Humpday Horror: Douchebaggery
Ladies and lovelies of the Jack-verse, it is a damn small world out there. It didn’t used to be. In fact, when I was a child the world was GINORMOUS. Actually it wasn’t, because the interwebs had yet to be born and LOL’d that word into existence. So it was just unfathomably large. Now… that size and scope of the our earthy digs has shrunk to Barbie Dream House size and we’re all dangerously close to being way too up close and personal for…wait for it…
Douchebaggery.
That’s right, I said it.
Douche. Baggery.
I see it all the time, asscranks acting as if they own the world and have the right to treat people however they want. It’s like a bunch of CEOs from Fortune 500 companies were let loose on the playground and are demanding everyone play the game their way and to not play with their toys.
It’s awful. It’s disgusting. It’s disrespectful. And I think it’s time we all put a stop to it. Just say no to Douchebaggery.
I’ll be honest with you — Shero said I could — there are a lot of people out there that are simply not nice. They feel like the world owes them something, and at any given moment are prone to fits of child-like tantrums. What they don’t understand, what they don’t get, is how small the world is and now connected it’s inhabitants are.
Say what sister? Let me explain. Let’s use Mary and Jo to be safe.
Mary writes a book and hires Jo to do the edits of the book. Jo agrees to the edit the book, but the price for the edit is WAY high, but Mary (bless her heart) KNOWS she needs the edit. Mary also knows she’s strapped for cash. In the process of setting up the job, Mary and Jo decide to work out some sort of method of payment (heretofore unknown and possibly quite sexy — but that is quite beside the point).
Eventually Jo gets the edits to Mary and they are not quite as good as Mary expected. So Mary withholds payment.
It all goes to shit from there.
What neither Mary nor Jo seem to understand is that both parties are well connected to the world. And both Mary and Jo’s connections are quite connected. With that important fact swept under the carpet, Mary and Jo go about slandering one another on the intertubes, to the tune of pissing each other very much off. And so Mary tells her connections to avoid Jo and Jo tells her connections to avoid Mary. It gets nasty. Everyone loses.
Where did this train wreck REALLY go wrong? It went wrong when either one of them drew first public blood. When this happened word spread like mad and both looked like children. What these two should have realized is that their public image is VERY important.
Oh, did I fail to mention both Mary and Jo are writers?
NOW you see where I’m going with this…
As a writer, I have a very public persona. That public persona must be at LEAST:
- True to who I am.
- Always presented in a positive fashion.
It also helps to have a public persona somewhat in line with my fan base and who can represent my work (horror, thrillers, SHERO!). This one isn’t so easy for some people to grasp, but it’s also not nearly as important as this one simple edict:
Don’t be a douchebag!
Seriously, what with politicians, shirttuckers, criminals, and apathetic teens around there’s enough FRAKKING DOUCHEBAGS out there. We’re writers. We sell a product and part of that product is OURSELVES! Do you honestly think readers are going to want to buy books written by unsexy douchechumps.
Look, we all have to play in the same sandbox and that sandbox is getting smaller and smaller by the month. Everyone in the game must know that what you throw out there will come back at you. You throw out ugly and it will pimp slap you across the face. You throw out beauty and it will gently caress and kiss you across the lips.
Which do you prefer? Me? I prefer to toss out as much beauty as I can.
Email Post| Print article | This entry was posted by jlwallen on January 4, 2012 at 7:00 am, and is filed under News. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |
I wish I could “like” this twice. It’s so true. Whether we like it or not, we live in a world where the world “privacy” means very little and people seem to think they have a free pass on acting like a douche just because there’s a screen between themselves and the rest of the world. I’ve got news for you: A douche is still a douche and douchery is not okay.
Down with douchebags! Now that they’ve made their squabble public, they may just scare away friends and potential customers.
Well, haven’t recently been involved in a douchbaggery situation, I would be the first to say it is not pretty. Although to be fair, mine was just a misunderstanding and if I could, I would take it all back. The indie community is too small to make enemies and I have always had the “keep my karma clean” mentality. Now that I have had myself declared a douchebag, to repair a reputation is a lot harder than it seems so that is all I have to say about this subject.
I may have acted like a deadbeat but I’m not one and I don’t do public drama well. If I wanted to have my business out in the street, I would have auditioned for Jerry Springer.
Eloquently put, Jack! Thanks for addressing a topic that is so important to everybody who puts themselves in the public eye, regardless of what line of work they’re in. As someone who is constantly putting her foot in her mouth, I’ve quickly become aware of how easy it is to say stupid things that can’t be taken back once they’re out there.