For Me, It's A Matter of Ethics

This week I read a "review" on LibraryThing that irritated me enough to comment on it. I have no problems with people's opinions differing from mine. As my friend Corey pointed out, it gives us something to talk about. What this particular person did (sorry, but I refuse to classify the person as a reviewer) was disparage the author - and his/her perceived religion - personally. This person spent as much time tearing down the author as tearing down the book.

I kept my comment to this LibraryThing member civil and professional, which is far more courtesy than he afforded the book's author. I explained that his personal attacks on the author caused me to not be able to consider anything he posted legitimate and I would not read anything he posted in the future. I simply wanted him to know that was the response he was eliciting from me. Now there are a faction of people who seem to feed off this behavior and that's a little disturbing to me, but there also isn't anything I can do about it. Unfortunately, it's exactly this kind of thing that gives bloggers and such a bad name. It's sad.

So, what I can tell you is that I would never treat another human being like that in any situation. If I disagreed with someone at work, I wouldn't insult that person on a personal level, and I would NEVER attribute my disagreement to their gender, race, religion, sexual orientation,... For me, it's simply a matter of ethics. If you're looking for snarky, malicious, disparaging, hateful please move on, you won't find it here.

At Jen's Book Thoughts we try to keep things as positive as possible. And here are some positive things to talk about:

Hey! I'm lonely over at Barnes and Noble, where Robert Crais is talking about his "first date" with the thriller genre. Go leave a comment about your "first date."

Craig Larsen just released his debut novel, MANIA, which is in my queue to read. And he's also hosting an e-reader contest over at his website. All you have to do is sign up for his newsletter by December 20th. One lucky winner will receive his/her choice of a Kindle2, a Nook, or a Sony Reader. Five runners-up will receive MANIA t-shirts. If you win, come back and let me know!

And finally, Tina, a very dear friend of mine lost her son in 1993. She has been hosting various drives in his memory over the past six years to help benefit the hospital that so lovingly cared for Ryan and his family in their time of unimaginable grief. This year, in honor of Ryan's love of reading, she's collecting books to build a library for the children who come to the hospital. They can be books appropriate for anyone between the ages of 0 and 21. On her blog, she has all the details about where the books can be sent or dropped off. I hope if you're able, you'll consider contributing to this cause. We all know that there is no greater gift you can give a child, but the children at the hospital have an even greater need to travel to new worlds.

And Tina - this is a beautiful project so very befitting Ryan's memory. Warmest hugs my friend!

I hope you all have a very wonderful Sunday. If you're not back before Thursday, Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers. Also, I have to stick a little carrot out today. The week after Thanksgiving you'll want to make sure you stop by several times. It's a monumental week for Jen's Book Thoughts, and I'll have a great giveaway for one week only. So make sure you stop back!

Happy Reading!