Scobleizer: “All he talks about is politics!”
James
· 1 year ago
Why are you aggressive of late?
You write a blog, you express your opinion and in turn you accept comments, in which others express their opinion. It's part of the process - why this giant chip on your shoulders recently?
tf5_bassist
· 1 year ago
Heh... I think the fact that it IS your "personal blog" means that those people who disagree with the political stuff have no rights to bitch.
I personally enjoy your views on a lot of stuff. Whether I always agree with them or not, it's always insightful and interesting.
Jamie
· 1 year ago
For what it's worth, I did not email you but my issue personally is that the political posts have been incredibly polarizing and is the last thing I want to read from Scobleizer when I'm trying to escape the regularity of that nonsense.
Americans have two very decent candidates for President, yet both sides can't seem to promote their candidate without pulling the other one down. I've personally had enough of that.
I know that in the Bay Area it is hard to see any point-of-view other than that of the Left, just as those in the South have a problem seeing any point-of-view other than that of the Right. But I guess I expect from intelligent people an intellectual curiosity that drives them to at least try to understand the opposing view. For some reason, that seems to be blatantly lacking in today's politics.
In a word, I guess I'd ask for one thing: Civility.
Robert Scoble
· 1 year ago
James: aggressive? Because the economy and the politics have made me ornery.
Mark
· 1 year ago
Don't worry about the "unsubscribers". More than likely they are coming from other right-wing "pro-America" blogs and not subscribers in the first place.
I think you live in one of those parts of the country that aren't pro-America (at least according to Palin), so you've automatically got a bunch of haters.
Jake
· 1 year ago
So what is your definition of a "smart audience"? One that agrees with you on everything you say? People have the right to subscribe or not to feeds if they are publicly available. Doesn't mean they are dumb if they chose to unsubscribe.
Robert Scoble
· 1 year ago
Jake: a smart audience is one that can have a conversation without throwing stupid insults like "I'm unsubscribing." Smart people just unsubscribe, they don't need to let the world know.
Robert Scoble
· 1 year ago
Jamie: I just visited "Red" North Carolina. I think you might be surprised that Obama is ahead in the polls there. See, some people can come to an independent conclusion.
Funny, which part of the post was polarizing? Nuclear power? McCain's for that and Obama is at least partially against. Or were you talking about the Un American part? Oh, that's just a play on what Sarah Palin said over the weekend where she called me un American for not living in the right place.
See it's our leaders that are being polarizing. I think most of us can come to our own conclusion.
Lee
· 1 year ago
Robert may be verbose in his politicking, but while I'm not a huge fan, I do find value in his posts; encouraging thoughtful insight to me the reader.
We all experience politics in our everyday dealings with co-workers, friends and family, whether this includes a Presidential candidate or writing a New Business proposal.
Folks who shy away from "politics" of any form don't realize that they're already "in" it and might realize greater personal gain if they think bigger picture.
CoolProducts
· 1 year ago
"Why are you aggressive of late?"
Totally my thought. Robert.. This shit that's going on seems to be draggin ya down a bit. You sit on your blog and preach about how it's only going to get worse, all negative energy.. Take a deep breath and realign yourself. Maybe you need to take a break. Is that the smartest decision business wise? In the short run of course it isn't, but I advise you to sit back today and evaluate the aspects of your life. How has your perception and attitude changed. I say this simply because I totally respect your work and have seen some more fire in you recently.. Take some deep breaths, and relax! You're a great guy and you're going to come out of this mess on top! Just don't burn yourself out before then, okay?!
Robert Scoble
· 1 year ago
CoolProducts: I've actually been slowing down lately quite a bit. Now isn't the time to stand still, though. Last week I took quite a bit of time to just hang out with geeks I don't usually hang out with.
Mark
· 1 year ago
Robert - another thought. The attitude of painting you as "aggressive" and "politicking" is the same sort of thing the right-wing is doing to throw Colin Powell under the bus after his Obama endorsement.
As an American with a strong view that doesn't fix with the right-wing view you are clearly "unhinged". If you were a Republican or Libertarian, you'd be branded a "traitor" or "socialist". Heaven forbid you show some passion about something - geez.
This is classic fear politics. Brand opposing views as extremist or out of control. In the meantime, you go about doing the same thing:
Man, I'd hate to see what they'd say if you were black...
Just FYI, I thought about unsubscribing when you were at Microsoft (I'm not a fan of MSFT), but I realized that your viewpoint was important and it was my own shortcomings that wanted to shut it out...
Keep up the great blogging. I'm sad these days because your blog is so sparse. I'm not really into friendfeed and your Google Reader feed doesn't have much "Scoble prose".
Eric Rice
· 1 year ago
Gee, I dunno, it's only one of the biggest elections in history, I'd kinda think everyone is wrapped up in. I will agree tho that your edge and focus has become super-scattered since the Microsoft days. But no hate on the politics stuff, until after Nov 4. :)
robsays
· 1 year ago
Kevin Rose got a similar reaction when he pointed to an Obama sticker on his Macbook during a Diggnation podcast. So you're in good company.
