(Written January 2010)

I just gotta blog this because it’s just so unusual for me to get this kind of thing on the interweb. This has very little to do with tech as such directly, and it’s indirectly linked to internet marketing in some ways. – nevertheless it’s my blog and I’m blogging it.

The good thing is that it’s in a way a pattern-interrupt; a break from the recent stream of marketing gumf that I’ve been posting of late.

Get on with it

Ok so where do I start? A bit of background would help at this point: Recently I’ve been helping out as a regular in a family chatroom. I’m not naming names; of people or of locations, in this article, as this article isn’t about the people or the location(s). Maybe you’ve already seen me in there; maybe not. – Whatever.

You’re asking “Why the heck has she been in a chatroom?” The answer is that it’s another avenue of various doors that may open or close at any point. It’s not just a chatroom as there is a lot of technology behind it and possible opportunity around the corner perhaps in regard to it. In short it’s complicated, and I don’t intend to use up reams of sheets talking about it all in-depth. – Save to say that I’m participating in more than just the chat to some extent, and I really do like a lot of the people there too.

Me

The drawback here is that; being an internet marketer, blogger, and geek, I’d be so bold as to say that, other than a few of the people in the room at some point, the only people who I can fully relate to on that particular geeky-blogger-marketing level fully are the owners who are also geeky types who do all the geeky biz in relation to it.

Socially I’m great company, even though I’m very outspoken and sometimes spit on the entire concept of PR as I walk over it. I also don’t normally take fools lightly, and if something really narks me I usually turn away and swipe it with the sting in my tail. – Not a good idea in a chatroom as it doesn’t get one accepted quickly or easily; so I’ve kerbed that from the start.

Of course, being a family chatroom there are a few stroppy teenagers there at times, as well as some charming and polite teenagers too. Not being a mother, my skills with teenagers have been rather limited to telling the odd oik to bugger off at times in the past, as well as on an educational level to a rather small extent in regard to attitude, life skills, and, mainly, geekery, on the odd occasion when I’ve been asked for such advice.

Drop the Bomb

Yesterday a teenager posted a comment about Haiti: Nothing really much, just a small comment in regard to the tragedies related to the earthquake. In reply to that I posted that this kind of natural disaster could happen anywhere at anytime; even here to you. (I personalised it for a stronger impact.) I followed that up by saying that while things are good here and now we should live life to the full and enjoy it while we still can. I then further followed it up with the remark, which was intended to be unrelated to the issues regarding Haiti, that the news media tend to sensationalise the negative in order to sell stories. –

Clanger dropped: Bad move. (Inappropriate timing.)

Innocent comment intended but hornet’s nest opened: This guy went ballistic at me; calling me heartless, evil, uncaring, and all the names under the sun.

Before I go any further on that; a little more background: I’d let it be known that I was an internet marketer and a blogger, and that I’d started making money from it. It appears that, in the case of a small number of people, I may as well have said that I’m a Tax Collector working for the Romans to a gang of destitute bronze-age Jews. I’d spoken about how it’s in essence a matter of common-sense to do, and that once you master the powerful techniques involved it’s not as hard as it may at first appear.

I can imagine the word going round amongst some people, and this is probably amongst the minority, must have sounded something like: - 

“She’s not even working 9 to 5, every day of every week, like we do, [Or not as the case may be.] yet she’s telling us that she has the chance of making more money in a week than we make in an entire month! Bleemin’ bitch. She rubs our noses in it and then asks if we would like to be able to do the same. Who does she think she is?”

- Or maybe words to that effect.

Personally if someone making more money than me asked me if I’d like them to tell me how I could do the same I’d jump at the chance; but some people appear determined to stay poor and envious of anyone with greater resources no matter what. It wasn’t even as if I’d asked them to pay me anything for my help either; nor was I intending to do so.

”-So forget it” I thought; “I’ve made my pitch, everyone knows who I am, what I do, and that it’s a lucrative business if done right. – Target neutralised. If anyone wants to know more they can always approach me.”

Back to the scene, however; and this teenager, who appears to be a part of the minority mentioned above, started attacking my blogging (Despite never having bothered to even look at my blog as far as I know.) and saying how I was a heartless evil cow for making money with my blog and internet marketing while people in Haiti were dying.

