don kerr

7 years ago · 5 min. reading time · ~10 ·

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Five issues that have the potential irritate me. How about you?

Five issues that have the potential irritate me. How about you?

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OK, when you get to Number Five, you'll understand this introduction:


Here I am, where I ought to be. A writer must have a place where he or she feels this, a place to love and be irritated with.
Louise Erdrich, Author of The Round House, Pulitzer Prize Nominee, National Book Award Winner

Number One - Writers who just keep writing good material always. 

Involvement on social media platforms, for me at least, runs in a direct relationship to the amount of work I have producing copy & branding solutions for paying clients.

When I get busy with work that remunerates me, my publishing on SM reduces.

No real surprise there. What's inherent in that though is the need to keep one's writing muscles exercised.

@Jim Murray has written extensively on this with his always thoughtful contributions to beBee. To my mind he's kind of like the Schwarzenegger of of writing fitness. There's always something popping up from him and I appreciate that, even though it kind of wears me down, if I allow a tiny bit of competitive spirit to peek out. 

Mercifully, that happens almost never - probably 'cause I'm too damn lazy to up my game and output.

Besides, he's fuelled by those giant St. Catharines' doughnuts and lots of java. 

Oh, and, he doesn't have little kids anymore - although he's still a doting parent.

Anyway, here's the first thing that has the potential to wear me down:

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Number Two - Incessant sniping on virtually any SM platform you can think of

daa135d7.jpgThere's great wonder available to anyone who cares to notice on various platforms. I'm not a Snapchat or Instagram enthusiast but my nieces, nephews, friends and even my wife, employ those platforms to great advantage. Neither am I hugely motivated to Tweet but have real admiration for folks such at Paul "Pablo" Croubalian and Lance 🐝 Scoular who make eminently good use of it and are kind enough to share their presence in supporting some of the stuff I do. Facebook is brilliant for me to keep up on an entertaining and almost purely social basis with friends, relatives, former and current colleagues. Lately too, I've been enjoying the swelling movement to resist President Cheeto by powerful FB proponents such as Dan Rather, Robert Reich, and others. LinkedIn? Meh. Not so much. Yeah, I still check in and I have met a few good folks over there (and to its credit would not have come upon beBee if it weren't for LinkedIn) but it just doesn't do it for me.

Then we come to beBee and without sounding as though I have mainlined the Kool-Aid - this is a great spot to engage in genuine conversation with wonderful people and inspiring, provocative minds such as (yes, I will miss someone in the list - too bad - that irritates me too - a little) Lance 🐝 Scoular, Phil Friedman, Paul Walters, Pascal Derrien, Phil Friedman, Robert Cormack, Gert Scholtz, Sara Jacobovici, Pascal Derrien, Graham🐝 Edwards, Kevin Pashuk, debasish majumder, Robert Cormack, Gerald Hecht, Dean Owen and some of the newBees Joyce Bowen, and Sara Jacobovici.

While each of these folks (and surely some of those I missed - which irritates me - but I think I mentioned this) have created some wonderful pieces here the commentary thread often strays way off target. It usually begins with old grudges or fresh umbrage. It usually comes from the same people. Now, I am not one to ever condone even the notion of censorship. I am though one who condones knowing when to speak up in a relevant fashion and when to shut the f&(k up when the commentary has nothing to do with the original content.

To my mind, sniping, when accurately targeted, can serve a tiny purpose if for no other reason than to pop the balloons of pretension. There are few things more irritating though than a undisciplined sniper whose shots regularly take out the innocent.

Number Three - Diatribes which revolve around the central notion of he said, she said, then he said, etc.

N.B. This irritation does not centre on the quite entertaining and informative series of dialogues which run under the rubric of 'He Said, He Said'. 

It does centre on the immensely irritating and constant exhumation of remains which should have been left buried and undisturbed.

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Life is too short for long-term grudges.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk is way smarter than me.

'Nuff said.

I don't really want a blocking function on beBee and hope that I don't have to use it more than twice! What would be really cool though is to have a grudge filter that would strain out all the same old, same old crap that appears time and time again in commentary threads. Javier 🐝 beBee Donna-Luisa Eversley

Surely, we all have better things to do with our precious moments of life than to rehash them and relive the stress they inevitably create.

I had a teacher in high school who was really mean to me. 

Wanna hear about it - in long and exhausting detail?

Didn't think so and I don't care to credit his lasting impact on my life with any sort of notice.

I solve this irritation simply. I let it be.

https://tinyurl.com/honcgul

Number 4 - Profoundly self-centred, overblown self-interest and assumptions that I give a s^$t

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Stupidity, combined with arrogance and a huge ego will get you a long way.
Chris Lowe, UK Musician
Guess that might be true, for a short while, in the entertainment business. Need to have some combination of those 'qualities' to keep moving forward when everyone is telling you you're not good enough. Eventually though you have to back it up with skill, talent, quality, and authenticity.

What it will do for you, especially here on beBee, is get you called out.

One would naturally expect that right?

Apparently not. When we've explicitly and with supporting empirical evidence challenged some of the snake-oil pitches that any SM platform is open to, the pitchers tend to resort to accusations of defamation and well, complaints that asking for quantitative and qualitative evidence is somehow unfair.

There are a whole lot of VERY smart people on beBee.

