Google/Gulag Blogger's faceless, unaccountable, cowardly censors. What are they afraid of?

@wwaycorrigan

[For an audio/vlog version of this story, click here.]

Most if not all bullies are also cowards. They pick on the relatively powerless, knowing that they are unlikely to meet any significant resistance.

'Nothing to see here. Move along.'

Bully Blogger

Google Blogger has been showing itself to be a bully of late.

In the last few weeks, it has deleted two of my blog posts for what amounts to reasons unknown. Or 'just because'.

The first to be summarily done away with was 'The case for non-pharmaceutical defences against covid', originally published in November 2021. On 12 August last, Blogger emailed me to inform me that this story was now binned. An audio version of it is available at https://youtu.be/cOnUpPoUkjo.

Then on 02 September just gone another pandemic-era post, 'The vaccine vexers', originally published in September 2021, got the chop (audio version at https://youtu.be/Z8hRwiHfrTs).

Here's the text of that latest email Blogger sent to me, worded the same as the 12 August correspondence:

Hello,

As you may know, our community guidelines
(https://blogger.com/go/contentpolicy) describe the boundaries for what we
allow – and don't allow – on Blogger. Your post entitled 'The vaccine
vexers' was flagged to us for review. We have determined that it violates
our guidelines and deleted the post, previously at
http://wwcorrigan.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-vaccine-vexers.html.

Why was your blog post deleted?

Your content has violated our misleading content policy. Please follow
the community guidelines link in this email to learn more.

If you believe that we made an error, you can request an appeal:
https://www.blogger.com/go/appeal-post?blogId=2732538313987233397&postId=7490742377544475627.
You may have the option to pursue your claims in court. If you have legal
questions or wish to examine legal options that may be available to you,
you may want to consult with your own legal counsel.

We encourage you to review the full content of your blog posts to make
sure that they are in line with our standards as additional violations
could result in termination of your blog.

For more information, please review the following resources:

Terms of Service: https://www.blogger.com/go/terms
Blogger community guidelines: https://blogger.com/go/contentpolicy

Senseless censorship

So my content has violated Blogger's 'misleading content policy.' Yet, Blogger doesn't tell me what it is that is misleading. It seems to think that by reading the community guidelines I'll find out why my content was deleted. I have read the community guidelines and they don't shed any light as to why these posts have been labelled 'misleading'. It's similar to the if-you-don't-know-what-you've-done-wrong treatment from an irate girlfriend.

Not agreeing with somebody's take on contentious issues in which there is still much ongoing debate is not the same as that take being misleading. Also, going into specifics of the content, which Google Blogger fails to do, it's a fact to say that some people have non-vaccine-acquired immunity, i.e. natural immunity, to covid-19 and therefore don't need the jab. To state otherwise is not only misleading but potentially deadly and it further erodes trust in public health.

Blogger avoids specifics because it simply wouldn't be able to win the argument. 'You are misleading because we say you are misleading', that's the approach. What's more, its guidelines are so general that they can be fitted to suit the platform's own perspective on every occasion.

This is the big problem for small fry such as me. Google Blogger can do and does what it wishes with content published on its platform and there's little we lightweight users can do to fight back, save for, as mentioned in the email, appealing the decision or taking legal action against the company. I've done the former but, unsurprisingly, have thus far received no reply, while the latter is something few modest bloggers could afford to contemplate.

It's like a country that has strict entry requirements for would-be visitors. We may think the requirements are unnecessarily restrictive but the country can set them as it sees fit.

In this case, Google Blogger is letting it be known that it is against science, rigorous debate, and free speech while it supports Big Pharma and censorship.

Who's really doing the misleading here? Bully Blogger, you can delete all my stories if you wish but all you'll be doing is revealing your autocratic aims. Welcome to Gulag Blogger.
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Listen to The Corrigan Cast podcast here.

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Chasing the media dragon: The raison d'être

@wwaycorrigan

[For an audio/vlog version of this story, click here.]

'There is only one thing worse in the world than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.'

Media man? Mediocre man?

That's one of Oscar Wilde's many maxims. Most of us do, of course, prefer to be known than not known. To be a somebody rather than a nobody.

This has its ebbs and flows, though. Sometimes we wish the whole world knew what we were up to while on other occasions we'd prefer to be anonymous.

Nonetheless, the desire to be a somebody usually dominates, particularly for those of us still on the make. This is even more so for those whose way of earning a living is all about engaging with the masses — the more, the merrier. Or, better put, with greater reach comes the possibility of greater recognition and, perhaps, greater riches.

