Harris: Countering

Harris’ idea of countering is defined as “rewriting as a way of countering and phrasings that strike you as mistaken, troubling or incomplete. In the blog world, this is EXTREMELY prominent. For example, blogs can use countering by disagreeing with a politician, voicing their opinion on a controversial topic, like a Catholic speaking against abortion to a liberal audience. My blogs are pretty unbiased, even though they may show a very subliminal tendency towards a certain side/opinion, they don’t write directly against or for it. It is the blog commenters who provide excellent examples of countering. Blog commenters everywhere LOVE to speak their minds, and let’s just say…there’s no filter.

            The assortment of blog commenters in the two blogs that I’ve been following, provide great examples of countering. In one of Borderland Beat’s articles, “Mexican Governor accused over cash-filled suitcase”, blog commenters provide interesting opinions on the matter:

                        “Cut their heads of for protecting the Zetas”-says Anonymous

“its no different then the US officials being paid by big corporations its all greed we will all have are moment of truth tho” –Anonymous 2

……(HAHA, learn to spell first buddy)

“ . . . I still hope like HELL the PAN is able to stay in power”-Anonymous 3

El Blog del Narco, also has many opinionated followers, in the video clip/article about “Ixtapaluca, el municipio mas corrupto del area conurbada del D.F” (Ixtapaluca, the most corrupt town council in a metropolitan area of Mexico City). For the sake of understanding by my English speakers, here are some translated comments:

“MEXICO CITY NATIVES, UGLY, OBESE, MIDGETS, BIG-STOMACHED, FACE OF A CORRUPT MEXICO CITYAN  HAHAHAHA!!!” –El Chicles (The Gums)….Calm down there, buddy.

“and, WHO LEFT BEHIND THIS SHIT?? Well, Enrique Pena Poop….let’s throw lot’s of dirt on him for the votings of the great one my fellow patriots!...people are stupid and they let themselves be influenced by his little puppy face and because he is married to Guilota (famous soap opera start) but remember, HE DIDN’T KNOW THE NAME OF THREE BOOKS, HE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT THE MINIMUM WAGE IS, AND HE DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO GIVE A SPEECH IN ENGLISH”- lizzetteramsey4

Although these examples of countering are a quite “out there” and a bit offensive, they provide examples of how people use countering when responding to an article/other people’s work.