I’ve read Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist from time to time and I happened to stroll on to it today. The latest post was Blogs without topics are a waste of time, a perfect topic for a new blogger like myself. Her advice: Find a topic, find a way to always write in a way that is relevant to that topic, and don’t give the excuse that you don’t know what your topic should be because we all have something to write about. This is great advice from Penelope – up front, honest advice – but that’s not what I want to talk about.
As I was finishing reading her blog post about blogs, I saw the title of her last blog: My Miscarriage – on CNN, ABC, and AOL. The blogging article was helpful but this was juicy. Penelope posted a ‘tweet’ on Twitter that announced
I’m in a board meeting. Having a miscarriage. Thank goodness, because there’s a fucked-up 3-week hoop-jump to have an abortion in Wisconsin.
Not only did she have a miscarriage but she was happy about it, and she felt it appropriate to tell all her followers on Twitter. This has turned into a hot topic in the media. In her blog she offers links to articles on ABC online, the Washington Post, and has posted the video from an interview on CNN (the correspondent interviewing her is Catholic which makes it interesting. I tried to post it here but CNN wouldn’t let me).
Many are shocked that Penelope felt open enough to reveal what is normally such a terrible and harsh situation. Clearly she didn’t want the baby in the first place because she was going to have an abortion, but does her being okay with a miscarriage give her the right to ‘tweet’ it so publicly?
I do believe that the internet is a place where people are allowed to be open, honest, and reveal private information, but how far does it go? Penelope had the right to post about her miscarriage, but she didn’t need to. Imagine if a woman who had been excitingly awaiting the birth of her baby had a miscarriage. Chances are a nonchalant ‘tweet’ like Penelope’s would devastate her.
People should be able to express themselves online, but there is a certain decency that should be maintained. It does not bother me that Penelope posted about her miscarriage but the fact that she is treating the death of her unborn child like a unwanted DVD she was able to sell on eBay is troubling. I’m sure other women have been relieved just like Penelope when she had a miscarriage, but I highly doubt those woman would have been offended if Penelope had shown a slight remorse for her loss.
The freedom of posting information on the internet is testing people’s decency. Unfortunately what some think is perfectly appropriate, others believe is completely inappropriate. It would be nice to figure out some way where indecent comments like Penelope’s could be censored, but she and assuredly others see nothing wrong with them. Can a line ever be drawn? Doubtful – with the millions of internet users, coming to an agreement seems very doubtful.