Why is it that the politicos can talk tech but the techies can't talk politics?
Court
· 1 year ago
Is smart people just unsubscribing and not telling the world kinda like smart people just not going to Microsoft's event and telling the world?
Robert Scoble
· 1 year ago
Court: exactly. That post wasn't my smartest one and I apologized for it. Exactly! Good point! I couldn't have made it better. That was a stupid post of mine. Agreed.
benb
· 1 year ago
Robert,
So let me get this straight - this is your personal blog, thus whatever you write is personal??? Even though you are employed by Fast Company TV? Given your comments last week about the whole Dare/ Arrington/ TechCrunch curfuffle and how personal blogs reflect on the employer bla bla, and should face consequences, how can you now hide behind the who personal blog line? Are you saying that you are representing the thoughts of Fast Company. TV or for that matter your sponsors with your political slants?
Personally I could not care less what you write about, as I believe you and any other person can write what they care about at their personal site - I just find your use of the personal blog line a bit absurd given your stance last week (which was against what you had said in the past). Food for thought.
VistaMaster
· 1 year ago
Robert, I respect your opinions. You have the right to state how you feel about things, including politics. That's what being an American is all about. I served my country for over 9 years but that doesn't mean that I lost the right to criticize our leaders nor should I say others do not have that right either. I recently heard about a study about political discussions in groups. I was not surprised to hear that more people will now angrily ask to stop the discussion than in the past. Why have we become so polarized? I think that you can thank our "unbiased" press for that. As an example, when Lehman Brothers made their historic announcement, did you hear anything about the rest of the world having a credit crisis as well? No, apparently, the US is the only country in the world... but I digress... Why should I care?
Robert Scoble
· 1 year ago
benb: this is my personal blog, yes, and those who pay my salary might not like what I write here. Absolutely correct. That was correct when I worked at NEC. That was correct when I worked at Microsoft. And it's correct when I work at Fast Company.
Just like Google's CEO today endorsed Barack Obama and said that is separate from Google and should not be seen as Google endorsing Barack, same thing should be seen here.
Of course, there's always the risk that I'll lose a sponsor.
I ALWAYS face consequences for what I write here. That's the point what I was trying to make last week. I don't try to pretend there aren't consequences.
benb
· 1 year ago
Robert,
Point taken, however, your comments last week are more extensive. It is more akin to people taking what you are writing and then calling out the companies you cite to take action against you as an employee. That is the line that was crossed. That you should should be taken to task (attacked if you will) by your employers for your own personal opinions expressed on your personal blog, that, at least in the case of Dare was not even in the same realm as for example the hot topic and dogma of politics and religion. I am simply trying to get you to see that was an error. Having an opinion about someone elses opinion is what it is all about - calling to have someone fired or whatever else because of an opinion is not acceptable and is not something that gels with your prior statements about the importance of freedom of speech. You call for someone to be potentially fired, and you have taken away their means of subsisting, that is a form of stifling freedom of speech.
While I disagree and am bothered by some of what you have written lately, it is your right and I think you would be rightly bothered that your freedom of speech is being attacked if someone like Arrington would start calling for you to face consequences with your employers for legally expressing yourself.
There may be other consequences, such as dwindling readers etc, but calling for action against took it too far.
Scott Parent
· 1 year ago
I agree 100% Robert. This is your personal blog and you should be able to share whatever opinions you want to share. To those unsubscribing, why not have a discussion and tell Robert why you disagree with his opinions instead of announcing your unsubscription to the world? Isn't this medium about conversation, back and forth?
To those that think he should stick to tech, why not just gloss over the non-tech posts you don't want to read and focus on the knowledge that Robert brings to the tech space?
-Scott
AndyM
· 1 year ago
I like your Tech commentary. I'm not interested in your political commentary. Not that it's unintelligent or I disagree -- I just don't come to Scobleizer for it. I want to know what phone you're using or what new social-networking app or video app you find intriguing. I would rather filter out anything to do with politics (which I get too much of elsewhere).
Ben
· 1 year ago
Further to all the other places one might possibly follow what you are doing/saying, I already follow your blog and frankly you're not so interesting that I feel I'd want more.
Maybe that sounded bad, so how about: You don't have interesting things to say so often that I am willing to wade through your trash to find it.
AndyM
· 1 year ago
Update: I just read more of your statement above and see that I misunderstood what your site was about. So I will unsubscribe and get my tech news elsewhere.
James
· 1 year ago
Mr. Scoble - I wouldn't say that "all you talk about is politics" - but I would say "I don't care about your politics."
Now, you have the right to speak about whatever you want. First off, we live in this great country that affords you that freedom. Secondly, this is your blog. Two points I'll readily acknowledge.