I told him that I couldn’t follow his reasoning, so he just started personally insulting me before trying to rally support against me, gathering a following of 1, and leaving the room, promising never to return, for the second time in as many weeks.

I do realise that it was a misunderstanding of my statement that initially kicked everything off. I also realise that, not only did I not put it very well, but that it was the wrong thing to say at the wrong time perhaps: All this didn’t help; but the resultant situation had much deeper meanings.

Now before I go any further I realise that eventually somebody concerned in some way is going to read this article. I am in no way responsible for whatever reaction they choose to give. I’ve just told it as it is. If they want to contact me and call me an oity-toity bitch again then so be it. If they want to remind me that they think I’m a heartless 57-year-old virgin, which is one of the things I was called, and which must have become an online rumour by now, surely, then good for them. (I’m actually 45 at time of writing; and the rest is for me to know only… OK, and maybe a few others   )

Moving on…

So this appears to be rather an issue in a way: Some of the people are dead against us internet marketers – That’s obvious from the reaction of a number of people from the inadvertent random sample in the story above.

It wasn’t meant to be a statistical experiment; and may have been better if it had never happened – who knows? Nevertheless the terms “Internet Marketer” and “Blogger” with regard to a number of people, in the UK at least, conjure up the same reaction as would the statements like “I work for the Inland Revenue”, “I’m a traffic warden”, “ I sell double-glazing”. (The latter of which I have actually done as a job in the past; and I was rather good at it too.)

- So yeah; there’s definitely some social stigma attached to us by certain people.

Why?

There may be several reasons, here are the ones that I can think of: –

1) Jealousy. – ‘Tis strange that. Why jealousy? – I mean it’s not as if I’m saying “Nee nee ne neer neer: I make more money than you-u. You’re a-a pauper.” On the contrary; I’m saying: “Here’s what I could make this month; and if you like I’ll show you how you can start to do it too.”

Psychology is a funny thing though: By showing that I have or am capable of earning more money than themselves; certain personality types will become angry, and rather than see things in reality and choose to improve their own situation with my help, which I offer freely to some extent, they instead view me as an inconsistency that’s invading their own settled environmental surrounds as they perceive them.

As the well renowned business saying goes: “People dislike inconsistencies, and will work to remove them.” Therefore if they see me as an inconsistency that’s threatening to invade their perceived personal environment and in some way upset their established world-view, they’ll work to remove me from the equation in some way so that they can return to their standard settled and preferred model within their understanding.

2) Fear. Fear of Me? No. I’m quite placid unless roused; and it isn’t that easy to rouse me to anger either – Those that have managed to do so will definitely remember having done so though; whether or not it disturbed them in any way whatsoever.

No sincerely though; I’m a genuinely nice person. – Be equally nice back and we could be the best of friends forever. Get shitty with me for no good reason and you’ll have lost a great opportunity.

I’m way too big; both outwards and upwards to an extent, which may appear imposing, but that’s only usually imposing if I invade a person’s personal space without knowing them previously.

The fear that I’m on about is a subconscious fear of enforced domination by someone or something more powerful and/or more resourceful than themselves.

Now I’m not going to enforce domination on anyone, even if I could, and I hope everyone who I know, online and offline, realises that. – The subconscious is a very different and powerful thing however, and it can be a friend to the conscious mind as much as it can also be a foe. Some people, deep down in their personalities and beyond their control, have an inbred resentment of those with resources/money.

Hoity-toity bitch

Having said that; I’m not rich financially, not yet anyway. – I have been fairly well off at times in the past, (And yes I did give to charity too.).. and I quite probably will be again at some point, but I’m not some kind of fat-cat who goes around partying every night and spending a few grand doing it. In fact if I did that I wouldn’t last the first night as things are at the moment.- But having revealed the potential for me to make a few thousand dollars this month I may as well have waved it physically in some people’s faces.

Should I have considered all this beforehand? Did any of this occur to me prior to the events? – Some of it yes; and I was prepared for a small backlash of some sorts amongst some people – But nothing like this. Maybe it’s my fault for the clanger I accidentally dropped causing the misunderstanding. Maybe it’s the fault of others for misunderstanding, all coupled with various psychological factors. Maybe it’s a combination of both.

Conclusion

So we internet marketers and bloggers do have a slur on our character by default to some extent amongst certain sectors of society. – But that was inevitable anyway; and it happens to some degree in regard to every profession.