I thought I could go through my entire blogging life without encountering any blog-related beef. But no, bloggers are such a temperamental bunch and like to act hard in a faux-intellectual way and it was only a matter of time before I got caught up in something like it. I’m really bothered because the thing is, it’s one of those where you lose for being civil and trying to mediate real discussion/conversation when the other person just wants to show you from what distance they can piss on you. I know this is pretty common in the bloggerverse, but I’d mostly steered clear of it until now and it’s just incredulous when I’m face-to-face with it.
So this is an actual conversation I had on Twitter with @sweeneykovar. My bad, I don’t know how to do that thing where I can take a pic of a Tweet. I’m just typing it back out verbatim and it’s not easy on the eyes. You can verify by visiting both @sweeneykovar and @dotquan accounts:
The dumb thing is, I have my own issues with Weiss’s writing at times and I was thinking to just trade notes and shit. I even went to Passion and checked out Weiss’s latest LA Weekly articles about Nocando and Low-End Theory, assuming that since 1. they’re Weiss’s latest articles and 2. Sweeneykovar is heavily involved in the LA underground scene, that these were the articles Sweeneykovar was taking issue with.
But then, Sweeneykovar thinks I’m being defensive or something so he decides to bring up an album review of mine that he didn’t like** that has no relevance to the question of Weiss’s writing and what either of us do or do not like about it (NO SHOTS AT WEISS, GEEZ!!! He’s a notable writer and all notable writers should be discussed). At which point, everything just turns to shit. Everytime I try to direct the conversation back in the direction of Sweeneykovar’s original point, that he is “tired of Weiss,” I’m met with a bunch of smart-ass remarks about how an unrelated review of mine was “uninformed” and “sucked” and how I apparently need to learn how to read because I thought Sweeneykovar had a problem with me just because he answered my question about Weiss’s writing with a diss of my own writing. Oh my bad!
Seriously though, what the hell is with bloggers and their tendency to start beef for no reason? If Sweeneykovar had beef with my writing, that’s fine but I don’t see why the hell he would bring it up in this conversation. Another time, I remember I had this idea of writing album reviews in the form of haikus once and I did a post to try it out. Then another blogger accuses me of biting him because he had done haiku reviews on his own blog before. NO, DUDE! I WASN’T BITING! I’D NEVER HEARD OF YOUR OBSCURE BLOG TILL YOU LINKED BACK TO MINE TO TELL YOUR READERS HOW I WAS BITING! I HAVE TWO KOREAN FRIENDS WHO WRITE HAIKUS FOR FUN, SERIOUSLY I GOT IT FROM THEM!!!
No Trivia and CBRap are two of my favorite blogs but goddamn if Brandon and Noz can’t seem to stop starting more beef. In the case of No Trivia, that especially sucks regardless of whether Brandon’s in the right or wrong. There’s a hell of a lot less discussion going on there, which was basically supposed to be the whole point of the blog: discussion.
And dude, that’s all I’m trying to have. But it seems like I have disarm myself everytime I make a comment just so people don’t take it the wrong way. I tried that with Sweeneykovar and that still didn’t work (i.e. how I kept praising his expertise regarding the LA underground scene). Obviously, it’s cliche to ask why we can’t all just get along, but dude, isn’t that something we should be trying for anyway despite the futility of the effort? What’s the whole point in blogging if no one’s even going to try to understand one another? Are Rafi and O-Dub the only bloggers who can speak thoughtfully without biting someone’s head off? Is there no hope for us not being perpetually sarcastic and defensive? Is blogging still worth it?
*Sorry to my gay friends/acquaintances. I’m pretty angry and trying to use the most fucked up word for it and that word is worse than “fuck” so I’m using it. For what it’s worth, I voted No on Prop 8.
**I probably shouldn’t have written that review. Not because I wasn’t honest in it. I didn’t like the album very much and still don’t. But because no readers need me to tell them why they shouldn’t care about music that they already don’t know and don’t care about.
Well, that sweenykover fuck seems like a pissy little bitch anyways.
“the journalistic coverage of our culture…” LOL SRSLY? Who writes like that…? Better you find out now that he’s a jerk than after wasting any more time reading anything he writes. You definitely carried that well though.
On a lighter note, I think ‘blogger beef’ isn’t really to be taken too seriously. Unless a person involved in it is a straight up joke (in which case they should be ridiculed mercilessly–like Tray) it’s pretty easy to forgive and forget and move on to the next.
Thanks, I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt if only bc my homeboy used to work with him and tells me he’s cool. My bad.
re: blogger beef, Internet beef in general is a joke but it’s not a very fun one and I like blogging less because of it. And is it easy to forgive-forget? Some of these beefs seem rather bitter e.g. Noz vs. Brandon
One would think that, given the non-simultaneous nature of the Internet, it would be much easier to give every bit of writing careful scrutiny, thus allowing people to absorb information fully, allowing for enough time to reasonably interpret the information and respond appropriately.
But FUCK THAT SHIT. Quan, you know we STRAIGHT-UP HOOD IN THIS BITCH. I’m about to ride out on this fool. Bet this little sucka can’t even swing a gat, shit, homie. Fake-ass thug tryna talk shit on my homeboy like that. He got the LA underground on lock? He bout to be underground in LA, no doubt, muvuga.
…
Too soon?
Yeah well, I also have to remember that this is the Internet and people like to get hard because there’s no imminent threat of getting smacked for saying dumb shit. So then they’ll actually be less inclined to choose their words carefully.
And lol, sounds like you be chilling with Snoop too much on the USC campus. Related note: I dare you to wear one of those PUSC shirts on campus sometime. The week before any UCLA-USC game, if possible. That would be hella gangsterific
I think the internet rule is, you don’t talk to people differently on the internets than in real life. I can assure you I’m the same jerk on and off my laptop. I nearly got in a fight with a homeless guy who scoffed when I *only* gave him a buck today, fwiw…
Clearly it’s all perception, but I find it frustrating to be even invoked in this as I pretty much always see myself on the “arguing against the [symbolic] Sweeney Kovar”. Find a debate where I don’t just come out and talk shit. No cryptic youtube links or obscure rap lyrics in place of responses, no sideways whatevers, no crafty one-liners that actually make no sense if you think about them…
@quan The PUSC shirt might be pushing it. I was thinking an SUC shirt, if I can find one. Or this one, if it is ever printed. http://www.rivalryrags.com/designs/7
@brandonsoderberg Word.
brandon-
Yeah, well I wish people actually took that rule seriously but what’re you gonna do, yknow?
Also, I hesitated to include anything about you because yeah, you never seem to be just trying to score a zinger or some shit, which is too common online. You’re like keeping it in the realm of discussion. But I remember once actually asking a real-ass question (your “Death of Neo-Soul” post?) and being met with “Read harder,” in which case I was like wtf? I tacked that to you being annoyed with commenters like Tray and now looking at comments on your guard like “Is this a smart-ass comment?” But I could see the possibility of someone not making an intentionally smart-ass remark, being met with “Read harder,” and then just blowing up and not coming back to your site. And that would be pretty understandable too.
[...] To a certain extent, blogging got less fun, point blank. Bloggers started fighting more and everyone just wanted to piss on each other (a gross bastardization of what The Great R. Kelly has taught us, I’d say). At the same time, [...]