I think the part for me (I'm not unsubscribing from this or any other blog... everyone will shut the heck up one way or the other come late November, I hope) is that I consider this blog (and your shared feeds which I also subscribe to) as a valuable source of tech information.
When you start talking politics, though, it's as if I've gone to Home Depot and they've decided today to instead sell sporting goods (to pick a topic I care as little about as people's political opinions). Several additional trips confirm for me that randomly, I will either find hardware or I will find sporting goods and there's no way for me to predict what it will be. (Ok, I RSS so the store comes to me, but still.)
So I'm all for politics in the context of what it will provably(yeah, not a word) mean for technology, but not just what you generally think.
And in the end, I'm the one who's out of line because it's not my blog and I can easily "change the channel." But I don't want to, because most of the time I like the channel. To me it's a question of knowing your audience. And maybe that isn't a relative factor.
(And since I RSS, this is a hit and run; won't be able to see a response.)
Randy
· 1 year ago
To help Robert I'll unsubscribe as well, if he doesn't want us here why have a personal blog?
zebb
· 1 year ago
Scoble, In your page title you have "Scobleizer - Tech geek blogger", is "Tech geek blogger" one description or is it "Tech, Geek, Blogger" 3 descriptions?
Maybe that is the confusion? I have always thought your blog was about technology and less "personal".
Maybe you should update your Title to clear up the confusion :)
I do agree though, I come to your site for tech news not political news which as far as the blog is concerned the tech part of it is disappearing which is sad cause 'personally' I hate following things on FriendFeed, or Twitter, or the like, to much noise for my liking, I like an article and then comments.
Your google feed has become far more interesting than your blog, but it's not my blog so I can't complain to much :)
Cheers.
Pete
· 1 year ago
I think your argument is undeniably weak here, Robert.
The folks before, maybe childishly, proclaimed they were unsubscribing from this blog because it is too political. You point out that that's not the case because you write about technology elsewhere. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Their point wasn't the literal one, that you never write about anything but politics... it was that there's a low tech signal-to-noise ratio lately.
Further, I don't think "I'm unsubscribing" is an insult... presumably you care who reads your blog and how many of us there are, and also presumably you'd be interested to know what you might be doing that's causing people to go away (or not go away).
That's not to say that you'd necessarily change your behavior on account of it, but it's good information to have. Writing polarizing political pieces like you have been is a sure-fire way to create ill will towards you (both personally and professionally) as well as turning this blog into something of an echo chamber... see, e.g., all of the "OMG REPUBLICANS R SO STUPID" comments above.
I'm not saying that being a liberal is making people hate you, of course, it's all in the presentation. A good number of your posts have a not-so-subtle undertone of "if you disagree, you're an idiot, because I'm clearly right about this." That goes for not just your politics pieces but also your economy pieces of late.
Not that you should change, but you should at least be aware of what kind of community you're promoting so that you can decide whether it's the kind you'd like to have. Maybe it is -- in which case, carry on (and posts like this are wholly unnecessary).
If, on the other hand, you're looking for an intelligent, diverse, reasonable, and tolerant community, you should set the tone for that by treating your subjects as though you understand that there is room for people to differ with you.
williamu
· 1 year ago
Why is this even post-worthy? The remaining readers aren't obsessing about those who've left. Why do you feel like you have to respond to their pettiness with name calling? How does this help you/your brand?
Jake
· 1 year ago
Just a suggestion and you can take it for what it is worth. I used to go home so angry about politics and world affairs. One day I decided to download some great books and podcasts on my IPod and listen to them on my drive. Don't listen to talk radio or the news any more and I am no longer angry at the world. Get my news from blogs and news feeds.
Rachel
· 1 year ago
I read your post yesterday and found it fascinating - mainly because I wondered if it was possible to write it from a British perspective. I decided that it would be really hard to do that, because we have a different kind of patriotism.
To illustrate this, i looked at Google mentions for 'unAmerican', which game me over 2.5 million responses. 'UnBritish', on the other hand, gives me just under 6000 mentions, with UnEnglish only a few 100 more. Weird how the two countries view themselves.
Mark
· 1 year ago
While it is a personal blog...that is a bit of a misnomer because if it were truly intended for a strictly personal audience it would be called a diary and you wouldn't post it for the masses to see.
Secondarily, I think that while your tech thoughts are very insightful, your political comments are rather shallow, in my humble opinion lowering your overall value/word or value/post value.
Your are definitely entitled to your opinion and this is your personal blog but when you make your contact information available or turn comments on you are inviting feedback. Don't have a hissy fit when people give you their opinions back.
Brad
· 1 year ago
Its your blog and we are just guests, but I think many of the "disappointed" posts have been trying to explain why your blog seems abit off-kilter recently in case you care of your readers sentiment (not that you have to of course). But claiming that everyone who cares enough to give you an explanation why they are unsubscribing isn't smart enough to belong here seemed abit harsh and was hard to believe came from you. I still look forward to reading of your travels and the people you meet and wish you the best and thank you again for the services you provie our community.