In today's technology-rich, highly interconnected world obtaining a greater reach, getting oneself known, has never been easier to attempt. Anyone with even just basic computer/internet knowledge can give it a go in a matter of minutes. Artificial intelligence is making this even easier. The challenge is in finding a winning way of going from zero to hero; hero in terms of desired reach, that is.

Yet, the technology and global interconnectedness helps are also hindrances. Because mostly anyone can get themselves out there, the result is a crowded and noisy virtual space. So getting seen and heard is difficult.

Added to this is the fact that we are creatures of habit. It generally takes considerable effort to get people to buy into a new alternative if the benefits of doing so aren't immediately obvious.

Established power

In the media sphere, the one that I find most alluring, some content creators can go viral, propelling a nobody to a somebody in no time at all. Some of those have staying power. Others become forgotten about as quickly as they became known about. One-hit wonders, as it goes.

When it comes to current affairs media, traditional outlets have, on the whole, held their own in this we-can-all-be-journalists age. Money, of course, still talks. Having deep-ish pockets allows the bigger players to stay in the game for much longer and ensure their content takes precedence over that of others.

Also at play is the fact that many believe what they hear and read when it comes from a recognised, official/traditional source. An independent blogger or podcaster can't be trusted as much as the establishment or a long-standing media group with many employees.

My view is that it's better to be sceptical of all until unequivocally proven otherwise. Thus, one should always be sceptical!

I say all this as, in case you weren't aware, a current blogger and lapsed podcaster. I have skin in the game.

And while I can't speak for all independent bloggers/podcasters, I believe most who go down such a path hope to get some financial reward from it, whether directly or indirectly.

In terms of directly, I still have misplaced hopes that Google AdSense will come good for me after all these years of using the service. (I'm still, um, reeling, from that absurd six-year suspension. If I hadn't lost that time I may have reached AdSense's 70-euro payment threshold by now.)

'What is the point of blogging if views are paltry and there appears to be no real benefit to it anymore?'

Revenue from automatically created ads aside, I became an independent content creator seeing it as a means to an end, that it would be an indirect route to some financial reward. This and the idea that it would keep my name out there after leaving full-time paid work in already-established media.

To a certain extent, it has served this purpose. Whether or not it is still a net benefit to me in this regard is open to debate.

Pointless

As alluded to earlier, independent content creation, particularly that which focuses on current affairs/opinion, is struggling to stay relevant in the war on fake news/misinformation.

If one's source is a blog, even if the information is true, the instant reaction by many is to rubbish it. If it hasn't been given the seal of approval by the BBC Verify team or the equivalent, then it can't be trusted. Remember, you can always trust organisations such as the BBC, even when they present opinions as undisputed facts. (If you've made it this far with this not-to-be-trusted content, I'll refer you to my 2023 piece, Living with unsettled and unsettling questions.)

So bloggers who by now aren't already well established can forget about ever making it. Unless, that is, they tap into a niche market that has money-making potential. The same goes for podcasters. If we reached peak blogging about ten years ago, we're surely at peak podcasting now. If you're an independent podcaster who hasn't yet returned a profit, you're as well to forget about those dreams of avarice.

OK, money motivates but it's not always the main driver. If it were, I would have stopped writing this blog years ago.

One, however, still gets a brief high off the hits, infrequent as they are. The randomness of these hits still baffles me, too. 'Why did this blog story get more views than that one?' Whatever the reason, while overall views of my Google blog have actually shown an increase, views on individual stories have decreased considerably over the last couple of years or so.

So it does beg the question, 'What's the point?' Wouldn't I be better off focusing my efforts on some decently paid job rather than wasting time writing blogs? The simple answer is yes.

OK, a paid job and continuing to blog aren't mutually exclusive. I can do and have done both.

But, again, what is the point of blogging if views are paltry and there appears to be no real benefit to it anymore?

Slaying the dragon

Well, there is a cathartic element to writing. And even if my reach is minuscule, somebody might relate to and/or get something out of the odd entry I publish.

There's also the feeling of still being a somebody, a free-thinking somebody at that. Blogging, plus the occasional letter to the editor, gives me the platform to express myself, even if next to nobody is taking notice.

Now, if I were to take my thespian talents to the next level, becoming something of a star — but one with a modest carbon footprint, of course — blogging would become surplus to requirements. I would have found an alternative ego-boosting dragon, if only fleetingly — the boost from it doesn't last long.

And then we're back to 'What's the point?' Why concern myself with trying to be a media man, be that media of the new, social or traditional kind, or allow myself to be lured by the siren call of a super extra?

