Image courtesy of FreeDigitalImages.net by Stuart Miles
When I saw a post shared on a private bloggers’ group page regarding how Martha Stewart dissed bloggers with her recent comments on Bloomberg TV, I immediately responded to my fellow blogging friends with an instant reply.
This is what I wrote:
This is their way of “protecting their turf” and not letting others rise to the top. I’m referring to MS and I didn’t have to listen to the video. People who rank themselves as the experts and have all the attention don’t want to let others get to their position, bloggers are people in training in some cases. OK, now I should just write a topic about this – getting wordy! LOL.
After I posted my comment above, many bloggers on this private bloggers’ page began to chime in with their thoughts and replies to my reply and everyone else’s comments.
Basically, we all took some level of offense to Martha’s comment about bloggers because everyone in this group is passionate about their blogs and what they offer to the world, which by the way, in many cases, is voluntary and without much compensation.
After re-tweeting a couple tweets related to this Martha blogger-dissing story, one of which was me tweeting this:
“Bloggers are here to stay. Like it or Lump It.”
I stepped away from my desk and went to the kitchen to make a quick sandwich for lunch. Then I thought, I better get these dishes done before I go back to researching information for my next post on my blog.
As I moved my hands through the soapy dish water, I kept thinking about those words Martha spoke:
“Who are these bloggers?”
Like a rap song, it started to repeat in my head…, “Who-who-who are these (zip-zip noise of a rapper’s album spinning) bloggers? Who are these Bloggers anyways? Who-who are these Bloggers?”
It made me shake my head a bit in disgust thinking about her using the word “gripe” and saying “they are not the experts,” along with her question: “Who are these bloggers?” – which of course, she presented in a pretentious tone. But it also made me think more about the people “like Martha Stewart” than Martha Stewart herself.
What I mean by “people like Martha” is there are people who believe they are the experts and don’t want to allow anyone else to be better than them or reach higher status, because obviously, they would lose their rank as being the best. They hold onto their high status position strongly for either monetary reasons or some kind of elite recognition. But in addition to this, they have a high and mighty attitude about their position.
It doesn’t matter what field you are in or which you are representing. It could be cooking, décor, plants, or aprons – but somehow, someway, this person reached “glory” status and was given a perceived title of expert. And sure, they worked their butts off and knew how to run a business to get there, but that very status got to their heads a little too much at some point. They somewhere along the journey crossed from being a person who inspires to a person whom must be worshiped.
These “people like Martha” believe they are the experts in their field and maybe they are, but they also are the very ones who are or were admired from afar by people who aspire to be like them. Or maybe their fans don’t technically aspire to be like them, but have a passion very similar to theirs. The fans may be beginners at the expert’s similar field, been practicing it for a while, have studied too, learned, and gained experience. Maybe they are close to being an expert themselves. But those “people like Martha” don’t want to let them get there.
Why? Because they fear losing their number one spot.
One of the things I love about blogging, bloggers, and the ability to share across the world with anyone willing to hear about your passion, craft, and expertise – is that you do not need an expert to give you permission to do so. You don’t have to kiss their ring first or sing their praises.
On the flip side of that, it is also very disappointing when you have admired someone considered to be an expert and they don’t see that you would have appreciated their mentor-ship, encouragement, or even praise to acknowledge that you have achieved some level of greatness as well. It may be big or small, comparable to theirs, or not even close – but you have been working hard at it too.
When they, the people like Martha, get to that place where they don’t want to allow anyone else to be as grand as them, this is when they have lost their true gift – The gift which got them to their expert status in the first place.
If you were or are a super football player for example, and you coach students to learn how to be the best player as well, this is admirable and a worthwhile way to live.
If you are a super-star player, and won’t let anyone else on the playing field, what’s the point?
As I continued to click through tweets to find other bloggers’ commentaries on the Martha blogger-dissing story, I felt an even stronger admiration for bloggers and their willingness to share the playing field and not keep it all to themselves. This, again, is what is powerful about blogging. We ‘can’ share, can be seen and heard, and don’t have to meet anyone’s standards to do so. The only people who need to approve are those admiring our offerings.
Does the fact we are not experts diminish the quality of our posts and shared information at times? Perhaps. But you know what, I say it’s worth the risk. I’d rather discover an unknown talent willing to share what they know in a passionate true way than not know they are out there because some expert would rather keep all the glory to themselves.
Written by Cathy Testa
P.S. Yes, I know I have some grammatical errors. I haven’t had ‘my recipe’ tested yet. Now let me get back to my post – about how to build birdhouses. Thank you.
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalImages.net by Kibsri. SHOWING EXPRESSIONS OF PUMPKIN BLOGGERS WHEN THEY READ THE NEWS ABOUT MARTHA.
I like Jen Singer’s MommaSaid.net post about the Martha blogger dissing story as well – FYI: Click HERE.
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