Unfortunately yes. It was only a matter of time before some members of the far-left blogging community decided that they should form a union, so that they may qualify for discounted health insurance and set professional standards for bloggers:
“I think people have just gotten to the point where people outside the blogosphere understand the value of what it is that we do on the progressive side,” said Susie Madrak, the author of Suburban Guerilla blog, who is active in the union campaign. “And I think they feel a little more entitled to ask for something now.”
If what you were doing was truly valuable, then you would already be getting paid for it. Take for example celebrity gossip blogger, Perez Hilton – he receives millions of hits a day, and thus can afford to earn a living through advertisements on his website. While it’s unfortunate that a political blog can’t generate the same amount of traffic as a site that posts pictures of Paris Hilton and other celebrities all day, that’s the nature of the beast. Deal with it, and blog anyway. Oh, and Susie Madrak gets bonus points for using the word “entitled.” So…why does she want deserve help paying for medical bills?
“Blogging is very intense — physically, mentally,” she said. “You’re constantly scanning for news. You’re constantly trying to come up with information that you think will mobilize your readers. In the meantime, you’re sitting at a computer and your ass is getting wider and your arm and neck and shoulder are wearing out because you’re constantly using a mouse.”
Those are the risks you take to continue doing something you’re passionate about. If it’s so difficult on your body, don’t spend all day on the computer. Why is this so obvious only to me? Fortunately the article has a few voices of sanity:
“The reason I like blogging is that it’s very anarchistic. I can do whatever I want whenever I want, and oh my God, you’re not going to tell me what to do,” said Curt Hopkins, the founder of the Committee to Protect Bloggers.
And, says Mark Noonan, writer at GOP bloggers:
“We just go out there and write what is on our mind, damn the critics…Get us a union and other ‘professional’ organizations and we’ll start to be conformist and we’ll start to be just another special interest.”
I’m going to be optimistic and say there’s no chance in hell that these groups will organize a union…I hope I’m right.
