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I’ve come across an interesting post on Copyblogger last week. It was a guest post by Nathan Hangen who discouraged bloggers from being apologetic in their writing. I agree that starting with an excuse is definitely not the way to begin an article or a speech. Yet, something bothered me about that post (good job Nathan, you did “create a response”). It was the underlying (and perhaps unintended) message that the post conveyed and that one commentator questioned: giving bloggers a blanket approval for pissing people off.
Nathan explained that when he pictures response-focused copywriting, he sees “a writer reaching out, grabbing her audience by the collar, and snarling, Buy my stuff or leave, but make a decision.” He understands that this approach can alienate people, but he believes that by “making one person hate him, he makes others love him.”
I’ve read various articles from bloggers who have taken that approach. That’s the follow-lead-or-get-out-of-my-way position or the if-you-don’t-like-what-you-read-well-get-the-heck-out-of-here attitude.
Fair enough, being decisive and provocative does create a response. The problem that I have with this is that it sounds like there’s no middle ground. It’s as if there were only two choices: being boring or offending people. And when you pick the second one, there’s no room to evolve. It’s a little bit like saying to someone: “You think that I’m a pain? Well that’s the way I am! Take it or leave it!”
Wow. That’s deep and noble. That’s also taking the easy path. You don’t have to make any efforts to evolve, change or grow. You don’t have to deal with any shades of gray. You just pick black or white.
Trying to please everyone is a self-defeating policy. Affirming and being yourself is a better option. However, that doesn’t mean you have to piss people off. There’s nothing courageous about it anyway. It doesn’t mean that you should try to placate everybody either.
People need to remember that something exists between kissing and kicking asses. And reaching for it requires far more efforts, work, and subtlety.
Unless you prefer to take the easy path…
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