Writers are humans too
September 5th, 2005 by Yvonne
I’m terribly sorry over a heartbreaking incident that happened on the PPS blog, though I must admit that this is more of a personal attachment towards a friend than anything else. We all know how minishorts reacted when Kenny Sia was attacked over the explicit photograph he posted on his blog, or how fans of XiaXue stand up for her whenever her blog is throlled upon. I never really understood why those people get so emotional over the internet, but I’m getting a taste it now.
Here is the case. Mr. Writer made a merdeka post in the PPS blog and attached a photograph of the national flag to it. He found the picture using Google Search and sent an e-mail to the owner asking for permission. While waiting for a reply, Mr. Writer proceeded to write his post and published it by accident, when it was still in editing process. Since the post was not yet finalised, Mr. Writer did not give credit to the owner of the photograph in time before the post was made public. And coincidentally, the owner of the photograph happened to be a frequent of PPS and caught sight of his property, and being an avid photographer, he could not tolerate his work being used without his permission, which is normal. Mr. Writer admitted his negligence and apologized to the owner. He also made a statement of regret at the top of the blogpost, after explaining to the owner about the whole incident. The owner forgave and accepted Mr. Writer’s apology. Everything should have been settled by this time, but…
Well, everyone is entitled to comment and share their opinions, but do they have to trash poor Mr. Writer the way they did? To me, this is a small mistake and a misunderstanding that can be settled easily, do they have to add salt to wound? Or is it because Mr. Writer is a writer, therefore they expect more out of him? But writers are humans too and just like anyone else, we make mistakes all the time. To me, this is logically an innocent mistake because a writer could not have risked stealing someone’s picture and put his reputation at stake. Why can’t we forgive and be understanding towards Mr. Writer, just like the way we would to everyone else?
As a friend, I deeply regret that this has to happen to such a promising writer. But the damage is done and Mr. Writer has resigned from the PPS blog out of integrity. What a great loss to all of us.
Posted in In My Humble Opinion |
September 5th, 2005 at 11:55 am
I have a feeling that those who didn’t forgive Mr. Writer would not have forgiven anybody. Some folks just don’t have it in them to leave space for such things as forgiveness. It surely must be a truth that we dislike most in others that which we cannot accept in ourselves. You are so right that Mr. Writer was treated unfairly. I admire and respect him for his integrity and you for speaking out on his behalf. I suspect this will gain him something much greater in the long run. At least the believer in me hopes so.
smiles,
me-Liz
September 5th, 2005 at 11:56 am
Hi Yvonne:
Just a reiteration of my comment at the PPS post when I directed a sort of fellow writers’ appeal. viz:
John Ling, Do not be too harsh on thyself. You don’t need to withdraw from PPS just because of a “genuine mistake”, I used “intent” (being half a loyar-buluk here, I think lawyers use “mens rea”?) to say there was none to deceive or to be dishonest, that is “no malicious intent”, so Odds*Ends, was similarly asked to LET IT BE, as Ling as apologised promptly. Writers who always live life with PASSION have many other battle-fields to go to WAR to — like with these Politicians-RobberBarons? — so lte’s indeed give aeach other some leeway.
From a writer-cum-PoetAspirant, who sometimes spies some of my own Verses resembling other published Poets. so am I also guilty of plagiarism, innocent though I know I am?
September 5th, 2005 at 1:24 pm
Yvonne,
I read and knew about the controversy. It was really bad and when the case was closed, they re-opened it again by adding salt to wound, just like what you’ve said.
It was really sad and unfair to see Mr. Writer resigned from PPS just because of this little mistake. But I am proud because he did it out of integrity. But one thing that I don’t understand is, again, why thrash him when he did some mistakes accidentally? We’ve always Googled for images but why it had to happen this way?
Life is pretty unfair and yeah, writers make mistakes too because all of us are humans. And we are bound to make mistakes sometimes.
