Good Evening Everyone!

It’s the political season here in the US and the first Presidential debate took place last night. Regardless of a person’s political persuasion, there were lessons that came out of that debate that made for a really good blog post. However, when I ran it past “The Big Guy” (my husband, my sounding board and MY second set of eyes), his reaction was “it’s good, well written, you managed to present a balanced perspective that helped make your point, but … it includes politics … better to kill it and write something else”.

So my question is this … is using politics in a blog (that’s not necessarily geared towards that subject matter) to illustrate a point bad form, too risky or is it a viable illustrative tool? Opinions?

@atediting I’ve seen lots of articles on how politicians are using social media, advertising campaigns, etc. just like they would write about the lessons you could learn (or not) from a business. I would think if you’re just strictly writing about lessons you could learn from them that had nothing to do with their actual stances on particular issues, you might be OK. Just be prepared for people who are passionate about one candidate over the other to potentially get a little heated reading that the opponent did something right – even if they did.

Thanks Dave, Kristi and Kathy! It’s not often that I don’t follow the Big Guy’s advice, but I think I’m going to this time. It’s the perfect illustration for the point I wanted to make. But I am going to follow Kathy’s suggestion and put a disclaimer at the bottom. I’m not sure it will do any good – it’s a touchy topic – but, then again, maybe using it will also spice things up enough to get people involved.   Thanks again!

Thanks Evelyne!

I’ll be honest. The blog is new new new … and the first couple posts were more introductory than anything else — which I knew would lead to very little in the way of comments or anything else. This is the first one that has a hook in it that could grab a little attention. We’ll see what, if anything,happens. Thanks again!

Thanks @Kimberly-Houston. The going has been slow as far as people checking in but c’est l’vie.   It still feels like I’m putting my ‘baby’ out there for everyone to see all the faults … but if you’d like to check it out, it’s at:  http://amythompsonediting.blogspot.com/

@Kimberly Houston – thank you! You are actually the first person  I know of who isn’t family, friend or current/former colleague who has taken a look at the page. Your feedback means a lot!   It ended up being a lot longer than I had initially planned – but then again, all of the blog entries have so far.

Amy, Amy, Amy… you just lost half your readership. Romney gets 3 points and Obama, well… doesn’t. You are a Republican. Everything you say is meant as a conservative message. No Democrat will hire you or wants to hear what you have to say. No Democrat will read pass the line where you say Obama, well… Well, what? He lost?

See what I mean. You named names. You named parties. You picked a fight. You’re message wasn’t heard. You lost. Not them. Your husband was right. How will you market to Democrats now? Pick a fight with Conservatives? Then no one will trust you.

I’m an old time reporter disgusted with today’s reporters who can’t write without interjecting their own political leanings in whatever they do.

But you, Amy, are marketing a business… an editing business… of local customers… and perhaps online customers… all who may or may not vote, but all who have some kind of political opinion.

For anyone to OK your beautiful and thoughtful essay for anything other than a private classroom has not fully thought through the long-term consequences of what you’ve written.

It doesn’t matter if you think YOU are unbiased. It only matters that within the first few paragraphs you managed to alienate anyone who disagrees with your choice of who “won” or was best prepared.

This is a great essay to distribute to your Political Science 101 class, but to NO ONE ELSE!

Future shock, Amy, is now. I would delete this as quickly as you can and hope Google has not yet indexed it… if you want to sell anything and still claim you are unbiased.

Me? I’m 100% NOT conservative or liberal. I was born a journalist. Not a political writer. Though I, too, made the mistake once of thinking I could “share” an objective piece outside a classroom. I’m advising you not to make that same mistake.

Your husband was right. Delete it. Quickly.

Just my opinion… biased or unbiased… objective or not… See how it doesn’t matter when the subject matter or result stirs your emotions? That’s how democrats will read your essay — stabbing them in the heart, insulting them, affronting them, no matter your intent. See how easy it is to misinterpret someone’s writing when you play with people’s emotions and loyalties?

Don’t go there, Amy. You’re too good a writer for that.

Robin Carlisle

Thanks Robin! And thanks for the compliment about the writing — I like to think I’m pretty good but validation never hurts – and it feels good too!   I did go ahead and delete the post. I’ll just rework it without using the debate as the illustration (there are plenty of others that can be used).

Thank you Everyone for your input! It helped a lot and the discussion did open up a definite learning experience for me (and hopefully for others).

Amy, you are a wonderful, talented writer! I read your other articles and they are as well-written as your “be prepared” article. So glad you decided to edit out the political examples as your introduction. You will NOT regret your decision. 

Sorry I had to be soooooo bold. But your talent is too valuable to get blacklisted locally without you ever even knowing it.

Please forgive me…

And to everyone else, please rethink any advice you give about interjecting politics into a blog that is not a political blog. Do so at your own peril, not at someone else’s, please.

Robin Carlisle