Rob
· 1 year ago
Robert, calm down!
Like other people have said, you do appear to have a giant chip on your shoulder of late.
I couldn't care less what you say on your blog. Hell, I enjoy reading whatever you write because I think you're a smart guy but you really need to learn to accept criticism.
If you can't handle negative feedback, then don't blog about topics which are going to get people fired up e.g. politics, religion etc. Alternatively, disable commenting.
It is your blog and you are entitled to write about whatever you want but the same applies to your readers.
Naked conversations and all that jazz...
Peace dude.
Russ
· 1 year ago
Seems like a few subscribers are trying to bully you out of expressing opinions on the political mess this country is in and has been in for the last eight years. If they disagree with your political analysis let them post a reply that addresses their difference of opinion in a logical, non threatening manner. If all they can do is whine about how they don't want to consider opinions other than those that reflect their own views, they can tune out. It's not required for viewers to read every one of your posts. Those of us who use RSS readers only have to click on what interests us. I will not be bullied out of expressing my conclusion that Obama/Biden is a much safer choice for America than McCain/Paulin. It doesn't look like you are to be bullied either.
What disturbs me is the fear of political discussions. Far too many people want to believe that Democrats spend more and do not wish to consider the fact that there was a budget surplus 8 years ago and the fiscal responsibility of Clinton was replaced by fiscal responsibility of Bush. Shouldn't we discuss such things in a reasonable manner? Are we simply left to robo calls as the mainstay of political discussion. Too bad we can't unsubscribe to robo calls.
Ryan
· 1 year ago
So, Robert, the problem I see with your list of issues is how you define "some" and how you define "rich" ?
And, yes, taxation is physical force. If you don't pay your taxes what do you think eventually happens? People will come to your door to arrest you and they will have guns and you will have no choice. That is, if you can survive after all your assets have been frozen.
Christopher Coulter
· 1 year ago
Of course all you talk about is politics, just more of the tech kind, as blogger spaz, conference meet and greets, daily gossip with the insider Twitter clam-chowder soupheads, keeping Dave Winer happy and sane, interviewing lame start-up companies in desperate need of any PR, flippant off-the-deep-end lame attempts to drive up traffic, and always inserting yourself into any major controversy, that's pure all politics.
Thankfully, it's extremely isolated, the same group talking to the same circular audiences. 24/7/365 Narcissistic Personality Disorder Social Networking.
Christopher Coulter
· 1 year ago
Weird how the two countries view themselves.
Yeah, serious differences of opinion, Yorktown proved that well enough.
Guest
· 1 year ago
i think the point is that no one gives a shit about what you have to say about politics... not that "they unsubscribed."
maybe you should actually listen to some of your readers, i.e. customers.
The "smart" people are the ones who dont want to listen to a TECH BLOGGER preach about POLITICS... you just don't have the credibility there.
Would you read reviews of start ups on the huffington post??? Exactly...
Bryan
· 1 year ago
"Last time I checked this is still my +personal blog+ where I get to write about whatever I am interested in."
Funny how people sometimes forget that.
Maurice
· 1 year ago
I can think of only 3 or 4 posts that robert has done that are political at all and only this one which is a realy political one.
Its surprising that when any tech podcaster/bloger makes even the most mild political comment that would not be at all controversial in any european context they get a few to be frank nut jobs ranting about socialisiam :-)
Ben
· 1 year ago
Yeah, serious differences of opinion, Yorktown proved that well enough.
I presume you're referring to some US event that everyone else is blissfully ignorant of. After all, I wouldn't expect just anyone to know about random events in Australia just because I'm Australian.
marco
· 1 year ago
I keep subscribed to your feed right because you don't talk only 'bout tech. And I would also if I did not agree to your political views so strongly as I do.
Nikos Drandakis
· 1 year ago
I'm totaly with you on this Robert...
daniel
· 1 year ago
I like the politics...it is that damn tech stuff that pisses me off. When can we discuss religion more in depth?
Fred Grott
· 1 year ago
Hm only interested insmart data Robert?
You know during July I as in the GillMore Gang ustream chat room and was board and the whole gang watched a social experiment unfold where several of us posted rumor son FriendFeed to see who would be very unsmart and take that rumor and not verify it before running with it.
I seem to recall a certain Robert Scoble running full steam with that rumor rather take any time to verify it..
The lesson is not deleting people form your connections..
But verifying information received from connections before relying upon it..
Think back to last Summer where you were reacting on bad data because you refuse to do the work to verfiy it..Pot Calling Kettle Black comes to mind..
