Being Talked About

Wow. What a way to start the day!

As I was getting ready to leave for work this morning, I received a message from one of my friends on Twitter, a fellow writer. She informed me that someone was saying terrible things about me and she included a link in her message. When I clicked on the link, the connection timed out and I had to re-login to Twitter. I tried on my iPhone and my laptop. Both times, the link didn’t go through. I decided to post a tweet telling those who follow me that I’d received this message, that the link wasn’t working and to provide me with details if anyone knew what was said about me. Another writer Twitter friend followed my tweet with a post of her own, reassuring me that it’s SPAM and that someone’s account, unfortunately, was likely hacked.

When I got the initial message, a range of emotions shot through me. Concern, confusion, sadness, anger were the strongest. Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you, while I do have strong views on certain things, I am also very amenable to agreeing to disagree and letting everyone have their own beliefs and opinions. So, when I read the message, I ran through what I’d said, written and recently posted that could have offended anyone in a personal way that he or she would want to lash out at me.

To the writer who sent me the reassuring message, I offered her a ‘thank you’ and, making myself feel better and trying to take a positive spin to the situation, I alluded to the saying that goes something like “all publicity is good publicity.” As a writer who’s trying to get his debut novel out to readers, I guess it’s better that someone’s talking about me, albeit it negatively, than not being talked about at all.

If there is someone who is unhappy me with, I offer the person the opportunity to go to my website (http://www.filamkickingscribe.com)  and send me a message and let’s talk about what’s wrong. To simply lash out at someone, in my opinion (this is going to get me in trouble again), is simply classless.  I also feel that there’s a certain level of arrogance to it because the other person, the one receiving the lashing, is not being given the chance to respond; as if the lasher’s opinion is the final word on the subject. Furthermore, I think there is a sense of fear or insecurity, too. By not dialoguing with the person, the lasher appears afraid or unable to defend his or her opinion.

Respect is one of the basic tenets of existence. You give it and you’ll get it. Be open, talk maturely, agree to disagree and, if you don’t like the person or what he or she has to say, then don’t talk to them and don’t read what they write.