The answer? Well, when the media dragon has appeared to be almost completely out of reach, it's at such times I've felt the least enthused about my circumstances.

Perhaps what's needed is one final fling that will allow me to slay this dragon once and for all.

Then, a life of relative solitude, away from the media madness, content as a nobody.
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Listen to The Corrigan Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".

Wrong Way Corrigan's hits and misses of 2023

@wwaycorrigan

In this independent blogging/vlogging game, the numbers do make a difference. OK, it's highly unlikely I'll ever make a living from it but one does get a small endorphin hit when one publishes what turns out to be a, um hit, views-wise.

The 2012-published Lord of the Dance proved popular in 2023. 

My modest hits would, of course, be considered terrible misses by the bigger players; it's all relative.

Missing the hits!

So what did Wrong Way Corrigan get right in terms of popular posts across the various platforms in 2023? And where was I a good bit off target?

Starting where my online content creation began, with Google Blogger, the most-viewed (I was going to write most-read but a view of the story doesn't necessarily mean that it was read!) was Living with unsettled and unsettling questions — 664 views as I write, in case you're wondering!

Incidentally, the most-viewed story on Google Blogger over the last 12 months wasn't a piece that was published this year. It was 2012's Lord of the dance. A timeless tale! 

'The Google blog is coming close to becoming a teenager. They grow up so fast, don't they?'

The least-viewed, excluding the most recent to be published, is Letter to the editor: Ireland's waste water, with a paltry 39 views.

Over at my El Tiempo blog, with a decent 1,458 views, Little thirst to teach English in these thinking times leads the way for the year ending.

At the other end of the scale is The care necessities: Dealing with old age with a rather pathetic 26.

On YouTube, A Boyacá fruit route: Tierra Negra-Nuevo Colón-Turmequé was the top performer of vlogs published in 2023  (YouTube makes the views public knowledge, so you can click on the hyperlink to find out the number!).

Making the bell toll for us while we still can | What's rung is rung! didn't quite reach the heights of A Boyacá fruit route!

For YouTube Shorts, A Bogotá jam ... is tops. Up in the clouds with Zetaquirá's Virgin Mary! has been more down in the dumps in terms of views!

Finally, on the podcast front, Not so gaga for physical footy: Time to nip it in the rib? didn't excite the masses. 

Finding that savoury spot between feasting and fasting performed a little bit better. Just a little, that is!

So there we have it. Perhaps 2024 will see Wrong Way Corrigan become more occupied with other, better-paying projects. The blog is our baby, all the same. In fact, the Google blog is coming close to becoming a teenager. They grow up so fast, don't they?
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Listen to The Corrigan Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".

Little thirst to teach English in these thinking times

@wwaycorrigan

[For an audio version of this blog story click here.]

Earn per hour what many Colombians would be doing well to make in a day. Largely be your own boss, decide how often you want to work and, for the most part, dictate the course of affairs.

Teaching English: It's not all bad, particularly with high-level learners. 

Outside of some sinecure or getting money for nothing, that job description sounds as cosy as the best of them, doesn't it?

Didactic doubts

Yet, I have little interest in pursuing it. For some reason, when I get asked if I teach English, I shudder at the prospect.

Even in these financially lean times — in fairness, I haven't really known any other — when, in theory at least, teaching English can provide a bit of a cash cushion, I tend to shy away from it.

I should be honoured and humbled that people ask me to give classes. And no, it's not that they're so utterly desperate that they seek me out. Honestly, it's not. Well, maybe in the odd instance that's the case but it's not the norm.

Of those who've used my didactic services, most seem to be satisfied with my method. Just don't ask me exactly what that method is. It's case-dependent. Bespoke English classes in a sense. What works for Camila may not work for Camilo, so to put it. One size does not fit all.

Also, the idea that any native English speaker can be a teacher of the language isn't exactly correct. As I explained before, some qualified teachers in whatever subject area lack the ability to impart knowledge. What's more, some tutors work well with certain students and not with others.

Most importantly, the person taking lessons has to be prepared to do some grafting. As it is for honing any skill, becoming competent in another language requires dedication. If this is lacking, the task becomes next to impossible.

'Maintaining a rather minimalist lifestyle — would I have it any other way? — and being able to charge a decent hourly rate in a Colombian peso context for various jobs means I can have more "me time" than the average worker.'

While this mild defence of my didacticity may appear to be at odds with my overall disinterest in teaching English regularly — for I still do it occasionally — there are certain types of "clients" and situations that I don't mind as much as others.