He apologised to the Owner of the photo… So that’s it. Why bring it up again and thrash him with harsh comments? Once something has been let go.. They should have left it there.. Not re-creating another hoo-ha…
Mr. Writer will be better in the long run because he will be respected and he’s a man of integrity and he uphold his words. Bravo!
People make mistakes… We are bound to make mistakes cause we ain’t perfect… No one is perfect. Forgive and forget…
Well, at least Mr. Writer is feeling better now.
*hugs*
September 5th, 2005 at 1:34 pm
Time to grow up and get used to the harsh realities of the world. If any writer considers that incident to heart, then that writer cannot be considered as a serious writer.
A serious writer is not just a person of words. He or she must be a person grounded on reality and one who understands the world around him or her. That means, understanding that errors will be made and that critisism will be forth-coming. Sometimes, such critism may or may not be justified. That is called reality.
Writing, like any other pre-occupation, has its detractors and competitors. Take anything that you do, and there will be people who will be out to “get you”. Why? Well, sometimes, it’s because you are a competitor for the same market. Sometimes for no reason other than that they can find an excuse to do so. Ie, you gotta learn how to survive all this, else you get nowhere - Law of the jungle, so to speak.
You can also look at it positively. A writer who is of no substance, will not attract detractors and critics. If you are any good as a writer, of course there will be those out to get you. So, you can also see critism as a measure of how effective you are as a writer. Remember, nobody will bother to critisize an ineffectual writer.
Now, think about Salman Rushdie. He is a very effective writer, so effective that he got a REAL fatwa thrown at him. Ok, maybe you don’t want to be that effective, but I think you get my point.
The other thing about be a successful writer is that one also has to be commercially successful, ie. make money, and that means, you gotta be business minded. You can’t just think about poetry and being altruistic and all that. You have got to SELL your wares. And the moment you start writing with a commercial intent in mind, you WILL end up with all sorts of allegations of infringements. That is a natural course of doing business, any kind of business.
Take any successful writer, singer, composer, poet, etc., and you will see that he or she has a string of lawsuits outstanding against him or her. Why? People are jealous mah! And the more successful you are, the more jealous people there will be.
So, look at it positively. When people start to critisize writers, that is when people start to take the writers seriously.
September 5th, 2005 at 5:50 pm
Well, I have spent the few years weathering all kinds of unkind comments. I am no stranger to them. I was willing to knuckle down and fight on in order to achieve something as a young writer.
And I have.
So, I now have a choice. I can choose not to take flak from anyone if I do not see it as being fruitful.
Besides, PPS is not commercial. It is journalism and I am doing it purely out of altruism.
If this is about the law of the jungle, then I had best shift my focus from altruism to commercialism. =)
September 5th, 2005 at 7:28 pm
Yep, there will be times when you have to rough it out with all sorts of parties, for all sorts of reasons. And ignoring comments is also a response. That’s all part of the game.
Sooner or later, you will have to go commercial because commercial success is the only real gauge of the success of a writer. I mean, take all the great writers. All of them are ultimately measured by commercial success - JK Rowlings, Stephen Hawkings, even Shakespeare. It’s a question of how many copies they sell, and for how long. Given the form and substance of some of the stuff you write in blogs (which presumably is more of a hobby or past-time), I have no doubt that you will be getting somewhere. Well, you should know better than me. I am just a reader.
Incidentally, all these apocalytic scenarios arising from alleged wrong-doings can also inadvertently work to your favour. Some years back, some idiot competitor tried to sue us for some irrelevant wrong-doing but he blew the case way out of proportion (”your ommission to measure this and that to this level of accuracy will result in untold human suffering”).. or something ludicrous like that. So we counter-sued him for false accusation, defamation, and libel, for a correspondingly ludicrous amount of 10 times what he wanted to get from us. He chickened out, settled all expenses incurred on both sides, and legally promised to withold from bidding for a number of associated projects.
I mean, all sorts of wierd things happen when dealing with people.
