Sunday, November 26, 2017

Mixing Personal And Professional

Recently, I broke one of my cardinal rules - I allowed my personal feelings to come out when dealing with a fellow author.  I shouldn't have, but this individual wrote a blog post that I found insulting, and rather than let it go, I jumped into the swamp with both feet.

The post in question was only pseudo-political.  I didn't start some diatribe about President Trump or talk about how I hated Hillary Clinton.  There was no rambling sermon about lacking in Christian morality or a screed about keeping religion to yourself.  Instead, this person wrote a post that mentioned certain aspects of my personal life and choices.  No, it wasn't directed at me per se, but rather at those who do what I do for a living.  And the post was almost comical in its ignorance and the stereotypical way it portrayed stuff.

That said, I should've moved on, but I was already annoyed with some things at that point, so I jumped in.  I screeched.  I railed.  I lambasted this person for the condescension shown.  In short, I did everything I tell everybody else not do to - I allowed my personal life to invade my professional one.

I have gone to great lengths to avoid politics on this page.  I've also gone to great lengths to not get too detailed with what I do for a living.  I've done this for two reasons - first, although the vast majority of people are supportive of what I do, some people will make judgments about my profession from a position of ignorance.  I've been told that my job is only done by those who couldn't find anything better, and that I'm a pawn for "the elite."  This is born from those who have little association with reality, but the attitude still exists within a large swath of the population.  Second, I haven't gone much into it because there is a stereotype about the way most who do what I do must lean politically(marginally true, but not universal), and that could alienate half of my audience.  It all comes back to what Michael Jordan said in 1990 when asked why he wouldn't endorse Harvey Gantt in the North Carolina Senate race against Jesse Helms - he pointed out that Republicans buy shoes too.  In other words, it's not real bright to intentionally alienate half of your potential buyers.

I shouldn't have jumped into this person's display of ignorance.  It goes to show how emotion can get to all of us if the mood is right.  I should have just let the individual continue to live in the eternal bliss that comes with being an uninformed fool.  Even now I wonder whether I should've written about it, but I had to get this off my chest, and it could be an object lesson on two fronts.  The first front being that we should try to not mix our personal and professional lives if at all possible.  The second being that this person has indeed alienated a good swath of the audience by going down the controversial path chosen.  We are more divided today than I think we've ever been, and I think this writer will hurt audience outreach by being so open about personal beliefs and biases.  The writer is already successful, and maybe that makes the person feel immune, but I can guarantee that it doesn't take much to piss off fans and find yourself without many future or new readers.  As for me, I'll simply stick to expressing my personal views the way I always have, by not buying any future works of the individual.  Others are free to do as they like, but since it upset me enough, I'll exercise my own market choice.  It will likely make no dent in the author's sales, but I don't have to be a part of the person's success either.

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