Uptight Students Rebel Against Blogger

Expert incites then calms simple-minded scholars.

"You oughta soo 'im perfesser!" said one of the geniuses in the Beirut Las Vegas classroom. "I agree," said another, "He's got me boiling mad." "I want my Mommy!" cried a third. And soon the entire class had run amok grabbing all the modems in the room and trying to burn them in the garbage can.

"No, kids, please. This is not a time for violence," said Mr Moustache. For, indeed, these were the disciples of none other than Jobster nemesis, Richard T Becker. And the villain of the piece? The Recruiting Animal, defender of truth, justice and The Canadian Way.

These students, apparently, belong to the Micro Ma'am's school of online communications. They don't like to mocked. But, kids, it's time to wake up and smell the keyboards. In the age of the internet, anyone can mock you, any time of day.

And they can not only mock you, they can buy favoured status from Google to put their mockery at the top of the heap anytime anyone searches a keyword they've paid to associate with a derisive description of you.

Remember that old joke: "I looked up ugly in dictionary and found a picture of your mother"? The day has finally arrived when that can be true.

So here's the scoop. Do what your teacher says and roll with it -- you big babies. You'll be better people when you don't let minor slights make you so huffy.

Comments

[Richard Becker]

Aw, cut the students a little slack, Recruiting Animal. I would bet cash money that had the room been filled with CEOs and executives, 90 percent or more would have reacted and do react the same way. The run up to the roof top and scream "Write about me, I'm so great, write about me!" So journalists and bloggers write about them, and they almost always say "Oh, don't write THAT about me."

Visit John Cook's blog (among others) and you'll see it's stocked full of big money people crying about anonymous posters and what not. Guess it goes to show you, as a friend of mine once said, you can't get an eagle by stuffing a thousand turkeys into a paper bag.

Anyway, I'm arming these students to hopefully "handle," er, help these dazed CEOs and executives graduate to eagles, or at the very least minimize the trouble they get into. I deeply apologize that it cuts into your entertainment factor, but take heart, there will always been new turkeys to fill in the ranks.

Funny stuff though. I'm a bit lost on the "Richard T" reference, but as far as Jobster nemesis... I guess I overshot. I was only aiming for casual observer. Whoops.