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Wow
So I don't know shit about blogging, never having done it before, but why the hell not? Might be interesting, and it might be fun.
And it might get me banned from Neopoet, but fuck that, I was looking for a poetry site when I found this one anyways.
I was away for awhile. Not by choice: a combination of too much work, too much debt and ill health forced me to take a haitus from just about everything in my life except my immediate family.
But all's better now, I'm back on track and raring to go, just got back from West of the Mississippi and I got a lot of new poetry swirling about in the ruins of my mind. Stuff I know I'm gonna need help with.
And yet.....
I cannot help feeling that, somehow, while I've been away, Neopoet has become something that it was not intended to be. I'm seeing a lot of sugary-sweet mutual masturbat- oops sorry I mean BACKSCRATCHING - in the form of people telling each other how wonderful and marvelous their poems are, but little or nothing in the way of actual constructive criticism.
Maybe I shouldn't say that. It isn't my site, after all, and I'm sure that those who own and operate Neopoet don't give a rat's ass about what an aging anarcho-capitalist pig-dog liberal-imperialist landlord-type poetry-writing asshole like me has to say about shit anyways.
But imagine my surprise, to find infighting, insults, pettiness and anger, narcaccism and self-righteousness, and many of those whose opinions and criticisms I value are now seriously considering leaving the site.
And Jesus, Lord help me, WEIRDELF GOT BANNED.
Seriously.
ARE YOU SHITTING ME????
OKay, so the guy was ascerbic, to say the least. His tongue wasn't razor-edged, it wasn't a cleaver, it was a goddam guillotine. The first real conversation I had with anyone at Neopoet was with Jess, taking me to task for my pro-gun beliefs. And I gotta tell you, he really let fly with some serious insults. Ink-dragon will tell you!
Heehee....oh NO she won't!
;) (Love you, Painted Dragon Lady!)
But...banned?
Thrown the fuck out??
I mean come on now, what the hell happened to free expression? The guy was a mainstay of this site, and banning him like this is like shooting a favorite dog because you don't like the way it howls. Just bloody daft.
Now I know, I know, folks are gonna tell me that he deserved it, he had it coming, he was way out of line, and hurting Neopoet, and all of that crap.
But this is the best illustration of why democracy is a tyranny. Jess got tossed because the "majority" didn't like what he had to say. By "majority", read "loudest" and "owners" and "those in control".
Democracy my ASS.
LOL
Am I wrong? I know there are many here who are going to say that I am. Hell, he insulted me too, I know what he was like.
But I can't help but feel that there are a large number of people here who vociferously pursued his demise. And with this in mind, I have to ask myself if, given this, I myself wish to continue honing my skills here.
I mean, I really do want to stay. I love this site. It is unique.
But I thought Neopoet was also about the freedom to freely express oneself....FREELY being the operative word. Poets are not, never have, and never will be politically correct, kind, or even polite, in most cases. Here at Neopoet, those kinds of poets - like Jess - are what for me made this place unique, and thought-provoking.
Not to mention making me a much, MUCH better poet.
But now, instead, I find a growing tyranny of mediocrity. Intolerance of extreme views and opinions. Political grandstanding. And smug self-satisfied idiots basking in the red embers of Weirdelf's demise.
Kind of like the warm glow from burning books like "Hucklberry Finn" and "Catcher In The Rye" and "The Joy Of Sex" on the bonfires of intolerant censorship.
So I think maybe I'm gonna try this:
1. No more nominating, since it appears to have devolved into a "good old buddy" system of playing favorites.
2. No more keeping silent when a piece of doggerel is being touted as the next shakesperian masterpiece.
3. No more accepting "kind words" and accolades. I'm here to get better at writing poetry, not to feed my fucking ego.
4. I will not comment on any poem whose author does not want the raw truth. You don't want me to comment, just tell me your "sensitive" to criticism, and I won't even fucking read the damned thing, Okay?
4. I make this pledge: I will constructively criticize your poetry in an attempt to make YOU a better poet, if you will do the same for ME, and do the same for others who are interested as well. I don't mind courtesy, I don't mind politeness, or even friendship - they cost nothing, contrary to popular belief - but I'm here to IMPROVE, not to exclusively socialize, or feel better about myself. My feelings do not come into it. I'm here to get better.
Maybe, just maybe, if enough of us get back to criticising each other's work like this, Neopoet will become a real poetry and writing workshop that it is supposed to be.
"Rules and Laws don't kill Freedom...narrow-minded intolerance does"
Now, watch the vultures swoop in to scatter my fucking bones to the poetic winds!
