Web lessons learned on a blog

When they became popular a year or two ago, blogs were hailed as the Web’s hottest communication tool.

“Blog,” in case you didn’t know, is short for “Web log.” A blog is a kind of online diary, posted by the writer, obviously, who presumes that he or she is writing something that will want to be read by others.

From what I have been able to determine, blogs have flopped, mostly because those who are writing them don’t have anything interesting to say. And if they do, they’re not very good at conveying it.

Honestly, the ones I have read are just not that interesting, which is a reflection, usually, of the lives of the writers.

Some blogs are probably successful, but as a mass communication tool, there are too many other more important things we have to do with our time.

I have been reading one blog, OC Blog, almost daily for a few months. OC Blog is a little different from other blogs. It is a lot of news recaps and opinions, usually from the right, about Orange County issues. It links me to newspaper stories on those topics I may otherwise have missed, and it allows me to post comments if I want.

I’m not one for chat rooms, never been in one, and shy away from the back and forth that these blog comments sections offer.

Last week, however, I posted my first comment on OC Blog.

The comment I posted was in response to an e-mail sent to the “blogmaster” by a fellow named Laer Pearce, who is a public relations guy specializing in development.

Pearce was commenting on the passage of Measure B in Yorba Linda, which is the equivalent of the Greenlight initiative in Newport Beach. In fact, Greenlight got a mention in the original post: “Initiatives like Measure B and Greenlight aren’t good-planning programs, they’re no-growth programs.”

That Greenlight is a no-growth plan would be news to the residents who voted for it. Greenlight is nothing more than a way of taking the decision-making process out of the hands of the City Council and putting it in the hands of residents.

Why? Because residents did not trust the politicians to make the right decisions, right being a preservation of the high quality of life in the city.

But Pearce missed all that. Instead, Greenlighters and those in Yorba Linda who voted to question authority were mentioned thus: “We can’t expect this sort of complex and subtle process to be understood and verified by an electorate that, while intelligent, has neither the knowledge nor the desire for knowledge in land development.”

Complex and subtle? What is so complex and subtle about wanting to take a longer look at adding more strip malls, density and eyesores?

There is nothing complex or subtle unless you are a developer or a developer’s friend. Then it’s OK to use condescending language, the equivalent of which is: “You wouldn’t understand so just leave it to us. We know what we’re doing.”

Pearce wraps up his sore loser post by hoping that “the affordable housing advocates who opposed Measure B will sue to get it overturned.”

Yes, that’s right. His side lost, so now he wants to encourage the use of tax dollars to overturn a direct vote of the people.

The last line of my post was, “Your side lost ? get over it.”

I did not know who Laer Pearce was, so I followed a link and came to something very interesting.

It turns out that Pearce’s wife, Beth, is the producer of a video called “Voice of the Victims,” which describes how the lives of several teens were ruined by drugs and alcohol.

The one clip I watched described “Sarah,” who had a drug slipped into her water and was then raped and left unconscious.

From what I can determine, this is a stark, compelling film that would resonate with teens because it talks to them, not down to them.

Apparently, Beth Pearce put up a lot of her own money to make “Voices of the Victims,” and while I cannot recommend it to you because I have not seen the whole thing, I can recommend that you visit the site and consider buying it, especially if you have teens at home.

To learn more, go to www.voiceofthevictims.com.

The world is a funny place. One day I’m disgusted at the arrogance of a developer-friendly sore loser and the next I’m in awe of his wife, who has made it her life’s goal to spread the word about the dangers of drugs and alcohol and who put her money where her mouth is.

Go figure.