Bob
· 1 year ago
Wow, what hypocrisy I'm reading here. But it is typical. on both sides. What is often forgotten by the side that is reacting to being called "un american", is that their party(yes the party of "inclusion" Dem's) has said some pretty nasty things about the other party as well. But that is overlooked as being necessary. The ends justifies the means kind of thing.
There is Acorn for which a specific candidate has worked for and did training for as well, actively "working" to win the election for a specific candidate. Once again, it matters not how they win, just that they win. But that will be overlooked here as well.
Oh and about the surplus. Yes you are correct, there may have been one. There had been a decline in the economy that had started before GWB took office. But in 2001, we were attacked on our own soil. The president decided that his first responsibility is the protection of the people of this country. Can any of you remember the when we have been attacked on our own soil since 2001? A strong economy is only good if we are safe as a nation. I for one thank GWB for this. I hope who ever wins the next election also takes the stance that the protection of our nation comes first. Cause who cares if the economy is strong, if we are dodging bullets and bombs on the way to the store to buy more stuff?
smartminion
· 1 year ago
I think the reason many unsubscribed or (like) me were just highly agitated was not that you were talking about politics really but the tone and way you do it. the words snarky, petty, smug, elitist come to my mind reading this stuff. that and you're just plain wrong so much :) jmo
Cris Cohen
· 1 year ago
Never mind them. As Gary Vaynerchuk says (who I found because of one of your posts), execute on being you:
Robert, you dilute your brand by discussing politics. Whether you like it or not, half of your readers will disagree with you politically. On an emotional, visceral level. You can't change that.
Start a political blog, announce it here, link to it, whatever. Every time you get the urge to write something political, do it there.
I used to buy into the, "it's my personal blog and I'll write what I want, politics and all" view. Then I saw how upset I'd get reading political comments from people I though were otherwise intelligent on other issues. Maybe it's because the political views were expressed as snarky, gloating, name-calling drivel instead of intellectual discussions. Fine. I found I was writing the same sort of junk, just from the other perspective. So I started a political blog. Problem solved.
In fact, I found I myself like my other blog better now. Go figure...
Eric Rice
· 1 year ago
Note: Do not write a post that says 'iPhone owners are un-American, GO OBAMA' cuz yeah, the universe will implode people's hard drives, yea verily. /smirk
Gib at BriefEpisode
· 1 year ago
Robert,
I haven't read the post in question or the comments. I'll probably skip at this point.
But to this post of yours I'd like to reply as an Angel's Advocate for a moment.
Although you are definitely a multi-channel, multi-media personality, not everyone subscribes to all your channels of Scobleness.
I tend to be more up to date on your Tweets, your Facebook, your Shared Items. I read your blog less often but in longer sits. I tend not to watch original video content at all if it's tech oriented.
So although your point is valid that your output on political topics is a small percentage, if people focus only on the channel or yours that's featuring the kind of topics they don't favor, that's a different thing than saying all your output on all channels in all media is narrowly focused.
Just as in the ink & paper world it's fine & normal for subscribers to write to the editor about reasons for cancelling subscriptions, I think it's fine if people put in comments their reasons for unsubbing to your blog since you're really a demi-god her (more than an editor or publisher).
If the comments are cranky or mean in tone, I'm always in favor of zapping them!
Don't lose faith. People comment & leave & that's fine too. I suspect you won't have any shortage of subscribers.
One door closes, another opens.
Best,
Gib
mlewis106
· 1 year ago
So is this a political post or does this get tagged as posts about political posts and tech posts. Blogging can be a hassle sometimes..
Matt Moran
· 1 year ago
Personally I don't mind if you do want to talk politics - everyone's entitled to his/her opinion anyway. I find my opinions often coincide with yours where you reveal them though, and everyone likes to hear people agreeing with them. :-)
K. Smith
· 1 year ago
I, personally, like that your posts are diverse. While I don't always agree with all of your opinions, they make me. . .think. You'd be one-dimensional (and not nearly as entertaining) if you limited your blog to only tech talk!
EJ Hill
· 1 year ago
Wow! What a bunch of touchy-feeling almost grown-ups ;-) It's Robert's personal blog, full stop. He can say what he wants about what he wants. That said, I think anyone spending this much effort on either Palin or Obama should go check political history - it's nasty, it's corrupt, it's filled with double-standards ... And, no, I don't defend Robert ... I dislike both Palin and Obama, for my own reasons. And I'm not even from the US.
Scoble, all I see from you is hypocrisy and retaliation.
You say in your post: "Which makes me very happy at the unsubscribes. I’m hoping for a smart audience here, not one that throws insults based on bad data."
And then to Jake: "Jake: a smart audience is one that can have a conversation without throwing stupid insults like “I’m unsubscribing.” Smart people just unsubscribe, they don’t need to let the world know."
But you do the very thing you're griping about. As people are unsubscribing, you only ridicule them further. You're in essence yelling back "Good! I only want *smart* people to read what I have to say!", implying that those who unsubscribe and let you know are somehow less intelligent for doing so.
