Moderators role

larrytusaz wrote:

This post may run long, I will admit I'm not good at making my points with short, succinct posts. I need to do that, I admit, and not be quite so wordy. With that said, here goes.

One thing which kind of bothers me is people throwing the word "bullying" around too much. I'm going to be blunt--especially where it regards people simply passionately discussing opinions about gear and such, I don't think there is such a thing as bullying. Much as has occurred with sexual harassment & a few other things, I think the term has been expanded too far to cover things which really aren't that and it's had the effect of, among other things, watering down the term and drawing away the distinction of REAL bullying (or harassment).

Anyway, in a lot of ways, people are being compelled to apologize for things that are ridiculous, frankly, from people claiming offense to the silliest things. I listen to some of the jokes George Carlin used to say and think of how someone saying 1/20th of that now would be all in the news being pestered by this group & such claiming offense, and the entertainer would be pestered to apologize. I'm like--gee whiz, take a joke. Quit whining so much.

The same goes in college basketball--if a team has a large lead, the game is almost over and a player scores with seconds remaining, fans of the other team cry fowl over "running up the score." I'm like--it's a game, the object is to score & to try & stop the other team from scoring. Enough of this nonsense. I remember Michael Jordan performing a "rock the cradle" very flashy type of dunk at the end of a college game with barely anytime on the clock & his team (the Tar Heels) leading by more than 10 points. No one booed, and they replay that "vintage" or "classic" highlight clip all the time. Imagine us not having that had he at the time followed this "don't offend the other team" nonsense.

But I digress, back to how that relates here.

In recent months I have found myself not getting into passionate discussions about such things as much as I did, but when I did, I really enjoyed it, and I wasn't trying to "bully" anybody but just simply strongly expressing my opinion. Naturally some people took offense to the discussion, I think, not so much because of any disrespect, but just because I was disagreeing with them and doing so passionately. I would hardly call any of that type of discussion "bullying," either my responses or their responses either.

Examples: I passionately disagree with video-mode in SLRs, and mobile phone "photography." With the former, I would say that the only reason they put video in SLRs was because of people from the point & shoot crowd crying "my $100 Powershot has a video mode, why doesn't my SLR" because they want to take video clips of their kids. I've always said that SLRs are for people who are enthusiasts somewhat & they should be designed around them & their priorities, not people from the point & shoot crowd, never mind the "scene" modes. I would say things like "it's just a YouTube mode for point & shoot soccer moms who wouldn't know an f-stop if it bit them on the rear-end" and would say they're "dumbing it down for the masses." I am NOT insulting anyone personally, but just the idea of designing a camera around people for whom, in my opinion, such cameras shouldn't be designed for. (I think something like a Nikon J2 would be perfect for them, but anyway.)

With the latter, I would decry the lazy work ethic of someone claiming to be a "photographer" yet not wanting to bother trying to learn any of the techniques and acting like carrying any camera around with them, even something like a Sony RX100 or Nikon J2, is just SO taxing, and hey, who's to say an iPhone isn't a real camera, I mean, the tool doesn't matter. I would reply that if the tool doesn't matter, then I suppose Nikon should stop making the D4 and D7100 etc and just close up shop, and all of these gear discussions are just pointless. I would also say that to me phone cameras are only the province of, in my words, "teenagers doing mirror-self portraits and college frat boys documenting their latest strip club and bar hopping exploits" and quote the Olympus statement "camera phones are to photography what 3 minute noodles are to cooking."

Again, I am not attacking anyone in here PERSONALLY, but the thinking and concepts, and doing so with a little passion. I'm also not "troll baiting" or what have you.

And I am most certainly not "bullying." I'm sorry, but I think people have overdone it somewhat and call any passionate expression of an opinion being a "bully." No. To me, bullying is insulting someone personally and doing so to a very extreme degree, far beyond just saying "that's a silly statement to make" or "maybe in the sick world YOU live in, this is how you operate, but here on planet Earth, normal people do this. Be normal or be sick, your choice." Now, I would agree that the latter may be somewhat rude and disrespectful, I am fine with that assertion, but to call it "bullying" is really taking it too far, and is a disservice to REAL bullying.

What I am getting at is that, although as of late I don't participate in those sorts of passionate topics as much (it helps that video doesn't come up as a topic as much lately, and that phone snapshooting is migrating over to the connect site somewhat), I don't like the idea of someone simply passionately discussing an opinion being referred to as "bullying," and people crying over them being "offended" etc. Just discuss the topic at hand, and if you can't play ball, then don't play, but quit whining to the referees about the player and the nature of the game. I like passionate discussions (again, when I choose to participate, which I don't as much lately).

So, yes, when it's "name calling" and we're trying to move away from that, that's fine, but otherwise, let the discussions be a little passionate, and for pete's sake, don't call it "bullying." It's no more "bullying" than someone taking a blurry picture with their phone of their cat with trash cluttering the background is "photography."

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LRH http://www.pbase.com/larrytucaz
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