The ideal scenario is a face-to-face class within a 30-minute walk from my base, with a student who contacted me for my services — I don't feel comfortable advertising as a teacher, per se — and one who already has a fairly decent level i.e. can hold a conversation, read newspaper articles and suchlike without too much difficulty. I generally dislike the idea of online classes but I can do them at a push.

With a high(ish)-level speaker, classes are often more like a chat or a podcast interview — the odd correction excepted. In fact, I often think such types don't really need classes, but hey, if they want to pay me for them, fine.

A few pesos for my thoughts?

Having said that, if I never gave an English class again in my life, I wouldn't lament the loss.

I would, though, be somewhat saddened if I were to be denied access to publish my musings. Monetarily speaking, this makes little-to-no sense. My blogging is a gratuitous gig with a minuscule reach. (Although, if this reach were to expand exponentially, Google AdSense might actually start to pay dividends. It's the hope that kills ya!)

Yet, we don't really get to choose what ignites our passions and more often than not pursuits that we enjoy aren't financially rewarding.

So that I have to occasionally do certain tasks that I find tedious to keep in the black is far from revelatory (even the "super extra" roles are now often more in this tedious bracket than stimulating, for various reasons).

And occasionally is key here. Maintaining a rather minimalist lifestyle — would I have it any other way? — and being able to charge a decent hourly rate in a Colombian peso context for various jobs means I am able to have more "me time" than the average worker.

That, however, might be a problem in itself: too much time to ponder on life, on what's happening and, more pertinently, what isn't happening. The busier one is, the less time there is to ruminate.

If only during these frequent downtimes I got a peso, or better yet a penny, for each of my thoughts. Rather than being dead, philosophy may be about to have a golden age. I'm positioning myself accordingly, just in case.
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Listen to The Corrigan Cast podcast here.

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Ten-up: a decade of 'Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog'

@wwaycorrigan

[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]

Ten years ago today, sat in Bogotá's popular Cranky Croc hostel and based on advice from an Indian friend I knew from my Belfast days, I started a Google-hosted blog.

Where will the next ten years bring us?

Google blogger, my acquaintance told me — he knew much more about these things than me, although that wasn't hard at the time — was blogging for dummies compared to the likes of WordPress (via El Tiempo, I've subsequently become au fait with various aspects of the latter).

Putting the world right, the Wrong Way

With the prospect of staying in Colombia for a time on the cards — I certainly didn't think that over a decade later I'd still be here — I wanted my own space to share my thoughts and views.

You see, whilst working as a broadcaster for Ladbrokes bookmakers in Belfast from 2009 to 2011, I became a serial letter writer to the Irish daily and Sunday newspapers. I touched on various topics, things I couldn't really get off my chest in the day job (although I did try, at times, to mention them in between greyhound races from such exotic locations as Monmore and Romford).

Rants to colleagues, housemates and down at the local pub weren't enough. I was a curmudgeon in my mid-20s you could say. And I felt that as much of the world as possible needed to know my thoughts. 

'Who knows how rich I'd be today had Google AdSense not suspended its services on this page for six years due to unspecified "irregular activity".'

Once the first few letters were published, this gave me the belief that at least some editors found what I had to say interesting. Or controversial. It became something of an addiction — I just wanted more, more, more.

However, moving continents and consequently not being as tuned in to events back home meant it became less likely that my musings would appear in Irish newspapers with the same regularity as before.

In any case, I couldn't be leaving it up to the whim of an editor to get my, um, profound perspective on the world "out there" (the way things are in these crazy, heavily censored pandemic days, that point has taken on extra pertinence now).

Hence the creation of the blog. The medium was kind of all the rage back then, although I may have been a little late to the game. Other, more visual media were beginning to take over.

Be that as it may, Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog has survived, for better or for worse.

At its birth, I flirted with the idea of giving it a more Colombian specific name but I figured I may not be in the country too long, so I didn't want it associated with one particular place over another.

Call it a lack of ambition or a failure to think big, but I always saw it as a means to an end, not an end in itself.

That aside, who knows how rich I would have been today had Google AdSense not suspended its services on this page for six years due to unspecified 'irregular activity'. I could have made at least 100 euros by now. Rich beyond the dreams of avarice, eh?

Nonetheless, and fittingly enough, it all started with The wages of love, something of a motif over these last ten years, writing about affairs of the heart. A mixture of bad romances and financial woes, in a way. Three hundred and eighty-three posts later, it could be said, plus ça change.

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Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".