How dare you denounce the gods!?

Clouds with crespuscular raysA recent tweet by a friend of mine struck me. She said something along the lines of “just because I don’t agree with So-And-So (big name social media guru) doesn’t mean I need to get privately burned via direct message.”

I approached her via DM explaining how every once in a while, I’d like to respectfully disagree with some of these PR and social media professionals we have collectively dubbed “gods.” Respectfully disagree as I would do with anyone else. But why haven’t I? Why can’t I?

Because: I would literally be stoned to death via 140 characters at a time by an overwhelmingly loyal band of lemmings. Yeah, I said it.

People like Chris Brogan, Peter Shankman, Sarah Evans, Brian Solis, all brilliant people in my book, have attained status beyond what I could ever imagine for myself. (Nota bene: I’m dropping these names because I’m pretty sure you know who I’m talking about. This is in no way an attack on any of them.) But anytime I’ve ever wanted to publicly say something less than “way to go, you are so right!!” to a figure of this status, I have to stop myself in fear of being blacklisted, hurting my professional reputation, etc.

How is that in any way a productive community?

I’m going out on a limb here to maybe say what some people might possibly be thinking. Eviscerate me here in the comments section, cheer me on, or ignore me – feedback and thoughts are appreciated.

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