This piece is addressed to Hendersonians who are “not reading” Home in Henderson right now.
Home in Henderson has occasionally been accused of bias towards a particular political faction. The publication of Milestones: The Shakedown on Home in Henderson yesterday brought that concern into sharp relief.
From the point of view of someone who doesn’t run the blog (that is, everyone but me), it is certainly something to be questioned.
It is definitely the case that more members of the community who embrace a particular political view have made use of the service that I offer, as can be seen in comment posts, letters to the editor, and columns that have been published over the two and a half years we’ve been around.
The truth is, though, that your opponents are the only ones stepping up to the microphone. You pretend that the blog doesn’t exist. At least, you pretend most of the time.
Instead of writing your piece on the blog, you stop me in the supermarket to tell me that you don’t read my blog because it’s “too negative”.
Hmm.
It brings questions to mind that I don’t ask out loud, like:
or…
and…
I’ve gathered that the word “negative” means, in fact, that one or more people on the blog said something contrary to your opinions.
I usually try to explain to you that I don’t write the comments, just the news (and an occasional opinion piece like this), and that I just try to ride herd on the comments. You usually just talk over me at that point. I suppose it’s easier to blame me than wonder if it’s the person you work with every day who’s so “negative”, or, even worse, come to the conclusion that there may be more than one person in Henderson who doesn’t agree with you.
That’s okay. If being universally loved was important to me, I would never have gotten into this or teaching in the first place.
You complained about the anonymity of comment posters and expressed concerns I thought were valid. To answer your concerns, I made Who Is Home in Henderson. Where are you?
In addition, you send emails that start with “I don’t read the blog, but I have friends who do…” and end with a point-for-point critique of something that’s been written by comment posters, sometimes with cut-and-paste examples from (guess where?) the blog.
Wow.
If I’m having a real banner week, you’ll write or call and threaten to sue me. Whatever it is you’re upset about, though, you didn’t read it on Home in Henderson. Someone called you and told you about it.
News travels fast on the briny.
Yet none of you admit to posting comments yourselves. You don’t send letters to the editor, columns, or contribute to the debate on Home in Henderson in any way. Of course you’re not going to like it. You’re not helping to shape it into what you think it should be.
For what it’s worth, I wish you would.