You say, "Smart people just unsubscribe, they don’t need to let the world know.". How very gracious you are to "let the world know" about how stupidly people are acting.
Live up to your stated standard, or don't state one.
All Comments
You write a blog, you express your opinion and in turn you accept comments, in which others express their opinion. It's part of the process - why this giant chip on your shoulders recently?
I personally enjoy your views on a lot of stuff. Whether I always agree with them or not, it's always insightful and interesting.
Americans have two very decent candidates for President, yet both sides can't seem to promote their candidate without pulling the other one down. I've personally had enough of that.
I know that in the Bay Area it is hard to see any point-of-view other than that of the Left, just as those in the South have a problem seeing any point-of-view other than that of the Right. But I guess I expect from intelligent people an intellectual curiosity that drives them to at least try to understand the opposing view. For some reason, that seems to be blatantly lacking in today's politics.
In a word, I guess I'd ask for one thing: Civility.
I think you live in one of those parts of the country that aren't pro-America (at least according to Palin), so you've automatically got a bunch of haters.
Funny, which part of the post was polarizing? Nuclear power? McCain's for that and Obama is at least partially against. Or were you talking about the Un American part? Oh, that's just a play on what Sarah Palin said over the weekend where she called me un American for not living in the right place.
See it's our leaders that are being polarizing. I think most of us can come to our own conclusion.
We all experience politics in our everyday dealings with co-workers, friends and family, whether this includes a Presidential candidate or writing a New Business proposal.
Folks who shy away from "politics" of any form don't realize that they're already "in" it and might realize greater personal gain if they think bigger picture.
Totally my thought. Robert.. This shit that's going on seems to be draggin ya down a bit. You sit on your blog and preach about how it's only going to get worse, all negative energy.. Take a deep breath and realign yourself. Maybe you need to take a break. Is that the smartest decision business wise? In the short run of course it isn't, but I advise you to sit back today and evaluate the aspects of your life. How has your perception and attitude changed. I say this simply because I totally respect your work and have seen some more fire in you recently.. Take some deep breaths, and relax! You're a great guy and you're going to come out of this mess on top! Just don't burn yourself out before then, okay?!
As an American with a strong view that doesn't fix with the right-wing view you are clearly "unhinged". If you were a Republican or Libertarian, you'd be branded a "traitor" or "socialist". Heaven forbid you show some passion about something - geez.
This is classic fear politics. Brand opposing views as extremist or out of control. In the meantime, you go about doing the same thing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3OITNcsvFw
Man, I'd hate to see what they'd say if you were black...
Just FYI, I thought about unsubscribing when you were at Microsoft (I'm not a fan of MSFT), but I realized that your viewpoint was important and it was my own shortcomings that wanted to shut it out...
Keep up the great blogging. I'm sad these days because your blog is so sparse. I'm not really into friendfeed and your Google Reader feed doesn't have much "Scoble prose".
Why is it that the politicos can talk tech but the techies can't talk politics?
So let me get this straight - this is your personal blog, thus whatever you write is personal??? Even though you are employed by Fast Company TV? Given your comments last week about the whole Dare/ Arrington/ TechCrunch curfuffle and how personal blogs reflect on the employer bla bla, and should face consequences, how can you now hide behind the who personal blog line? Are you saying that you are representing the thoughts of Fast Company. TV or for that matter your sponsors with your political slants?
Personally I could not care less what you write about, as I believe you and any other person can write what they care about at their personal site - I just find your use of the personal blog line a bit absurd given your stance last week (which was against what you had said in the past). Food for thought.
Just like Google's CEO today endorsed Barack Obama and said that is separate from Google and should not be seen as Google endorsing Barack, same thing should be seen here.
Of course, there's always the risk that I'll lose a sponsor.
I ALWAYS face consequences for what I write here. That's the point what I was trying to make last week. I don't try to pretend there aren't consequences.
Point taken, however, your comments last week are more extensive. It is more akin to people taking what you are writing and then calling out the companies you cite to take action against you as an employee. That is the line that was crossed. That you should should be taken to task (attacked if you will) by your employers for your own personal opinions expressed on your personal blog, that, at least in the case of Dare was not even in the same realm as for example the hot topic and dogma of politics and religion. I am simply trying to get you to see that was an error. Having an opinion about someone elses opinion is what it is all about - calling to have someone fired or whatever else because of an opinion is not acceptable and is not something that gels with your prior statements about the importance of freedom of speech. You call for someone to be potentially fired, and you have taken away their means of subsisting, that is a form of stifling freedom of speech.
While I disagree and am bothered by some of what you have written lately, it is your right and I think you would be rightly bothered that your freedom of speech is being attacked if someone like Arrington would start calling for you to face consequences with your employers for legally expressing yourself.
There may be other consequences, such as dwindling readers etc, but calling for action against took it too far.
