The World Can Be A Scary Place
Several years ago, I used to read this blog… I actually used to read a lot more than I do now on a regular basis, but, anyway. This blog was funny and candid and although I never felt any particular deep connection with its author, it was usually good for a laugh, and now and then, a good think.
And then, after reading this blog for years, I realized, “I don’t really know this blogger at all, but of what I do know of the blog, there are a lot more things that I dislike than I like.” (Not necessarily that I disliked her as a person, just that there were some things about the blogging that I disliked. How can you dislike a person that you don’t really know? You can’t.) I stopped reading. It’s not (usually) my way to make a big fuss about something like that. If I don’t like, I don’t read. End of story.
But there are a couple of things about this blog that actually do bother me enough that I guess I just need to say something…
She gets hundreds and thousands of visitors to her site per day. Yes, she’s that effing popular. I don’t begrudge her this popularity, not by a long shot… I think it’s infinitely cool that she has that much traffic, and that she’s able to pay her bills by blogging. I think that this blogger is one of many reasons that so many other bloggers are also earning a living via their blogs, or at least a little extra cash to help out with bills. In some ways, she’s a … pioneer, and that’s wonderful!
She makes public her general whereabouts, even if she doesn’t actually put her address out there for the whole world to see. (However, there is an address, which I would hope is phony, or a business address, which is easily accessible via DNS lookups!) If she’s comfortable with that, that’s her choice. It would scare the hell out of me. And, she frequently blogs about her daughter, posting pictures and the like.
Now, let me be frank with you here… if I had a daughter like hers I’d be insanely proud of her, too. “Look at this beautiful little person that I helped make!” I get that. I totally get that. What I don’t get is: “Hi, I’m _insert full name here_ and I live in _insert town here_ and this is my beautiful little girl _insert name here_.” Of the thousands of visitors per day, millions per month, out of that vast number, how many of those do you figure could be completely and totally mentally disturbed? How many of those do you figure could be pedophiles?
I know that no one, least of all this blogger I’ve been talking about (but not naming), wants to think about it, but I’m willing to bet there are at least a few entirely sick and twisted individuals out there in those traffic stats. I don’t want to think about it at all, but as someone who has been the victim of sick, twisted fucks who are sexually aroused by little children… I can’t not think about it.
Maybe, if you want to blog about your children, you should give serious thought to whether you want your full name, the city you live in, or his/her/their face/faces in such a highly visible blog, where surely a percentage of its readers are highly fucked up.
Just my 2 cents, and I know I’m likely to get burned at the stake if this post is ever seen by more than the handful of folks I’ve invited here. I know that my opinion isn’t a popular one. I also know that many are apt to accuse me of being jealous or just downright hateful.
It’s neither.
It’s also not because I’m concerned that said blogger’s little girl may resent her, even… because if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that at least for a while in their lives, all kids resent their parents – even if their parents were fan-fucking-tastic.
But, because I’ve been there, done that, with scary stalker-types, I just can’t help but feel like it’s risky to be so very, very “open.” Yet, the same can be said of anyone with any kind of celebrity: movies stars, musicians, and even very famous bloggers, I suppose. 
You shouldn’t have to be afraid to walk out your front door every morning, or afraid to post pictures of a beautiful little girl you helped bring into the world, but… if scary crap can happen to me, it can certainly happen to anyone. 
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I agree completely. – That’s all I have to say about that!
Comment by Wildflower/Loon (7 comments.) — 08/14/2008 @ 1:36 pm
Thanks, Loon… It’s nice to know someone understands where I’m coming from here.
Comment by Shannon — 08/15/2008 @ 9:51 am