100th post, with some values

Making it to 100 on many things is a big deal. From push-ups to miles to, well, blog posts, 100 seems to be something of a big deal in blog land. 

That I can appreciate, so with this being the 100th post of the Politics Hawaii with Stan Fichtman, I went to seek out what others did for their celebration. 

Some posted a review of what they thought were “all-time best” posts. Some just gave a history of what started their blog, and how long, timewise, they have been at it. 

And a few went into the reasons why they blog. Some of those stories are humorous, and maybe I will again tell the tale in e-paper form. But for now, here is my first blog post kinda spelling that out. 

However, one thing that I didn’t see anyone using their 100th post do is either state or reinstate the value set that they use in writing the blog. With the internet’s underlying call for “anything goes” especially in the United States, it’s little wonder. Unlike a traditional media entity, whose publisher is the one that sets the tone, with the blessing of the owner, spells this out from time to time in an editorial or even a regular news piece. 

So I thought “maybe I should do that” and let you, the reader know where my values are in writing this. Maybe it will help me keep focused on what I want this blog to do, or maybe all of this will just bore you to sleep. 

Let’s see how it goes. 

One of the first values I have in doing commentary media, including commenting by pseudonym on local media comment boards, is that my goal is to add to the conversation and not just blindly repeat what everyone else says. 

Because just like what your mother probably told you, as did mine, if you have nothing good to say, don’t say it. But in this case, it’s “if you don’t have something to add that enriches the conversation, then don’t just repeat others for the sake of saying something”. 

That is why you note that my posts are not frequent, or even consistent. I think very hard about what I want to say, look at a subject from different angles. Then when ready, write and post something with the value of adding enrichment, and maybe another point of view to consider, to what is happening.

A second value I adhere to is that my posts will not add to the overall “tone of rage” that seems to be the model in many blogs and other forms of commentary media. I hate feeding rage on an issue because it’s not based on an intellectual look at a subject. It’s all to feed the emotional need for people who seek outrage, to continue feeding it. 

While I have not been perfect to adhere to this, especially in my tweet responses, when I do express more demonstrative points, I will be trying to do better, as suggested by one commenter who emailed me that sometimes I don’t show the Aloha Spirit in my tweets.

It has been asked of me at times to “take the gloves off and go after <subject>. However, that just feeds into the rage rather than creating content that has a focus and purpose. The other thing about going in that direction is that it’s disingenuous to just take one side of an issue, when there are, in just about every situation in the world, parallel and circumstantial issues that have to be considered. 

That is the reason why I did a 4-part report on the Barbers Point Naval Air Museum saga because the story was not just about closing down the museum, as the tale proposed to me. 

By the way, one thing I did learn about rage and promoting rage in commentary mediums, is that the big Social Media companies – Facebook, Twitter, etc., have their algorithms set so that it feeds rage. It’s because, as I learned, pieces that are alarmist or have incendiary headlines get more people reading them, for longer. That translates to ad revenue for these companies and even the posters. 

Third, is that this blog is not funded by anyone else but me, and therefore I control both the content put out and how. I don’t feel, at this time this blog needs to have advertising revenue or investors. It allows me under this blog the maximum amount of autonomy and allows me to set my own rules, and pace, as to what and when I put stuff out. 

A fourth and last value I do adhere to is the fact that I will not post copywritten photos and such on my site (unless they are my photos). If you note in the photos I use on this site, I use photos that are available to anyone through the Creative Commons image website. It claims to have over 500 million images for use, completely free to reuse. All that is asked is to cite the author of the photo when posting. So that is why you see some funky titles under the “PC” notation of some of these photos.

Maybe someday I will get bold and take out a subscription to Getty or another photo source to use their material. But for now, Creative Commons is enough. 

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As a reminder, I want to let you know that the Politics Hawaii with Stan Fichtman Facebook and Twitter site has more material than I post. Typically, I will find an article that is worthy of consideration on a subject. I will provide a comment on it and then open up to the reader the ability to discern, think and come up with their conclusion. 

I have done this most recently with coverage about Afghanistan and the US withdrawal. Excellent points of view expressed that we all should consider as Americans need to now put context to the 20-year history. 

You can also read select articles of PHwSF on Medium. I am looking into letting people sign up for alerts when I post things on the website. I’ll let you know when that goes live. And if you have any comments, suggestions, complaints or the like, you can always email me through the contact page.

And, as said at the beginning and end of every PBS show, this could not be done without the support from viewers (in this case, readers) like you. 

Thank you. Off to the next hundred.