Imaginary hunters with real bullets

We are all wise enough to know that with every good freedom also come dangerous trappings. The Internet is like a beautiful wide-open pasture of information to graze on. Yet under all that brain food and entertainment are landmines.

I heard about a crazy notion back in the 90s. There were two serious problems that needed resolving.

1. In the former Yugoslavia there were thousands of unexploded land mines buried in the countryside. They were responsible for killing completely innocent civilians and children long after the civil war was over.

2. In England there was an outbreak of BSE in the cattle there, requiring that complete herds be slaughtered to stop the spread of the disease.

You can probably put two and two together of what the crazy idea was.

Sometimes I worry about encouraging people to start blogging. Am I inadvertently sending the innocent one into the field to defuse landmines?

Blogging is wonderful for the freedom of communication that it offers. We do not have to get our articles cleared by a publisher. We can reveal information to a society that needs to know about governmental inconsistencies, and cover-ups. We can express ourselves any way we want.

Yet therein lies the problem. The tongue is the hardest body part to control. If it has free reign of our blogs, who knows what trouble will land on us or other people. The blog is like Pandora’s box. Once you publish, it is out there, and even deleted, it might still haunt you. Text Sticks. It is as easy as Control-A, Control-C, Alt-Tab, Control-V.

What I am saying is, (singing) be careful little hands what you type. General rule of thumb…assume that your friends, lovers, enemies, and bosses are reading your blog. Imagine your girlfriend’s father and your Student Dean reading it every night. Otherwise, we might find ourselves on the business end of a pink slip.

We can also forget that there are predators out there. Like a gopher blissfully enjoying the sunny day, we might squeak out some delightful personal information, unknowingly compromising our safety. Then, like a hawk coming out of the sun, an identity thief, hacker, or sex offender shocks us with the reality that cyberspace is not a game. Pseudonyms and alternate personas are like camouflage. Both hunters and the hunted use it. Carnivores are hunters with no mercy, which means they are searching for hours to find some innocent blogger who says too much.

Beware the feedback of someone that is suspicious. Anybody can post anonymously, or sign someone else’s name. Don’t take feedback to heart unless you are certain of the author.

Last thought, how many of you have read someone else’s blog and said, “Ooh, I didn’t need to know that.” Remember that the blog is not the place to unburden your soul, tell your secrets, or confess your sins. That is what best friends, diaries, and confessional booths are for. This is not insincere; it is just wise and tasteful.

I would like to grow this post into a larger article. If you have any other trapping that you can think of, leave a comment.

Safe blogging my friends.