LOL
Have a good one.
Jim
And it might get me banned from Neopoet, but fuck that, I was looking for a poetry site when I found this one anyways.
I was away for awhile. Not by choice: a combination of too much work, too much debt and ill health forced me to take a haitus from just about everything in my life except my immediate family.
But all's better now, I'm back on track and raring to go, just got back from West of the Mississippi and I got a lot of new poetry swirling about in the ruins of my mind. Stuff I know I'm gonna need help with.
And yet.....
I cannot help feeling that, somehow, while I've been away, Neopoet has become something that it was not intended to be. I'm seeing a lot of sugary-sweet mutual masturbat- oops sorry I mean BACKSCRATCHING - in the form of people telling each other how wonderful and marvelous their poems are, but little or nothing in the way of actual constructive criticism.
Maybe I shouldn't say that. It isn't my site, after all, and I'm sure that those who own and operate Neopoet don't give a rat's ass about what an aging anarcho-capitalist pig-dog liberal-imperialist landlord-type poetry-writing asshole like me has to say about shit anyways.
But imagine my surprise, to find infighting, insults, pettiness and anger, narcaccism and self-righteousness, and many of those whose opinions and criticisms I value are now seriously considering leaving the site.
And Jesus, Lord help me, WEIRDELF GOT BANNED.
Seriously.
ARE YOU SHITTING ME????
OKay, so the guy was ascerbic, to say the least. His tongue wasn't razor-edged, it wasn't a cleaver, it was a goddam guillotine. The first real conversation I had with anyone at Neopoet was with Jess, taking me to task for my pro-gun beliefs. And I gotta tell you, he really let fly with some serious insults. Ink-dragon will tell you!
Heehee....oh NO she won't!
;) (Love you, Painted Dragon Lady!)
But...banned?
Thrown the fuck out??
I mean come on now, what the hell happened to free expression? The guy was a mainstay of this site, and banning him like this is like shooting a favorite dog because you don't like the way it howls. Just bloody daft.
Now I know, I know, folks are gonna tell me that he deserved it, he had it coming, he was way out of line, and hurting Neopoet, and all of that crap.
But this is the best illustration of why democracy is a tyranny. Jess got tossed because the "majority" didn't like what he had to say. By "majority", read "loudest" and "owners" and "those in control".
Democracy my ASS.
LOL
Am I wrong? I know there are many here who are going to say that I am. Hell, he insulted me too, I know what he was like.
But I can't help but feel that there are a large number of people here who vociferously pursued his demise. And with this in mind, I have to ask myself if, given this, I myself wish to continue honing my skills here.
I mean, I really do want to stay. I love this site. It is unique.
But I thought Neopoet was also about the freedom to freely express oneself....FREELY being the operative word. Poets are not, never have, and never will be politically correct, kind, or even polite, in most cases. Here at Neopoet, those kinds of poets - like Jess - are what for me made this place unique, and thought-provoking.
Not to mention making me a much, MUCH better poet.
But now, instead, I find a growing tyranny of mediocrity. Intolerance of extreme views and opinions. Political grandstanding. And smug self-satisfied idiots basking in the red embers of Weirdelf's demise.
Kind of like the warm glow from burning books like "Hucklberry Finn" and "Catcher In The Rye" and "The Joy Of Sex" on the bonfires of intolerant censorship.
So I think maybe I'm gonna try this:
1. No more nominating, since it appears to have devolved into a "good old buddy" system of playing favorites.
2. No more keeping silent when a piece of doggerel is being touted as the next shakesperian masterpiece.
3. No more accepting "kind words" and accolades. I'm here to get better at writing poetry, not to feed my fucking ego.
4. I will not comment on any poem whose author does not want the raw truth. You don't want me to comment, just tell me your "sensitive" to criticism, and I won't even fucking read the damned thing, Okay?
4. I make this pledge: I will constructively criticize your poetry in an attempt to make YOU a better poet, if you will do the same for ME, and do the same for others who are interested as well. I don't mind courtesy, I don't mind politeness, or even friendship - they cost nothing, contrary to popular belief - but I'm here to IMPROVE, not to exclusively socialize, or feel better about myself. My feelings do not come into it. I'm here to get better.
Maybe, just maybe, if enough of us get back to criticising each other's work like this, Neopoet will become a real poetry and writing workshop that it is supposed to be.
"Rules and Laws don't kill Freedom...narrow-minded intolerance does"
Now, watch the vultures swoop in to scatter my fucking bones to the poetic winds!
LOL
Have a good one.
Jim