September 5th, 2005 at 8:09 pm
Freddie:
Appreciate your telling, sharing us with the harsh realities out there –Commercial writing may drive some ppl, yes, then “success” is equated in earthly wealth, but isn’t there also what other artistes pursue — intangibles such as beauty, truth, happiness, etc, — as John Ling says, Altruism drive — not so much the almighty $ sign, which is fine by me, it’s personal choice really?
Citing JK Rowlings,OK, it is “commercial”; Stephen Hawkings? I think it’s more his IQ that distinguishes, the Beautiful Mind?; Shakespeare, my fave writer, and in my humble opinion, it’s surely NOT a compliment that commercialism driving his success. His was a case of God’s gift — genius born of rare times … (Maybe we’ve both digressed …)
I just repeat an appeal to John Ling, if the “regrets” you expressed was accepted by Odds&Ends, the matter rests, and other souls with other selfish agendas should not cash in. Remember Bridge Over Troubled Water? Let’s share it.
September 5th, 2005 at 10:23 pm
There are writers, and there are successful writers.
For this purpose, let’s define success as commercial success. For all other purposes, all writers are successful because they succeeded in writing something that would at least, make themselves happy.
Many writers come up with a lot of good stuff - beauty, truth, etc., but they don’t eat very well.
Successful writers come up with good stuff, and eat well, and that enables them to come up with more good stuff.
Rowlings, Hawkings, Shakespear are all brilliant. They are all gifted, and geniuses in their times. That’s why they can come up with such fantastic works.
And let’s get real. The only real compliment is commercial success, because it the only realistic measure of how many people read what you write.
As for John Ling, the man wanna move on to better things, new pastures, and whatever else is gonna greet him out there is the wild blue yonder. So let’s wish him well and get him to buy a round of drinks (figuratively).
Hey John, keep an eye out for the snakes, crocodiles, and other creepy crawlies.
September 6th, 2005 at 12:01 am
mmm..thinkin’ bout it…
ed have this funny way of ppl stealing any of his properties!! ur whole website template will be so funny n weird that u cant fix it until u get him to fix it..was hilarious :P~
September 6th, 2005 at 12:25 am
Freddie: Fortunately, many of us do not view success as material gain or financial stability. That’s what make writers a special lot. I’m not trying to preach you into our cult, but why don’t you think about it? Commercial success is not all there is to this world.
September 6th, 2005 at 1:48 am
I agree with Yvonne…
Writers write because it’s their passion.. And being a writer doesn’t mean that commercial success is a must.
They can come up with fantastic works because it’s their passion and because of their passion and interest in writing they evolve. Hence, they write great stuff.
Commercial success might be important for a writer but however as Yvonne has said, not all of us view it this way.
September 6th, 2005 at 1:52 am
Hi Yvonne
As usual, I missed the matter as I had been out most of the days. Can I say, ‘Welcome to the nasty, ugly, blogsphere?’ In time, we will be hardened, I suppose.
September 6th, 2005 at 6:16 am
For me, writing is a hobby. If it stops being fun, then it stops being a hobby. Little point in writing, then.
Let’s consider the matter closed.
Cheers!
September 6th, 2005 at 10:06 am
Ok, let me rephrase it this way….
There are commercially successful writers.
There are writers who write for reasons other than commercial gain.
There are writers who write for the sake of writing.
Strictly speaking, it does not matter why writers write, as long as they are happy with the outcome of what they write, be it commercial gain, a sense of literary accomplishment, or simply for the joy of writing for its own sake.
And as John rightly puts it. If is ceases to serve the intended purpose, then there is no point continuing.
March 12th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
Hi, How about a hobby in Costume making? I love doing it! And, after a while, why not rent them out? Very rewarding indeed! Keep up the good work! Regards, Sheila.
March 13th, 2006 at 6:02 am
Hi I am Angelique, 16 years of age from France, and I make costumes for my hobby. I plan to make my own costume rental business someday. I like blogging as well, as I can tell everybody about my hobby. Bye everybody!