* follow-up: wtf, me...?

...
Well, now...

What was that all about, then...?

Why on earth did I so totally go off on one about this particular topic...?

Why this?  Why now?

I huff and puff and sigh and shake my head and discuss with friends and family and collegues about how terrible/ ridiculous/ etc things are.

I sometimes sign petitions (when someone else organises them and all I really have to do is enter a few details and click a few buttons and can be bothered or organised to do even that).

I occasionally complain about things that impact on me directly.

Sad, and lazy, but true.

So what was it that so got right up my humph that I wrote a full-blooded complaint and then followed it up with a ranty wee blog about how that complaint was treated?

Was it the 'raised in a politically active Socialist 70s and 80s Scottish working class family' part of me resurfacing?
(wonder if my wee brother remembers being on demos and marches in his pram, chanting "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie! Out, Out, Out!")

Was it that long-forgotten part of me that was a member of CND and used to strike and protest against cuts while at university?
("Sit down, join the fight, education is a right!")

Pretty sure that 'no'.
If so, wouldn't it have come out before now?
(pun slightly intended, given what I complained about).

I was never a Boyzone fan or a fan of the man himself, so it's not like I felt particularly protective or precious about the poor soul.

So what was it that lit the blue touchpaper?

Was it that everyone else seemed to be complaining and I got swept along?
Was I part of the 'orchestrated campaign' she claimed had risen up on "teh interwebs"?

No.

I wouldn't have taken hours out of my own time to write the complaint and then blog about it if that was the case - again, sad, and lazy, but true.

Was it the standard template auto-response brush-off from the PCC?

Well, that didn't help... because I have thought and thought and thought about this, and the only thing I can think of is that I got fed up.

Plain and simple, I got fed up.

Fed up with seeing poorly written copy, lies, innuendo, and downright nastiness appear as acceptable pieces of 'journalism' that get publicity (and paid for).

Once something is out there, you can't take it back - not any more.

You can apologise, you can retract, you can correct, you can boycott and complain, you can punish with fines or sackings - but you can't make it un-happen.

In this day and age, copies will always exist, someone will always remember... and isn't that how rumours and urban legends start?

Isn't that how nonsense like 'vaccines are dangerous' and 'Diana was murdered' and 'Obama is a Kenyan Muslim' keeps going?

I know that it was her opinion, and I will defend to the end of time her right to have that opinion.

But she gets paid for writing her opinion, and that opinion is then made easily available and accessible in the public domain.
So, for her to claim that her article and intention was 'misunderstood'...?

* breathes and counts to 10 slowly *

I am so fed up of hearing "ah, but, see... what I meant was..." - especially when you are supposed to be a professional writer to trade.

If you have something to say, say it - that's what you are apparently paid for.

If you are then misunderstood by so many people (over 25,000 complaints to the PCC, a Facebook group, Tweets, other articles and comments condemning what you write, etc)...

... well...

... I would think that you might want to maybe rethink your career choice or may go on a refresher course or brush up your skills a little...?

Because that many people misunderstanding you - either we are all thick or...

... you and your editor knew exactly what you you were doing when you published that article on that day, and have sat back and enjoyed the publicity since then, knowing that it'll all blow over and fade and be forgotten about until the next big story or controversy (ooh look, a kid in a flyaway balloon only not but with mad parents and the BNP on the BBC...!)

 And yes, I am aware that I'm not helping by going on about it.  So I'll stop.

:-\
.