Free Speech

STOP. Don't hit that back button or click "Next Blog" just yet. If you're a blogger or interested in blogging and free speech, please take your time to read this post.


This was going to be a post about me going on vacation and moving house next week, or I was going to write about how I'm going to Paris tomorrow to meet up with the Lovely K for 4 nights of Parisian passion.

But somewhere in Paris, events far more dark and sinister are taking place. Events that yesterday compelled one of my favorite bloggers to go public and disclose the shattering story about how she's been suspended from work for writing a blog about her life in Paris. And not just, suspended. No. Suspended for gross misconduct, even though she never disclosed any information about her employer. In fact her only "crime" seems to be that she at one point posted a picture of herself and that the picture allegedly could identify her employer and discredit the company.

This is of course a load of bollocks, and I was truly sad when I read the post and the article about her misfortune.

It also got me thinking that I need to be careful about what I write, how I write it and where I write it, because anything that you put in a blog is basically published and public information.
Yes, I sometimes blog about me work, but only in general terms and I always blog outside office hours, generally in the early morning hours. So all I'm doing really, is using the corporate network and company laptop, but that can also be a potential danger if someday the company decides they don't need me anymore.

I urge you to visit Petit Anglaise's blog and show your support for her. I'm sure that she needs to feel somebody is standing by her. Her writing is excellent (yes, I'm envious) and I'm confident that her blog is destined for hardcover publication.

An old and wise relative of mine once told me that the Chinese use two symbols to express the word "crisis" One is "danger" the other is "opportunity" (he was a clever chap, but this may be rubbish, however it's a good point...). I think what he meant was that no matter how bad things get, there's always a chance to come out strong and build something new.
I wish for Petit that she uses this crisis to turn her life around and free that beautiful author that lurks just beneath the surface.

JB