St. Maarten Private Eye

When I started SXM PE almost 3 years ago I knew that the concept of blogs and blogging was new to most people here on the island, that to some it would be controversial and scandalous, perhaps even scary. After all, St. Maarten's political history doesn't really tell a tale of harmonious and free political discourse, nor does it tell a tale of open transparent information and inclusion.

Freedom of speech and an independent media are fundamental to the success of a healthy democracy. The internet and blog sites like SXM PE have rejuvenated freedom of speech around the world, allowing ordinary citizens to voice opinions and ideas with little fear for their livelihood or lives. The internet and blogs have also rejuvenated independent media and information, allowing you, the user, to not only be a reporter and share your opinions easily and immediately, but also giving you much more information with which to make up your own mind on an issue or story.

Click here to Read More
____________________________________________________________

An anonymous comment was made on SXM PE on Wednesday, the writer expressing their disgust at a blog post made by an AUC student on his blog. In the post, which now appears to have been taken offline, the writer expressed his disappointment and unfavorable opinion about customer service and work ethics in St. Maarten, observations that were blunt and founded in some painful truths.

The premise was that many local people have very little education or understanding of business and customer service, my own experience over 20 years or so leads me to agree. Please note that I say many, not all. Is this something to be ashamed of? I don't think so, I don't think it's right to place fault on people who have not been given the opportunities and education required to know better or have such work ethics.

It is common for people from developed countries in Europe, or like the US, where business and commerce moves at a faster pace and is largely populated with a highly educated, professional and strictly managed staff, to assume it should be the same here. It's not, our schools are behind the times and underfunded, our labor and training programs are poorly supported/managed, and our social services and family services are almost non existent. Parenting is an important component of all this and lets face reality here, there is a lot of poor parenting on the island. This AUC student in his responses to his original posting confirmed sadly that he does have some issues connected with culture clash, ignorance and immaturity.

Anyway, I was very surprised on Friday to read an article in the Today Newspaper titled AUC Student riles bloggers.

First of all I would like to point out, considering the article must have been written on Thursday, that only 3 comments were made on SXM PE and none of them are mentioned in the article. So, the opening paragraph of the story in the Today and the headline stating that the post by the student had "riled bloggers on sxmprivateeye.com" was totally false and misleading. I find it interesting why SXM PE was mentioned in the opening paragraph and actual site where the article and comments came required the reader to have a good knowledge of Google Search , perhaps you could explain.

Secondly, it seems clear that there are some who still have difficulty understanding blogs and bloggers. Let me explain for the writer of your article. A "Blogsite" is a place where people write articles or opinions about whatever issue or subject they choose, called "Blog Posts". Some Blogsites are focused on quilt making, some, like Bodo Muth's, are for broadcasting racist and hate propaganda, some are about science, some about news, politics, environment, in fact, pretty much anything you can think of has someone writing a blog about it. A" Blogger" is someone who writes those articles or opinions regularly under a name, their own or a pseudonym. Anyone can be a blogger, but making an anonymous comment does not make you one.

As far as I can see, there were no 'Bloggers" riled on SXM PE. Which leads me to explain to the writer of your article another point he/she should be aware of, that one Blogger's writing or an anonymous comment does not reflect or speak for other Bloggers, the Blogsite it is posted on, or other users of that Blogsite. You see, the wonderful thing about blogs is that you can join and participate in discussions and voice your own opinions and ideas freely, when and if you choose to.

On Saturday you had another article in your Opinion and Commentary section, titled, Blogging where one of your writers tries to enlighten readers about blogs and makes a complete hash of it. According to the writer, blogs, bloggers and those who read and use them are a bunch of gossip mongerers and nerds behaving like bored housewives and teenage girls. Charming and endearing eh?

I guess us internet and blogging nerds shouldn't be offended really, clearly as I mentioned above, there are many people who lack the education they should have and the writer of this piece is obviously one of them. More and more people around the World are turning to blogs and the internet for their news and just about every main newspaper has a website and blogging section. Blogs are helping to build community cohesion and popular movements, Politicians and the Main Stream Media feel threatened by the internet and blogs, and rightly so.

Your articles, in particular the latter, come across as hit pieces against blogs and the internet. For one of the two leading newspapers on the island with no internet presence in 2008, I think that is rather rich. SXM PE provides a forum and library of news going back 3 years that is used by students, civil servants, politicians and even journalists like yourselves. You do of course recall that Bodo Muth was first exposed on SXM PE?

In closing, I would like you to ensure that your reporters and writers do some research about blogs and the internet before writing such misleading trash. Some popular blogsites in the US that might be of interest are Daily Cos, Crooks and Liars and Firedog Lake, all of which receive hundreds of thousands of visitors daily. Wake up to 2008 please.

Flipper
SXM PE.

Online study brings more questions than answers - 13th April 2008

UCI debuts study on pervasive blog craze - 11th April 2008

Study shows that newspaper blogs need to step up interaction with audience - 4th April 2008

Media | Flipper's blog | add new comment