There wouldn’t be too many people who have not heard of The Three Wise Monkeys and the proverbial principle that they embody, to “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”. Well I propose that it’s about time that a fourth monkey be added; “to blog no evil”.

No-one can doubt the power of the written word, in fact, upon researching “The pen is mightier than the sword“, which was first said in 1839 I found that there were other similar phrases.

  1. As far back as 406 B.C. a Greek Poet said, “The tongue is mightier than the blade”.
  2. In 1600 the words “….many wearing rapiers are afraid of goose quills” were uttered in the now famous Hamlet.
  3. Then again in 1621 we have from Robert Burton, “From this, it is clear how much more cruel the pen may be than the sword.”

We can now see that a blog is merely the next progressive  step in the written word. Let’s not doubt the power of the blog, why only as recent as last year we heard that even the Chinese government lived in fear of the power of the blog.  Major companies would tread warily if they knew that their actions may end up on some high profile blogger’s blog.
The Three Wise Monkeys
What can be learned from this is a very simple lesson, that we as bloggers have a responsibility to write with conviction, clarity and truthfulness. Too often I have seen posts that have ridiculed other blogs and done in such a way that the blogger thought he/she was being funny. I often wondered if many of those posts were really necessary and what the point of it all was other than to draw a response from their readers. Too bad if the other blogger’s feeling were hurt and if the post itself was not entirely accurate. You have to ask yourself, if that is what blogging is about, to hurt others just so we can boost our own popularity? I should hope not, it should be more for educating, informing and entertaining but not at the expense of others.

So before hitting the Publish Button, please consider the following;

  1. Is your post factual and not merely portraying fiction as fact?
  2. Is the purpose of your post designed to malign another blogger by ridiculing their post?
  3. What, if any, are the consequences of your post? Will it incur hardship on another human being?

Remember that with any form of power one inherits a modicum of responsibility, so try not to abuse it.
Don’t forget to join Cool Blog Links and increase your Blog’s exposure.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tagged with:

Filed under: Blogging Tips

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!