blogs. She’s been called names, told to go to therapy, and a number of other things. While I am as up in arms as all of you about her derragatory statements, I think we should focus on educating others about the issues and the discussion rather than attacking the people involved.
I’ve also been delighted to see wonderful posts and comments championing the best qualities of our favorite breeds and disciplines, as well as being realistic about their weaknesses. I thnk we combat prejudice most effectively by focusing on the issues, not tearing down the people who created them.
Prejudice is as real in the horse world as it is anywhere else. I don’t think that will ever change. I spent several years growing up showing English in a predominantly Western 4-H county. I often saw riders making fun of others who didn’t have the fancy horses or who rode in the minority disciplines. And I also saw a lot of Western riders try to compete in the English classes. They tended to ride in a chair seat with long droopy reins, or in more of the AQHA huntseat style. I come from a more classical huntseat equitation background (George Morris anyone?), and since I tended to win the classes, it would have been so easy for me to make fun of the other riders’ styles. But I didn’t. Sure I liked my way better, but that didn’t make theirs wrong.
I still prefer classical huntseat over AQHA huntseat. But as long as they aren’t hurting the horses, it doesn’t matter. They can go to the AQHA shows, and I’ll go to USEF shows. The great thing about having different preferences in the equestrian world is that there is always an outlet for you to participate in what you like best.
So let’s celebrate the differences that make the equestrian life so interesting and unique. Let’s celebrate that we love different shapes, sizes, colors, and personalities of horses. Let’s celebrate the fact that our country has the greatest diversity of riding disciplines in the world–you can’t attend reining, dressage, cutting, jumping, natural horsemanship, vaulting, and western pleasure (stock horse or Arabian) clinics or shows all in one country anywhere else on this earth.
Most of all, let’s celebrate the fact that every kind of horse has someone out there who will love and appreciate him.
Let’s celebrate our ability to use our blogs to educate the world about the horses, training, and riding styles we love best — but let’s stay unified in our appreciation of the love, connection, and relationship we’ve all experienced between Horse (of any kind) and Human (of any kind).
Posted in Jackie's Thoughts, Making a Difference
February 29th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I couldn’t have said it better! LOL
Overall I have to say the comments on my blog were much better than I had anticipated. Unfortunately there was a little name calling which I totally understand. But still it makes it hard for others to see the real message.
But even those comments had more valid points within them than the slips to just vent. I have to say I am pretty proud of how the horse blogging community pulled together and shared their stories to make the point. It doesn’t matter what breed, what discipline, what humane training technique,what age. What matters is that it works for the person and her/his horse.
Thanks again for bringing this matter to the forefront. I believe the discussion that it generated has been helpful. It has definitely worked to unite the horse blogging community and many of the lurkers out there as well.
February 29th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
hey there! just wanted to say I’m better than you because I like western saddles and arabian horses!
*GRIN*
February 29th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Just an FYI, the commenter above (Ben) happens to be my hubby who likes to be silly. He’s not much of a horse person, but he has been obsessed with Arabs his whole life (he looooved the Black Stallion books) and prefers western saddles. Of course, his assessment of English saddles is a little unfair since he’s only ridden in mine, which is significantly too small for him.
I love him.
February 29th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Thanks Jackie, you have hit the nail on the head, this entire post is exactly what we all need to do. If we can educate and support each other and champion our horses,no matter what breed or discipline, it makes the horse community a much closer knit group. I believe that since we all love our horses and want the best for them, the more advice and insights we can get from others blogs, do help us grow and learn how to be better horse people. I have always said if your horse is good for you AND you are good for him, then so be it,you should never care what anyone else has to say, you have something rare and special that can only bring you happiness.
February 29th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I know I called her some nasty names, however I did not leave a comment on her blog nor her email. I did write a post about being a naughty blogger, simply because I needed to vent. This is a good post and although, she’s been called out and some of us, including me got nasty, in the end, she did not get her way, which is exactly what she wants, “negative attention is better than no attention”. She is the one who loses in the end as she alienated herself from the horses blogosphere and all the good people out here.
February 29th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
BTW, kudos to you for taking the much higher road than I could ever have done. Just trying to smooth down my ruffled feathers…..LOL……..
February 29th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Thanks all for stopping by and for participating in the discussion–and for being committed to positive writing!
Callie, I know that you didn’t address her directly, which is great. It’s sooo hard not to give her a piece of mind when she says hurtful things. It took all my willpower not comment and tell her what’s what. And I can definitely understand and appreciate the need to vent as well. You’re right, I do think she’s looking for attention, be it positive or negative, and I’m glad she hasn’t gotten it on her own blog. I did see your naughty blogger post –and the difference between someone like you and someone like her is that you are doing just that–venting. And you labeled it as that and didn’t make uneducated claims. There’s definitely nothing wrong with needing to vent once in a while. That’s one of the benefits of blogging, it can be a great outlet!
February 29th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
[...] Jackie added an interesting post on Trash Talking In The Blogosphere: Celebrate Our DifferencesHere’s a small excerptShe’s been called names, told to go to therapy, and a number of other things. While I am as up in arms as all of you about her derragatory statements, I think we should focus on educating others about the issues and the discussion … [...]
February 29th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Jackie - my kudos go to you, also. From a bloggers point of view, I know how much traffic, commenting, and other things that point to your blog can do to elevate a blog’s status. Ignoring her is exactly what she deserves.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:14 am
OK, Jackie, you’ve been holding out on us about Ben. I had no clue you two had different opinions on horses or saddles, or for that matter he is such a kidder. LOL
Well and if I did, I must have forgotten it because of my advanced age. lol
March 1st, 2008 at 8:57 am
Morning Jackie!
I got this in an email yesterday, and shared it with Callie. Since I feel it has value here as well, I’ll pass it along here as well.
It was in one of those silly forwards, that I admit, I read but generally do not pass along. This one however, had a true Gem buried in it….
“If Someone Hates You, It Is Because They Want To Be Just Like You”.
So think about that one for a moment, and see if that fits!