Blog Truths

A friend of mine was recently accepted in a local radio station as a newscaster, despite her having absolutely no experience in the industry. She is currently undergoing training this week, and she’s already been given her own radio show, apart from numerous voice-over opportunities.

The radio show, a new one for the station, would be about relationships, which wickedly coincides with her recent episode when she and her boyfriend split up. While she’s very much gung-ho about the whole deal, she can’t help but feel nervous. How can you figure objectively in a discussion about that aspect of your life that’s just suffered a major blow?

Which brings me to blogging. I’ve hinted so much in the past about the ordeal I went through with my own relationship struggle, but never had the guts to put it all down here in detail. Not that I’m obliged to, since this blog was never meant to be my Ultimate Diary. But in the occasional absence of something to write about, there has always been the temptation to tell it all, the same way other bloggers have done so.

The last thing I wanted to happen was to steer my mode of reportage into real-life drama. It’s easy to do that. Just pick out major events and lace it with pejorative remarks, and you’ve got a blog entry that reeks of primetime telenovela histrionics:

“Pohtang ina niya! Nakita ko siyang may kasamang iba! Tinanong sa akin ng kaibigan ko kung sigurado akong nangangaliwa ang hayop na ‘yun, at sinabi ko na hindi ako sigurado. Pero pohtang ina pa rin niya! Palibhasang mas makati pa sa namumulok na tigdas ang hayop na ‘yon! Kung binabasa mo itong blog ko, leche ka, masunog sana ang mga mata mo! Shet ka! Kaliwete!”

Chronic hyperbole aside, while belligerent blog entries like that can be entertaining, they can also be a cause of more conflict. There’s one blogger who revealed his career angst online, and found out later that the manager of the company he was applying to had read his entries. Even the simplest case of hinting at the nature of a secret between friends can spark tension. One may say, “Hey, it’s my blog. If you can’t handle it, don’t read it.” But another may say, “If you felt that way, why didn’t you just tell me directly like a mature human being, instead of letting the whole world read about it first?”

“Why should I restrict myself in my blog? My life is open book, and you’ve no right to tell me what I can or can’t write.”

“You could hurt somebody without meaning to.”

“I don’t care.”

And so on and so forth.

So how about you, dear blogger? How much of your life do you let the public know, and why?

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