To those that think he should stick to tech, why not just gloss over the non-tech posts you don't want to read and focus on the knowledge that Robert brings to the tech space?
-Scott
Maybe that sounded bad, so how about: You don't have interesting things to say so often that I am willing to wade through your trash to find it.
Now, you have the right to speak about whatever you want. First off, we live in this great country that affords you that freedom. Secondly, this is your blog. Two points I'll readily acknowledge.
I think the part for me (I'm not unsubscribing from this or any other blog... everyone will shut the heck up one way or the other come late November, I hope) is that I consider this blog (and your shared feeds which I also subscribe to) as a valuable source of tech information.
When you start talking politics, though, it's as if I've gone to Home Depot and they've decided today to instead sell sporting goods (to pick a topic I care as little about as people's political opinions). Several additional trips confirm for me that randomly, I will either find hardware or I will find sporting goods and there's no way for me to predict what it will be. (Ok, I RSS so the store comes to me, but still.)
So I'm all for politics in the context of what it will provably(yeah, not a word) mean for technology, but not just what you generally think.
And in the end, I'm the one who's out of line because it's not my blog and I can easily "change the channel." But I don't want to, because most of the time I like the channel. To me it's a question of knowing your audience. And maybe that isn't a relative factor.
(And since I RSS, this is a hit and run; won't be able to see a response.)
In your page title you have "Scobleizer - Tech geek blogger", is "Tech geek blogger" one description or is it "Tech, Geek, Blogger" 3 descriptions?
Maybe that is the confusion? I have always thought your blog was about technology and less "personal".
Maybe you should update your Title to clear up the confusion :)
I do agree though, I come to your site for tech news not political news which as far as the blog is concerned the tech part of it is disappearing which is sad cause 'personally' I hate following things on FriendFeed, or Twitter, or the like, to much noise for my liking, I like an article and then comments.
Your google feed has become far more interesting than your blog, but it's not my blog so I can't complain to much :)
Cheers.
The folks before, maybe childishly, proclaimed they were unsubscribing from this blog because it is too political. You point out that that's not the case because you write about technology elsewhere. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Their point wasn't the literal one, that you never write about anything but politics... it was that there's a low tech signal-to-noise ratio lately.
Further, I don't think "I'm unsubscribing" is an insult... presumably you care who reads your blog and how many of us there are, and also presumably you'd be interested to know what you might be doing that's causing people to go away (or not go away).
That's not to say that you'd necessarily change your behavior on account of it, but it's good information to have. Writing polarizing political pieces like you have been is a sure-fire way to create ill will towards you (both personally and professionally) as well as turning this blog into something of an echo chamber... see, e.g., all of the "OMG REPUBLICANS R SO STUPID" comments above.
I'm not saying that being a liberal is making people hate you, of course, it's all in the presentation. A good number of your posts have a not-so-subtle undertone of "if you disagree, you're an idiot, because I'm clearly right about this." That goes for not just your politics pieces but also your economy pieces of late.
Not that you should change, but you should at least be aware of what kind of community you're promoting so that you can decide whether it's the kind you'd like to have. Maybe it is -- in which case, carry on (and posts like this are wholly unnecessary).
If, on the other hand, you're looking for an intelligent, diverse, reasonable, and tolerant community, you should set the tone for that by treating your subjects as though you understand that there is room for people to differ with you.
To illustrate this, i looked at Google mentions for 'unAmerican', which game me over 2.5 million responses. 'UnBritish', on the other hand, gives me just under 6000 mentions, with UnEnglish only a few 100 more. Weird how the two countries view themselves.
Secondarily, I think that while your tech thoughts are very insightful, your political comments are rather shallow, in my humble opinion lowering your overall value/word or value/post value.
Your are definitely entitled to your opinion and this is your personal blog but when you make your contact information available or turn comments on you are inviting feedback. Don't have a hissy fit when people give you their opinions back.
Like other people have said, you do appear to have a giant chip on your shoulder of late.
I couldn't care less what you say on your blog. Hell, I enjoy reading whatever you write because I think you're a smart guy but you really need to learn to accept criticism.
If you can't handle negative feedback, then don't blog about topics which are going to get people fired up e.g. politics, religion etc. Alternatively, disable commenting.
It is your blog and you are entitled to write about whatever you want but the same applies to your readers.
Naked conversations and all that jazz...
Peace dude.
What disturbs me is the fear of political discussions. Far too many people want to believe that Democrats spend more and do not wish to consider the fact that there was a budget surplus 8 years ago and the fiscal responsibility of Clinton was replaced by fiscal responsibility of Bush. Shouldn't we discuss such things in a reasonable manner? Are we simply left to robo calls as the mainstay of political discussion. Too bad we can't unsubscribe to robo calls.
