Disqus - Latest Comments for Vincent

Re: Bowing … scraping … not to offend

Vincent — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:15:31 -0000

Hi Paul. After deciding a long time ago to follow pinbacks on my site, the very dubious and ominous Moral Fibre I've arrived here.

No comment about moi? How sad! To the point of Roy's Retraction, I think it isn't so much a retraction as it is an adjustment; Mike and Roy know one another and I think that the internet isn't always the easiest space in which to build upon positive criticism as it is a communicative space sans tone / voice / gesticulation etc. etc.

Your point on the fear of "authenticity" is a juicy topic you should have explored more thoroughly, I'm inclined to agree with you for the most part the South African blogosphere is littered with masks laying disused after they've become redundant. I make the point of using Masks as I'm reminded of Fanon's writings in "black skins white masks", it is a covering which protects and serves the wearer in a society which looks upon that particular individual with suspicion. I'm sure loads of bloggers are saying, "fuck thats me, no one understands me". Tears, snot, self-love etc. I think what is most likely happening is that the blogging space is so competitive that individuals are putting on fronts, creating online personas which are far more glorious than their real-life symbiotic counterparts.

Take for instance those bloggers entitled "thought-leaders" who are precariously perched on the top of the blogosphere, imagine one of them saying "wait a moment this high horse is making my arse numb, I think I'd prefer to walk" unbloody likely right? So now imagine the group of bloggers in attendance at the 27 dinner turning to one another and saying, "who are you, really?"..perhaps even less likely.

Its a long comment so perhaps you should continue in a real blog, because now you've got my attention, and I'm famous...in margate..Whats that? I think I hear my high-horse calling, the ivory tower calls .

Re: Bowing … scraping … not to offend

Vincent — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:15:31 -0000

Re: Where is our national pride?

Vincent — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:58:23 -0000

This country is divided on so many planes that drawing up an acceptable graphic model of the various identities which constitute a "south african" identity and thus a sense of communal nationalism might taken a life time.

I think that this nation is fragmented because of the current disparities in the class system; I'd hate to sound like a commie so let me refrain from that approach and continue that suggestion with the argument that as the nation becomes more polarized i.e. the space between the rich and the poor widens we will ultimately see a far greater chasm widening and deepening between the have's and the have nots and these two splintered groups will approach this country in two radically different views and will ultimately have two separate and incongruent views of the future of this country.

Might I also add one more thing; the rainbow nation discourse and its obvious flaws were and are never to be thought of as a marker of this nations democracy, it was a marketing ploy and a cheap crap one at that. It suggested a merger between the various "colours" of the rainbow, and whilst that sounds fantastic is mere retoric as it implies a forced merger which is not how change occurs. One last point on the rainbow saga; if and when someone can point out where the black and white resides on that mult-coloured banner ad for co-existence then perhaps I'll have more of a reason to believe in it.

I actually penned a poem about our fractured nationality; which you can find at http://www.moralfibre.co.za/2008/05/08/a-journe... it was an attempt when I was younger and still reading fiction :) at providing an overview of the various individuals I met mentally each day when thinking about my / our / your country.

Good post though it got me thinking as you may well have guessed.

Re: Where is our national pride?

Vincent — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:58:23 -0000

Re: http://pauljacobson.org/2009/05/01/nokias-music-store-is-a-mixed-bag/

Vincent — Sat, 02 May 2009 07:05:05 -0000

Nicely done Paul, such a different approach to the store to mine. Loved the technical investigative excursion into the Nokia store's technical aspects.

Like you I wonder why they launched with so much work still yet to be done, but only time will tell if that was wise or profoundly naive. The strategy from the nokia team in my heart and mind isn't entirely made clear and that troubles me a little.

Nevertheless kick ass post, I'd been waiting for this!

Re: http://pauljacobson.org/2009/08/22/a-blog-by-any-other-name-2/

Vincent — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:06:36 -0000

Wow where do I start.

First off, please don't refer to me as a social media expert. To say such would be to liken me to a dreaded "guru", or "social media scientist" for that matter. It would be like me saying you're a legal-web-guru - doesn't feel good now does it? We don't call ourselves such and it would imply that we know everything about the fields we are in.

Now to clear up a few things.