If you're hoping to blow smoke up someone's kilt without challenge then your ego, stupidity and arrogance have taken you to the tipping point.

What irritates me about this? My bothering to mention that it irritates me. This item Number 4 represents a failure on my part to recuse myself from further discussions on this subject.

Oops. My bad.

Number 5 - Failing to recognize you've been handed a wonderful gift

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For those of us who love to write, to read, to debate, to converse, to exchange, to commune with a global community - beBee is a gift.

And yet, we spend, to my mind at least, an inordinate amount of time consumed with item Number 2.

We take shots at the Ambassador program.

We kvetch about limitations of the platform.

We moan about the delay in the implementation of additional functions.

Sure, we can wrap these up in our enthusiasm and commitment to the growth of the platform BUT how wonderful is it that here we have a free platform with a limitless opportunity to engage in global conversation that gets us way beyond our echo chambers (if we choose).

Granted, out of what might appear to be kvetching there have been improvements but occasionally it's pretty cool to just say - Thank You.

Here. Try it with me.

Thank you.

There, that wasn't irritating at all was it?

So back to the quote at the outset - here's a great thing about this platform - it can be irritating as hell but that's good grist for the mill and overall we're in a spot where, for writers at least, we can love the freedom to create.

© Copyright 2016, Don Kerr, Don Kerr Writes - All rights reserved.

don@donkerrwrites.com

https://donkerrwrites.squarespace.com

https://ridingshotgun.squarespace.com



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Comments

don kerr

7 years ago #26

#35
I have to resort to the Thesaurus to keep up with all you literate Yanks!

Randy Keho

7 years ago #25

I've been quite busy lately, so I haven't been poking the bear with any regularity. Nonetheless, I certainly appreciate the freedom to do so on beBee. Thanks for the shout out Don \ud83d\udc1d Kerr. Recuse? Kvetch? You've been reading your thesaurus haven't you?

don kerr

7 years ago #24

#30
You're a good man Gerald Hecht

don kerr

7 years ago #23

#28
Damn, totally forgot the shaving thing and I need to do my entire head!

don kerr

7 years ago #22

#29
Paul Walters Nah, I'm good.

Paul Walters

7 years ago #21

Don \ud83d\udc1d Kerr I hope that having to reply to all those glowing tributes doesnt irritate you too much. Well said Mr Kerr this is the first thing I've read this morning and so a good way to start the day.

Pascal Derrien

7 years ago #20

You are in great writing form mister Don \ud83d\udc1d Kerr :-) (thanks for the shout out too) personally shaving does irritate me but I dont think it is relevant to this post :-)

don kerr

7 years ago #19

#17
Love having the South African contingent on board.

don kerr

7 years ago #18

#20
Love the billows image!

don kerr

7 years ago #17

#21
Exactly!

don kerr

7 years ago #16

#23
You are most welcome Donna-Luisa Eversley
#17
Gert Scholtz if beBee is a gift for you, you deserve it ! Thanks for building beBee with us !

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #14

Don \ud83d\udc1d Kerr, thanks for the mention. By keeping to its commitment to distribute 100% of an author's posts to 100% of that author's followers 100% of the time, BeBee gives true meaning to #LETTHE AUDIENCEDECIDE. Cheers!

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #13

#10
You must mean, Sandra, BORN in '52. Otherwise, I'd have to ask what substances you are abusing. :-)

Gert Scholtz

7 years ago #12

Don \ud83d\udc1d Kerr Can't agree with you more that beBee is a gift. A wonderful gift for me. We get the benefit of beBee at no cost. Thanks for the mention in the post - I am truly honored to be among these prolific people.

Lance 🐝 Scoular

7 years ago #11

My pleasure Don \ud83d\udc1d Kerr This will be added as a 🐥🔥 And a 🐥🚲
As everybody knows - , we are working on a new platform. Coming soon ! Many thanks 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Thanks Don \ud83d\udc1d Kerr ! All of them are "queen bees".

Sara Jacobovici

7 years ago #8

Thank you Don \ud83d\udc1d Kerr, couldn't be more honoured (notice the correct spelling - that's one of my irritants when the computer doesn't recognize the correct spelling of certain words) to be included on your list and be part of a group, including yourself, whose writing I admire. As for the other "stuff", I chuck it all under "group dynamics". I stay focused on the potential and opportunities. How I would describe beBee is that I found here a landscape that has enough space for me to spread my wings.

don kerr

7 years ago #7

#10
Jim Murray Are you looking at the same picture as me?

don kerr

7 years ago #6

#7
John White, MBA . That's my new go-to position on pretty much everything!

John White, MBA

7 years ago #5

Don \ud83d\udc1d Kerr: You had me at the picture of that gigantic pastry. Someone obviously forgot to mention to you that it's the first day of my diet.

don kerr

7 years ago #4

#1
Well deserved Paul \

don kerr

7 years ago #3

#2
My pleasure debasish majumder

don kerr

7 years ago #2

#3
Kevin Pashuk You are the least curmudgeonly person I know.

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #1

A provocative mind? What a list to be part of. Thanks for including me on this post. Nice stream of thought... My list of things that irritate me grows as I become more curmudgeon like... The trick is to not let them win. I would also agree that the doughnuts in St. Catharines have gone a long way in mellowing out Mr. Murray...

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