(Note to the defenders of the English language: if I’ve used ‘irony’ in an incorrect way, I don’t want to hear about it. I am not in the mood)
By blogging and being all in and about social media, the entrepreneurial writer builds his brand, his platform, and the increased visibility and connectivity with the audience will pay off in the future (or so I’m told). Knowing that it helps the future (supposedly) I feel compelled to get here and blog it up, especially on a day where I am keenly aware of the need for ‘money’ to ‘ keep my chubby butt fed’.
And, as always, when I’m feeling the money pinch, my spirits plummet and my previous stockpile of sage observation/witty observations vanish into the ether. So, I need to keep talking to my faithful audience to keep our relationship strong and healthy, but I’m only able to talk about money woes and moping. Hardly seems fair to you, gentle reader. Well, you’re already here, so settle down and I’ll try to scrape together something interesting.
I did venture out of the house to attend a general meeting of Emerging Leaders, a group dedicated to gathering potential leaders and teaching leaderly things to them (as well as getting them to network and maybe find them some jobs). Once again, this was a big social occasion with very few familiar faces, and I navigated it with relative ease. I’m on the cusp of being able to totally abandon the ‘socially awkward’ descriptor that I append to my character bio. That counts as a victory.
I also got to hang out a little bit with my new tall friend Scott. Scott is about an inch taller than me, just tall enough that I’m not the biggest guy around at 6′ 2″, but not so much taller than me that I’m frightened. For some reason, there’s something comforting about lurking around in his shadow. I don’t get a lot of shadow-lurking opportunity.
In the subject of ethics: I don’t think I could ever lie as a part of an election campaign. My dad oath wouldn’t let me do it. Sure, you can be viciously incisive to your opponent, and you can (and should) mercilessly dismantle their policies, but trying to lie your way into power is absolutely shameful. There’s a local political enthusiast who volunteers for a candidate as their social media coordinator and when I read his twitter posts and facebook posts, I feel an incredible rage. He’s a new dad. He has the responsibility to teach his child that winning through dishonesty doesn’t count. By accepting and embracing these sleazy tactics, he’s waiving a portion of his parental moral authority, and his kid deserves better. I think it’s best that I never meet this man in person, because I won’t be able to keep my yap shut.
Chris Loblaw, Author 