Everyone has a right to be stupid, but some people abuse the privilege. There are a lot of people who are sick and tired of having to eke their way through life. A lot of people are sick of being nobody. A lot of people’s lives have been reduced to inconsequential chatter with their inconsequential friends. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions and their lives a second-hand mimicry of others’ life. Such people form groups, stick together and find comfort in each others’ miseries.
That’s The Slimes of India today about bloggers. It goes on to say, “Failed writers and half-wits populate an overrated world called the blogosphere.” Something personal, sir?
This is not the first time that The Slimes of India has maligned bloggers in a generalised article. They keep coming up with baits for MSM-vs.-Bloggers flamewars from time to time as their reply to stuff like this.
It looks like the author’s main problem is with “warfornews.blogspot.com”. I don’t know why he has to take it out on everyone…
Comment by Abi — October 1, 2006 @ 10:19 pm
heh…poor insecure shobhan saxena :) Shows the blogs he reads and follows and therefore what interests him!
My thoughts: Blogging is a platform, like paper is a plaform, you can be The Sun at one end, and Guardian at the other. And the same paper can be used to print anything from “Count your chickens before…” to “War and Peace”…but does any sane person blame paper for all the ills of bad journalism :D?
Comment by Gautam — October 2, 2006 @ 12:41 am
[...] The above words appeared in a Times of India article titled, Bloggers’ Rubbish. The tone of the article suggests that the author, Shobhan Saxena may have been slighted by a blogger. Shivam Vij and WATBlog respond to the article [hat tip: Amit A]. Tsk Tsk, when will the folks at Slimes learn? [...]
Pingback by DesiPundit » Archives » Slimes of India attacks Bloggers — October 2, 2006 @ 4:47 am
deskie. The points mentioned there are not worth responding to. Really, everyone deserves to have their monthly, quarterly, annual episodes of outrage a la Oprah Winfrey. Let the man have his in peace. Though, some, like Shivam, seems to have taken it rather personally and as I speak write, is said to be on his way to stage a sit-in outside the Times House at ITO. The man is also said to have hidden a few Google bombs too his jhola to spray the MD with. Ouch. Life merrily moves on otherwise. It is day three of an
Pingback by Meticulously Underthought - A Malfunctionable Act — October 2, 2006 @ 5:05 am
All bloggers should aim to follow TOI’s high standards.
Every time you visit a blog you should be greeted w/ 15 pop-up ads, trashy gossip and PR posing as editorial content.
Comment by Shodan — October 2, 2006 @ 7:55 am
When Times of India’s reporters are getting exposed left and right in blogs is it a surprise TOI is publishing such articles?
For example see this blog - http://udupipressvictim.wordpress.com - where TOI reporter was exposed in Udupi, Karnataka. The chap was appointed as trustee to a famous temple in Kollur and is now accused of mismanaging crores of rupees.
Comment by Sharad Sinha — October 2, 2006 @ 9:05 am
Interesting, because warfornews is one of my favourite indian blogs. perhaps the favourite blog, if you filter out some of the reader’s comments!
Comment by Alok — October 2, 2006 @ 11:00 am
Insecurity and obscurity oozes of slimes reporter. no wonder slimes uses google ads to generate revenue, instead of some of these paused brain reporters
Comment by Jhinx — October 2, 2006 @ 3:08 pm
[...] ( Generalising about bloggers) Technorati tags: Shobhan Saxena, bloggers, india, blogging for fun Incoming Links (via Tecnorati):No results found No results were found forhttp://www.shaarique.com/are-bloggers-journalists [...]
Pingback by Are bloggers journalists? at Serendipity — October 2, 2006 @ 5:43 pm
The most recent issue of Outlook has a piece in its “Glitterati” section about men linked to Condoleeza Rice romantically; this is a reproduction of an earlier New York Times piece which of course, is not acknowledged.
The Times of India may occupy the bottom spot - both in the quality of reportage and basic ethics - but rest assured that others are not very far behind.
Comment by suresh — October 2, 2006 @ 10:39 pm
Dear Shobhan,
Now that you’ve published this article - which I found closer to the truth than many bloggers would dare to admit - expect many bloggers in India to engage in name-calling, vitriol and basically trash all that you’ve written, directed at you. And do not be perturbed when they do, because that would be entirely in keeping with the nature of the blogging activity. May I say that do not let any of that stop you from writing more such articles, but perhaps with a bit more depth, now that you’ve ploughed the surface?
Nothing in how I think and what think about this matter can be generalized, but there are large sections of bloggers that behave in a monolithic fashion, like groups of teenagers, except that most bloggers are only slightly more aged than teenagers. Statistics on Indian bloggers are scant, but I suspect you’d find that a majority of them are in the under-30 age group. Those who are older go through phases of realization that unless they behave like a teenager, they don’t get too many clicks and definitely not comments. When you combine impressionable age, fascination and awe with technology, the freedom to express, and most important, have enough time on their hands - these young men and women seem to really have nothing productive to do, which I think shouldn’t be surprising given how little of any use actually happens in India - what you get is, unfortunately, all the low-quality stuff. Blogging is closer to tabloid “journalism” than most bloggers realize.
The problem with the blogging activity is that there are no readers. Everybody is a writer. Blogging converts the hard to master skill of “listening to understand” into this “listening to respond” activity, hence the cacophony. Even worse, the younger generation of internet savvy boys and girls think that this “listening to respond” is all that is needed and that the more articulately and the more louder you shout, the more response you’ll get. Again, like a teenager a typical blogger would refuse to even register that there is such a problem. That, my friend, has got to change. I hope you’d spend some time thinking about these deeper issues in your next article, should you survive the mud-slinging in the aftermath of this article!:-)
Yours,
DesiAnonymous
Comment by DesiAnonymous — October 2, 2006 @ 11:11 pm
The comments above (near to the top) prove Shobhan Saxena’s point. The deal with blogging is that if you write well, you must be right. Which isn’t quite right!
Comment by Kaput — October 3, 2006 @ 11:40 am
[...] Shivam pointed out an article that was so disparaging of bloggers that it was inane and asinine at the same time (a difficult job!). Of course, bloggers are not journalists. Or aspiring to be journalists. However there are great people like Govind, Sonia, Dilip, Rashmi, Uma who are bloggers as well as journalists. [...]
Pingback by The Slimes of India attacks journalists « Forming and Storming — October 3, 2006 @ 1:01 pm
Actually, Shobhan Saxena is right to an extent. He might have generalized a bit too much, but I concur with him on the broader point he is trying to make, which is - there is a whole of shit being written and by virtue of sites like desipundit, they are attracting a lot of attention as well. Case in point - some article in some blog severly criticizing Subhas Bose, which appears in desipundit, and the bloggers seemingly scared shit of the rebuttals do not even have a comment section.
Comment by deep — October 3, 2006 @ 4:33 pm
At least individuals have some voice… however little that is.
But, most people do differentiate between a serious news site.. and a blog…
Comment by Apun Ka Desh — October 3, 2006 @ 9:10 pm