Monday, November 5, 2012

Book Blogger Confessions - Book Blogging and Politics (Monday, November 5, 2012)


Book Blogger Confessions is a meme that allows book bloggers to discuss issues unique to what we encounter in the blogging world. Every 1st and 3rd Monday of the month we will post a question and invite you to answer, comment and discuss opinions and different views.

Please keep the dialogue courteous. No bashing!

If you would like to participate in this meme sign up below and please feel free to to grab the button to include in your post with a link to For What It's Worth Reviews or here at Midnyte Reader.

Question - Should bloggers & authors discuss politics? Does that turn you off to a blogger or an authors books if they tweet/post about their political positions or do you appreciate their passionate point of view?

Answer - Politics is a very volatile subject and so are the issues that underlie them (same sex marriage, abortion, health care, taxes) and it's difficult not to get passionate and sensitive at times.   Ironically, most of the bloggers and authors I follow and are friends with have similar views and if they don't, I don't really know about it, probably because it's just not something we discuss.   

Frankly, I don't enjoy talking about politics or even thinking about it (although I know I have to somewhat).  I just don't feel intelligent enough to wade through all the chaff and b.s. to decipher what a politician/party/statement really means and what they plan to do.  Even if they do make promises I'm pretty dubious as well.  And since we're being honest, I just don't find the subject of politics as interesting or invigorating as the subject of books or authors or stories.  

I don't really mind when a blogger or author tweets/posts about their political positions unless they are just trying to shove it down my throat.  Sometimes I do feel that people are kind of shouting on Twitter, especially if they repeat something ad nauseum.   

That being said, if bloggers and authors wish to discuss politics that is fine, but if you want to discuss politics with me, you'll probably just get short concise opinions until someone changes the subject.

What do you think about politics within the book blogging world?  Too controversial to discuss or do you enjoy the debate?  Let me know, this is one time I would enjoy hearing about politics!



10 comments:

Julie@My5monkeys said...

Those topics you mentioned are one's that everyone is passionate about. Yes the repeating get me sometimes :(

Karen said...

As long as I'm not being bashed over the head with your opinion I'm ok with the occasional tweet - links to an article etc.

I think twitter tends to lead to lots of shouting so I don't bother and FB is just plain rude when it comes to politics lol

I just look away.

TP said...

I don't mind if a blogger (book blogger) posts their political opinion - I mean, it's there space after all - I think everyone should write about whatever they are passionate about whenever, and how often they wish. I suppose if I don't like it, then I also don't have to keep reading that person's blog - or I can just skip those posts.

Tanya Patrice
Girlxoxo.com

Smash Attack Ash said...

I want people to be able to talk about this stuff like civil human beings! It makes me sad that we act like heathens. *sad panda*

Aurian said...

As an international reader/follower, I am not all that much interested in politics, and I am very glad not to see those advertisements, or getting calls about politics.
But on your own blog, you should be able/allowed to post whatever you want. And your readers can choose to read the post, and/or comment, or ignore it.

Jayla The (Almost) Librarian said...

I used to be like you. I felt stupid and unintelligent about talking politics. However I found out the more I talked about it, the more I was able to underrand things. I am not an expert but I don't feel as dumb as I used to.

Kimberly @ Midnight Book Girl said...

Being in a tightly contested swing state this year I feel like politics are being shoved down my throat 24/7. I wish I wasn't seeing it every where I go and with everything I do, however people can say what they want, it's their blog/twitter/facebook/whatever. What really bothers me is people who cannot be respectful or polite about what other people say. I've seen such nasty things (especially on facebook) it makes me sick.

Kate @Midnight Book Girl said...

I try to avoid being political on my blog even though I do keep up with politics. I don't mind if people mention politics, but I will unfollow someone if I feel like they are being negative- I don't care what a person's party affiliation is, if they can't talk about their views without trashing the opinions of others then they probably won't miss my follow. I did unfollow a few people on facebook because they called people who didn't vote they way they wanted idiots or worse... life's too short for Negative Nellies and Neds.

Obviously living in a swing state made things a bit noisier this time of year, and our phone rang off the hook some days (tonight was ridiculous!) but it didn't bother me because I just ignored. I don't watch a lot of tv so honestly I didn't see a lot of Obama or Romney adds- mostly just local ones. And some of those were snarky and funny, one I really thought was a parody the first time I saw it. So I guess I can deal with negative ads as long as they are amusing?

And I love living in a swing state!

fakesteph said...

Interesting question. I think it depends on the author. Discussing politics can either engage part of your audience, or isolate them. I think an author needs to be aware of the effects before talking politics, but if they are really passionate about something, I'd say go for it. Maureen Johnson tweets about current events on twitter and I always find her political tweets, like her non-political tweets, to be entertaining, even if I don't agree with her. It's also not all she posts about. So... I think as long as its not all an author talks about and they don't get mad if *some*people can't handle it and stop following them, then it's cool.

Paige Prince said...

I absolutely refuse to talk politics. I'm very passionate about my beliefs but I don't talk about them because I like the people I talk to on twitter And FB and I'd like to continue liking them. Lol

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