Paul I replied to you taking umbrage to me somehow creating a hierarchical structure to writing. I in fact made it very clear that my post was about classification, and a set of conditions which had to be met in order for a particular action to be classified as, for instance writing. The fact that the comment didn't pop up as a quotable-quote in your piece might reflect why when I read your post I feel your case might be very strong against me.

Onwards and upwards.

You've quoted a piece I wrote about the nature of citizen journalism and the production of news. When applied to this argument my quote might imply that blogging and tweeting hasn't got the capacity to enact change, nor would it for instance allow individuals to cover injustice etc. I have made that clear, so many times in fact, that I find it pointless to feed the echo chamber any more echos. Journalists don't have to tell us the merits of their profession, why should we do so for twitter and blogging? Now twitter is used by the likes of Oprah and the world 'blog' addded to the dictionary have to tell then world why we use it?

About the term blogging, Eve has quoted wikipedia on Moral Fbre - which is getting like a spiritual person quoting their religious text - and you have likened your blog to a weekly paper's column. I, made it clear in my piece, that the dilemma I have with blogging, was because people assumed when they get to Moral Fibre that they'd receive witty anecdotes from 'bloggers' about their exciting lives. I feel very passionately that Moral Fibre, and to some extent your blog, exemplifies just the opposite. We want desperately to be noticed for writing what we like, and ensuring that we hold ourselves up to a set of standards we feel others might appreciate. Were you to be faced with allegations that what you did was simply whine about yourself and others, you'd be suitably pissed too. I was when I wrote that piece.

On the nature of classification.

As I said, were you writing for the New York Times and being paid to do so, would I call you a blogger? No. However what makes writers for the NYT different to you, and other bloggers? What makes what they do writing, and what we do blogging? I posed that question in my piece, because it's something I encounter daily. Maybe you haven't been to a meeting which separates the press into digital and traditional and then ranks them accordingly. Maybe you haven't encountered the severe lack of understanding from the general web user about what constitutes journalism and what does not. I'm not being condescending here, or suggesting the "layman" doesn't understand the value of going digital, rather I'm saying that there are some individuals who haven't quite got it yet.

So let's get really controversial and I'll hand you some cannon fodder.

I wrote a piece which challenges citizen journalism:

http://moralfibre.co.za/blog/2008/10/never-trus...

another on the death of print media and the rise of new media:

http://moralfibre.co.za/blog/2009/05/the-death-...

They were all blogs, they were my opportunities to clear my thoughts using the best method I know, writing because I like you am a blogger, and that's why I started blogging.

Thanks for the commenting on my piece Paul, maybe next time we can chat in depth about the nature of writing online before you make bold claims about what I do and do not think about a field I love with all of my fibrous being, because if I didn't I'd have tossed Moral Fibre's money-guzzling ass into the bin a long time ago.

Re: http://pauljacobson.org/2009/08/22/a-blog-by-any-other-name-2/

Vincent — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:10:49 -0000

Oh one last comment, I had to include that bit about wikipedia. It's tongue in cheek julle, don't go attacking me over the use of Wikipedia.

Re: http://pauljacobson.org/2009/08/22/a-blog-by-any-other-name-2/

Vincent — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:46:51 -0000

Hmm I quote another man who had a similar dilemma with blogging, a young lawyer, Paul Jacobson on his blog

"Perhaps bloggers should follow some baseline set of guidelines. Authenticity would be one of those guidelines but there may well be more guidelines dealing with degrees of detachment from the subject matter of a post and other measures designed to ensure more objectivity and a more balanced approach. I tend to think of bloggers being a little like Romulans to journalists’ Vulcans – influenced more strongly by emotions and willing to follow them in a post. Should bloggers be more detached? Is there a line to be crossed at which point a blogger goes too far? If there is, where is that line?"

Re: Regator.com steals our brand - coincidence?

Vincent — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:56:14 -0000

This is such bollocks, I'm not concerned about their reproduction of the aggregation services, that is not a novelty; my biggest concern is that they've copied your imagery, mascot and perhaps the name. Intellectual property unless patented is unfortunately open to anyone, and you'd be very hard up trying to sue them for that which must be frustrating!

Aussies appear not to have moved on from being a colony of criminals :)

Re: My Birthday

Vincent — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:03:20 -0000

I didn't know of this!!!!

Happy belated birthday Wogan!!