I’ve been thinking quite a bit about words lately — and please read until the end, there will be some choice ones. Promise.
A few things kicked off this rumination. First, Mack Collier and Nellie Lide posted some thoughts about the word "consumer." And then my son asked me about the International Association of Nobodies— he was initially concerned about being one 🙂 and I had to explain why being one was a good thing.
That got me started on words. What do they mean, really? Isn’t the meaning delivered by your context and your own filters? For example, the word consumer. For me, it is nothing more than a word to distinguish people as individuals versus people in their business roles. Ie business media, consumer media. It is the aggregrate. I appreciate Mack and Nellie’s comments about the word consumer, but I wonder — isn’t the real problem HOW we market, not the label we use, whether it be consumer or customer or whatever. Changing the label doesn’t change the behavior, much as we wish it might. If you are a change agent, and I do consider myself one, you need to focus on the behaviors first. Don’t worry so much about the words. Make the customer the focus, and he won’t give a damn WHAT you call him 🙂
Which brings me to nobodies. I was on vacation last week, so apparently missed the bulk of the contretemps (thank god, my testosterone meter clearly would have gotten a workout). But nonetheless, it is worth revisiting. For me, the whole point of the nobodies wasn’t the insult to any one person; it was a collective reaction to "rankism." The idea that one has to be a SOMEBODY for one’s opinion to matter.
I have always believed that everybody’s opinion has value. When you stop learning from others, you stop living. The wonder of blogs is that they give so many the opportunity to speak. Even if only to one other. As I posted in a nobody’s blog comment, everybody is a somebody to someone. All you need is one reader to make a difference.
Translation: you are f***** the minute you start believing your own press 😉 It is really about what you do. With your words, with your life, with whatever influence you have. Not about how many stripes you perceive you have on your sleeve. Not about what you write or your Technorati ranking. Not about whether you have the status conveyed by the print press.
Whoever you are, make your words matter.
Utopian. Probably. Oh well. C’est dingue mais on y va.
Which brings me to the promised choice words. I made the decision yesterday to leave a comment on Shel Holtz’s blog relative to a nasty comment made by a blog troll about Shel. I made the comments knowing that said troll would probably use them to insult me again. Yes, l’il old me has been a target of this troll’s bile more than once. And predictably, (she he it) disparages me once again in the comments on Shel’s post.
Why am I bothering to mention it again? Not because I think it will make a bit of difference to this troll, hiding under her (?) bridge, sniping and spewing venom at the PR industry. She’ll probably show up in my comments with the usual bile, since I will not link to her. Or not. Catch-22.
The reason I commented, and the reason I am posting this now, is that this troll is just about the worst example of elitism that I have ever seen. Obnoxious. Condescending. Insulting. Devoid of any positive contribution — in fact, I sense a real ax to grind. The troll’s blog ain’t about making PR better, it’s about spewing bile and venom. And with bad spelling to boot.
The list goes on. I really don’t care what (she he it) has to say. The words don’t matter.
J’en ai marre. Nous en avons marre. Allez-vous en.
Doesn’t it sound nicer en francais?
UPDATE 4:30pm EDT: I’ve been told that the online translation services have a bit of trouble with slang, so here’s the rough meaning (not literal translation) of the phrases I used above.
C’est dingue mais on y va – It’s crazy but we’ll do it anyway. Also the name of a French comedy released in 1979.
J’en ai marre. Nous en avons marre – I’ve had it. We’ve had it.
Allez-vous en – Go away permanently, get lost, drop dead are all reasonable approximations.
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Just found this through Technorati. I just want to say “Word”.