In the sense that I was discussing, you know, just existing and expressing yourself at a bare minimum, and suddenly having strangers swoop in to get you cancelled, it's relevant enough to me.
My point is very simple, and it goes for blogs, Twitter, Facebook, or bumper stickers on your truck: there's a lot of people out there who looking for the barest thing to fixate upon to get you in trouble, right down to a simple knuckle-crack.
Yeah what I'm saying is that doesn't really happen in the real world, unless you go invite controversy by discussing controversial topics, especially if you aren't an expert on those topics. And even then it's honestly pretty rare and there's even whole industries dedicated to supporting people who are purposefully provocative.
I'll be blunt: I think it's very unlikely that your opinions on <insert current controversial topic> are going to revolutionize the status of the debate on that topic. The world has nothing to gain by you writing about that topic, and as you say, there's a chance you have something to lose. So just don't write about that. My advice if you want to maintain a blog is to write about something you care about and know about.
You can view my personal blog if you like, it's in my profile. I write about woodworking and video games and gardening. No one has tried to destroy my life for my experiences with growing grapevines. Sure, if I went off on a rant about <insert controversial topic> or wrote a bunch of hyper-negative invective about <insert group of people>, yeah that might come back to bite me. So I don't.
No one's going to come after you for a personal blog about playing guitar or whatever. Stay positive. Stay constructive. Stick to what you know. Don't invite controversy. You'll be fine, and maybe you'll even create something that touches someone else in a positive way.
Except a guy cracking his knuckles got fired, in the real world, so when you say that it doesn't happen, I know that is wrong. We both know it is wrong. I shall now post the link so you can stop saying "that doesn't happen."
Okay, I'll break the analogy down for you, since you are having a hard time:
Part one: You, me, the writer (any human being)
Part two: Existing in a public space (to be found via Google or or noticed in Twitter or making stuff on Etsy or showing things on Instagram or just being photographed in person)
Part three: Self-expression of any form (writing something that will be found "colonial," or a blog, or making a hand gesture, cracking one's knuckles, or standing there with an uncomfortable smile, or even knitting (https://unherd.com/2020/01/cast-out-how-knitting-fell-into-a...) in that public space
Part four: Negative consequence for that self-expression ("cancelled," getting fired, the usual death threats, "screaming, hats first into the wood chipper") from ... people who have never even met you, who found that self-expression in the public space.
Cardinal Richelieu: "If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged."
It's the revolutionary spirit of the times. These incidents occur. You may not be aware of them, but others are aware of them, and they have what is known as a chilling effect.
Haha, if websites like that that are where you're getting your news from, I can see why you're terrified all the time! I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. I'll choose to take the risk and keep blogging about grapes :)
I'm sorry, are you suggesting that these things didn't happen? Because that is the only translation I have of "getting your news from."
Is the idea that the NBC San Diego branch just ... made this up? That the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000d70h) fabricated this wholesale? Let's just click through some of those hyperlinks in the Unherd thing. https://fringeassociation.com/2019/01/07/2019-my-year-of-col... sure seems to have happened; take care to note "I've offended many people with this post, and for that I am deeply sorry. Please read my comment here. And 01.12 Please read my follow-up about what’s wrong with this post here."
These are all things that have occurred in "reality" and the "real world," to use your diction. You can now ignore them -- feel free! -- but pretending that they didn't happen is, I don't know, a performance only for yourself, because I cannot unsee what has been seen.
I am not terrified; as above, I pointed out that the potential negatives outweigh the possible benefits at this point. It's a simple analysis. You have elected not to factor those real world events into your analysis.
I'm not saying they don't happen, what I'm saying is if you immerse yourself in a constant stream of "here's a bad thing that happened to one person out of the dozens of millions of people who created content on the Internet today", you'll get a really distorted view of what's actually happening. It's like never leaving your house because you see shootings and murder reports every day on local news. You're missing out on a whole lot because of the distorted view that kind of information diet gives you.
If your news diet is consumed by negative press and sad stories, they become more readily available[0] to you and can affect your decisions adversely by making you think that the base rate of such bad events are more common than they really are[1].
My point is very simple, and it goes for blogs, Twitter, Facebook, or bumper stickers on your truck: there's a lot of people out there who looking for the barest thing to fixate upon to get you in trouble, right down to a simple knuckle-crack.