In honor of James Moran
I don't know much about James Moran. He's become the public 'twitter' face of Torchwood online because he's opened his mouth and his heart to strangers who began following him when they realized his connection to Torchwood. (I suspect he had many more followers before but I'll shamelessly say that's when I began to follow him.)
I know people have said nasty things to him. I haven't read them all. In a way, I don't need to. Showing my age a bit, I've been online since 1992 and the age of IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and newsgroups (like alt.bondage). The discussion of 'free speech' and 'you're taking that the wrong way' goes back a very, very long time.
The internet is text. You cannot infer tone from text. However, you can make an educated guess. So before you write something or read something, you obviously have to examine your bias and choose your words (and interpretations) carefully. Because the joy and the downfall of immediate communication is that sometimes it IS too late to say "i'm sorry, I was wrong."
I could fill a blog (and I have) with stories about how the internet has changed my life. My current joy is reading about Tom Price (who I met at a convention recently) and Vin Diesel's Facebook because these are real people I admire taking the time to post. Celebrities. My second joy and only second because its harder to put a personality into a twitter from someone I've never met, had a drink with or sat in a conversation with, is the writers and producers and script editors and others who contribute to these wonderful shows I watch. I have very little real understanding about the behind the scenes world but not only am I reading about Stephen Fry flying somewhere to do a documentary but also about people going to meetings about scripts that may or may not get made. That kind of work and experience is very interesting. On top of all that, I read Jodie Kearns and her caretaking of and love for James Moran. And I think its lovely to have that kind of public support.
I've been involved in "yahoo groups" and groups where we met in hotels to party from all across the world. Yes, those kinds of geek parties. I've been someone that people have said "you are totally not what i expected you to be" and I've said the same to someone else.
The disadvantage to not thinking (or being able to because of high emotion) about what you are writing before you write it, is that you aren't just expressing your opinion. You're inflicting that on someone else and you need to ask yourself "WHY"? Because most of the time, you are doing it because of how you FEEL and you want someone else to hurt the way you hurt. That's not constructive. That's abusive.
My long winded post has a point. I write constantly. I write about my siblings. I write about my life. I process my world by writing. I've learned that people can misread anything and I've learned to lock journals to those I trust and to scoot my butt offline to write what I don't think anyone will understand even though part of me desperately wants someone elses' approval.
Obviously, Mr Moran, if you read this or the email I sent, you know how I feel. You became a target and a scapegoat and I think its brave of you to have not only been able to wisthstand it but also to say "this is enough".
Sincerely,
me
I know people have said nasty things to him. I haven't read them all. In a way, I don't need to. Showing my age a bit, I've been online since 1992 and the age of IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and newsgroups (like alt.bondage). The discussion of 'free speech' and 'you're taking that the wrong way' goes back a very, very long time.
The internet is text. You cannot infer tone from text. However, you can make an educated guess. So before you write something or read something, you obviously have to examine your bias and choose your words (and interpretations) carefully. Because the joy and the downfall of immediate communication is that sometimes it IS too late to say "i'm sorry, I was wrong."
I could fill a blog (and I have) with stories about how the internet has changed my life. My current joy is reading about Tom Price (who I met at a convention recently) and Vin Diesel's Facebook because these are real people I admire taking the time to post. Celebrities. My second joy and only second because its harder to put a personality into a twitter from someone I've never met, had a drink with or sat in a conversation with, is the writers and producers and script editors and others who contribute to these wonderful shows I watch. I have very little real understanding about the behind the scenes world but not only am I reading about Stephen Fry flying somewhere to do a documentary but also about people going to meetings about scripts that may or may not get made. That kind of work and experience is very interesting. On top of all that, I read Jodie Kearns and her caretaking of and love for James Moran. And I think its lovely to have that kind of public support.
I've been involved in "yahoo groups" and groups where we met in hotels to party from all across the world. Yes, those kinds of geek parties. I've been someone that people have said "you are totally not what i expected you to be" and I've said the same to someone else.
The disadvantage to not thinking (or being able to because of high emotion) about what you are writing before you write it, is that you aren't just expressing your opinion. You're inflicting that on someone else and you need to ask yourself "WHY"? Because most of the time, you are doing it because of how you FEEL and you want someone else to hurt the way you hurt. That's not constructive. That's abusive.
My long winded post has a point. I write constantly. I write about my siblings. I write about my life. I process my world by writing. I've learned that people can misread anything and I've learned to lock journals to those I trust and to scoot my butt offline to write what I don't think anyone will understand even though part of me desperately wants someone elses' approval.
Obviously, Mr Moran, if you read this or the email I sent, you know how I feel. You became a target and a scapegoat and I think its brave of you to have not only been able to wisthstand it but also to say "this is enough".
Sincerely,
me