And, yes, taxation is physical force. If you don't pay your taxes what do you think eventually happens? People will come to your door to arrest you and they will have guns and you will have no choice. That is, if you can survive after all your assets have been frozen.
Thankfully, it's extremely isolated, the same group talking to the same circular audiences. 24/7/365 Narcissistic Personality Disorder Social Networking.
Yeah, serious differences of opinion, Yorktown proved that well enough.
maybe you should actually listen to some of your readers, i.e. customers.
The "smart" people are the ones who dont want to listen to a TECH BLOGGER preach about POLITICS... you just don't have the credibility there.
Would you read reviews of start ups on the huffington post??? Exactly...
Funny how people sometimes forget that.
Its surprising that when any tech podcaster/bloger makes even the most mild political comment that would not be at all controversial in any european context they get a few to be frank nut jobs ranting about socialisiam :-)
I presume you're referring to some US event that everyone else is blissfully ignorant of. After all, I wouldn't expect just anyone to know about random events in Australia just because I'm Australian.
You know during July I as in the GillMore Gang ustream chat room and was board and the whole gang watched a social experiment unfold where several of us posted rumor son FriendFeed to see who would be very unsmart and take that rumor and not verify it before running with it.
I seem to recall a certain Robert Scoble running full steam with that rumor rather take any time to verify it..
The lesson is not deleting people form your connections..
But verifying information received from connections before relying upon it..
Think back to last Summer where you were reacting on bad data because you refuse to do the work to verfiy it..Pot Calling Kettle Black comes to mind..
necessary. The ends justifies the means kind of thing.
There is Acorn for which a specific candidate has worked for and did training for as well, actively "working" to win the election for a specific candidate. Once again, it matters not how they win, just that they win. But that will be overlooked here as well.
Oh and about the surplus. Yes you are correct, there may have been one.
There had been a decline in the economy that had started before GWB took office. But in 2001, we were attacked on our own soil. The president decided that his first responsibility is the protection of the people of this country.
Can any of you remember the when we have been attacked on our own soil since 2001? A strong economy is only good if we are safe as a nation.
I for one thank GWB for this. I hope who ever wins the next election also takes the stance that the protection of our nation comes first.
Cause who cares if the economy is strong, if we are dodging bullets and bombs on the way to the store to buy more stuff?
jmo
http://garyvaynerchuk.com/2008/09/11/execute-on...
Start a political blog, announce it here, link to it, whatever. Every time you get the urge to write something political, do it there.
I used to buy into the, "it's my personal blog and I'll write what I want, politics and all" view. Then I saw how upset I'd get reading political comments from people I though were otherwise intelligent on other issues. Maybe it's because the political views were expressed as snarky, gloating, name-calling drivel instead of intellectual discussions. Fine. I found I was writing the same sort of junk, just from the other perspective. So I started a political blog. Problem solved.
In fact, I found I myself like my other blog better now. Go figure...
I haven't read the post in question or the comments. I'll probably skip at this point.
But to this post of yours I'd like to reply as an Angel's Advocate for a moment.
Although you are definitely a multi-channel, multi-media personality, not everyone subscribes to all your channels of Scobleness.
I tend to be more up to date on your Tweets, your Facebook, your Shared Items. I read your blog less often but in longer sits. I tend not to watch original video content at all if it's tech oriented.
So although your point is valid that your output on political topics is a small percentage, if people focus only on the channel or yours that's featuring the kind of topics they don't favor, that's a different thing than saying all your output on all channels in all media is narrowly focused.
Just as in the ink & paper world it's fine & normal for subscribers to write to the editor about reasons for cancelling subscriptions, I think it's fine if people put in comments their reasons for unsubbing to your blog since you're really a demi-god her (more than an editor or publisher).
If the comments are cranky or mean in tone, I'm always in favor of zapping them!
Don't lose faith. People comment & leave & that's fine too. I suspect you won't have any shortage of subscribers.
One door closes, another opens.
Best,
Gib
- http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,437201,00.html
- http://www.lifenews.com/nat4141.html
- http://www.christianworldviewnetwork.com/articl...
- http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read....
- http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE....
- http://www.streetprophets.com/storyonly/2006/11...
Scoble, all I see from you is hypocrisy and retaliation.
You say in your post:
"Which makes me very happy at the unsubscribes. I’m hoping for a smart audience here, not one that throws insults based on bad data."
And then to Jake:
"Jake: a smart audience is one that can have a conversation without throwing stupid insults like “I’m unsubscribing.” Smart people just unsubscribe, they don’t need to let the world know."
But you do the very thing you're griping about. As people are unsubscribing, you only ridicule them further. You're in essence yelling back "Good! I only want *smart* people to read what I have to say!", implying that those who unsubscribe and let you know are somehow less intelligent for doing so.
You say, "Smart people just unsubscribe, they don’t need to let the world know.".
How very gracious you are to "let the world know" about how stupidly people are acting.
Live up to your stated standard, or don't state one.