Paul O'Flaherty

Bloggers can’t be trusted!

Mainstream media knows it! The FCC knows it! We know it ourselves yet refuse to admit it.

You know it and “Nic” from My Bottles Up (site has a black splash screen thrown up at time of posting)  has just proved it beyond question.

Bloggers seek attention. That’s why we blog. I’ve said it many times before, the only reason people blog is because they are attention whores. You can give all the excuses you want, or even throw out the oldest defence, that you blog for yourself. It’s therapeutic.

Well, if it’s therapy you need, or therapy you’re looking for, then buy a diary or share your woes with Microsoft Word and leave them off the internet.

We are attention seekers.

In a spark of what I will kindly assume what psychotic behavior, either that or her bottle really had been upended and emptied (repeatedly) one mommy blogger has proven why bloggers are not to be taken seriously, let alone be trusted.

She wrote a long and impassioned post decrying and vilifying the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) claiming that they had taken and separated her from her son, among many other spurious allegations.

My son was taken from me.

Taken.

My son was taken from me by the TSA agents at Atlanta Harstfield-Jackson airport yesterday.

As usual twitter was in uproar. As expected the support rolled in, generating over 300+ comments on the post.

But then the truth came out. The TSA decided that enough was enough and released the actual security footage of her trip through airport security. All time stamped. An act of complete transparency which demonstrates beyond a doubt that she was lying.

She was lying. The story was fabricated. She is now in virtual hiding.

You know what the problem with attention seekers is? They desire attention. They’re always looking for new ways to get it.

Bloggers call that building an audience. There are many ways to go about this. You can work your ass off and write daily. You can run competitions and you can write about stuff sent to you for review. Stuff which other folks may not have. Objects that they want. Objects that they desire and will visit your blog to read about.

The FCC knows this. That’s why they implemented the guidelines that they have. They know that there are very few incorruptible people out there. Most people have their price.

Sure you may say that you would never compromise the integrity of your blog (or yourself) but who are you to speak for the millions of other people that call themselves bloggers?

Sure you may claim that your readers are smart enough to know the difference if you’ve suddenly turned into a shill or are lying or even just padding the facts a little. Well, if that’s the case why was everybody in uproar and support of “My Bottles Up Nic” until the TSA released the video?

You may still be angry that we are not treated the same as our traditional media brethren. You know, the media which has an editorial process and a visible entity to challenge (legally or otherwise) if information is false, misleading or just blatant advertising.

We are, for the most part, a pack of attention seeking wannabes. We have proven ourselves time and again to be willing to post information that is unresearched and uncorroborated. We’ve proven that we are willing to be shills for as little as $5. We’ve proven that we act as mob with knee jerk reactions. As of today we’ve also proven, not for the first or sadly the last time, that we are willing to lie just to get a bit of attention.

We can’t be trusted! Until we prove that we can be then we have no business claiming we should be taken seriously and treated the same.