Sunday, February 17, 2008

She who shall not be linked...

The fork is in it over at the source of the drama, but here on my own blog, I can keep serving it up.

Hardly anyone who reads this will have any clue what I am addressing, and that's totally fine with me.
My razor thin audience is even thinner for this particular post.

Loooong story short, a fellow blogger (Blogger A) linked to another blogger's (Blogger B) post (and pics, horrifying pics) about her messy house. Names and links withheld to protect the innocent and the sloppy.
Blogger A used her post to point out how such a messy situation would throw her into a mental spasm due to a horrible case of Cleaners OCD. We all get it from time to time, but some of us are afflicted night and day! There's no shame in cleaning your grout Blogger A, no shame!!
Blogger B found the link and promptly threw herself a big hissy fit about how, come on people, we should be respectful and hello people! her kids make all the messes anyway.
This then led to a total spiral of insanity. People with really nothing to apologize for (they viewed pics of a complete chaotic mess of a house and commented that WOW someone should clean that up, maybe?) felt bad for being snarky on the internet and Blogger B in all her uppity glory, posted NUMEROUS videos that attempted to cast a shadow of impropriety at anyone who dare read or view her blog and not think it's perfectly fine to live in such filth and clutter.
I mean, really.
Bowls of partially mixed eggs left out on kitchen counters, trash all over the floor, tubes of anonymous medicinal substances strewn about...in a house with a toddler...that's disgusting and potentially dangerous. Sorry Blogger B! I hope you read this!! You need to pick up after yourself!
Put some Windex!

Don't get me wrong, everyone's house is cluttered, everyone has a SHAMEFUL secret closet, drawer, shelf, entire room that they forbid entry to when company arrives. Everyone with kids has a stained carpet. Everyone who ever cooks or eats a meal has left a dish in the sink.
But this house was totally out of control.
I'm not apologetic for saying "dang woman, clean your house" and neither should anybody else who thought the same damn thing. Even if your kitchen is messy, even if your baby shreds tissues on the living room floor, even if you don't fold your laundry IMMEDIATELY after it is done drying. You can still see a giant mess, and call it a giant mess.

And in conclusion, a note to Blogger B, should she ever be snooping around the internet instead of washing dishes (because she refuses to wash dishes at all on the basis of "equality" in her marriage, which incidentally is total crap since if she stays home all day and her husband works all day THEN he has to come home and wash dishes and clean up after HER isn't HE doing far more than his equal share while she works out and posts videos defending her piggydom?)
But I digress...and no I don't apologize for that rant. Cleaning up messes you make has nothing to do with feminism or equality, it has EVERYTHING to do with not being a lazy pig.
Ok. Here's the note to Blogger B...
If you don't want people to comment on your messy house or judge you for what you apparently find totally acceptable, then DON'T POST PICTURES OF YOUR FILTH ONLINE. It's not shocking that you actually live that way, even occasionally. As I said, and you said, many people have organizational and cleaning issues aka intermittant laziness. What IS shocking is that you put yourself out there, call it vulnerable and real and relatable and when people react in very real ways to your revelations you immediately get defensive to the point where it's almost childish.
Grow up Blogger B. Grow up and pick up some garbage.
A can a week, that's all I ask.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oooh, now I want to snoop around and find Blogger A & Blogger B! I agree with you though (sorry Blogger B!), but if I'm posting photos of my nasty pile o' snot infested tissues that have been lying at the side of my bed for two months AFTER my cold has come and gone, well I expect people to call me on my nastiness. And I don't give a crap if you think my house is dirty anyway. If it bugs you, then you clean it. I'm certainly not.

Meredith said...

Yeah, the whole sitch was kinda dramatic. When you put your life online, you just have to accept whatever comes good and bad, no judgements. But whatev - I also have better things to do. Like clean up after dinner :)

Jessica said...

That's exactly the point.
It's like I explained to Bob, before his eyes glazed over with total boredom at the whole situation...
You can't put a picture of your fat butt on the internet along with a post titled "Isn't My Butt Fat?" and expect EVERYONE to say "Nooooooooooo! In fact, you're too skinny and I'm the fat one!"
Some people are going to say "Wow, yeah, you should not eat anymore Oreos!"

And!
That's what comment moderation is for. That's why Dooce and the other big bloggers approve their comments instead of everything going up live.
You can edit everything on your own site, but you certainly shouldn't expect to wield the same editing power over every other blog on the internet.
It's really a First Amendment issue.
I hereby declare my right to call your house a messy pigpen! You of course, have every right to blog about my bitchy attitude. Or my fierce wardrobe, whatever you decide :)

Jessica said...

I should also mention that this whole situation inspired me to take on a MAJOR organizational and cleaning project AKA Dylan's ridiculously unkempt bedroom.
Now that room is so gorgeous, I might even post pics of it online. Yep.
That's right.

Jessica said...

PS again, Amy I enjoyed your snot pictures. But I'm cool like that.

Anonymous said...

It's amazing a grown woman could be so lazy that she'd rather step in said snot pile every morning upon waking rather than bend over and throw them away, isn't it?

Jessica said...

Nothing at all in this world surprises me anymore!

Maribeth said...

Interesting drama... I wonder who Blogger A could be?!?!?! I think I know because I recently had an issue with a Blogger B.
So now that I've put myself out there as a potential candiate for Blogger A, let me say that my situation did get out of hand. And when I think of the name of the title of Blogger B's blog I am surprised she didn't have thicker skin. I also wonder had I directly commented on her blog if she would have been as upset (as oppose to evil linking). Things I will wonder...