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I did use ‘Open mouth insert FOOD’ as the title of this post. We all know the old saying ‘Open mouth insert FOOT’ which means ‘to say something without thinking carefully’.
I will share why I had to change the end of that saying in the title later on this blog.
It is not an easy blog to write though. As someone who happen to love talking (I plea not guilty!), I know how challenging it can be to think first before saying something. It is much easier to do the opposite, say whatever I think.
That usually comes with a price to pay.
I am talking about what we share on-line as in the blogs we write. It is amazing to see how many times we forget that having a personal blog does not mean there are no consequences no matter what we write. Because the blogs are ours, we have all the rights to write whatever we want. Others should just accept it.
That it is a matter of freedom of speech.
I agree to an extent. Don’t get me wrong, I’m also a firm believer of freedom of speech. Most especially when I’m from a country where there were times when people did not have any said freedom. So of course we can say whatever we want on our blog. However, when I have a public blog then there is a limit.
My freedom of speech is equal with other people freedom of choice.
Others can choose whether they like what I write or not. Most people express that in the comment sections and as the blog owner, it is up to me whether I will accept their point of views or not. However, in some cases, things can get ugly because a blog can affect what we have or do in the real life.
Yes, I’m talking about the school teacher in Pennsylvania.
She wrote blogs about her students as you can read on the report here. Apparently, those blogs were too ‘honest’ and as the results, she was suspended from her job. Later on, she took down those old blogs and posted two blogs so far to explain what happened on her site here.
A lot of opinions have been posted all over the internet since then.
This case reminded me of an old case in my country where a woman sent an e-mail (yes, it was an e-mail – not a blog let alone a public blog!) to some of her friends complaining about the service of one of the hospitals here. Later on, she was sued and ended up being imprisoned.
Down here, ‘Open mouth insert FOOT’ can be that ugly!
It can also get better and even WAY better given the right amount of time and efforts. Like what happened to this woman, for instance, who got famous after being fired because of her blog. This is why I think the decision made by that school teacher to have an ‘official’ domain for her blog was a smart move.
So yes, it can be ‘Open mouth insert FOOD’ too!
However, unless we are prepared with all the consequences as the results of the things we write on our blogs (no matter how ‘innocent’ the reasons are), think before publishing them! It is important to express what we think or feel but it is more important to know the right way to express them.
That if we want to be heard instead of judged!
