When I was an editorial writer for the GNV Sun I told folks that, in the Church Of Journalism, I was a defrocked priest…having forsaken my priestly vows of objectivity.
Now I’m retired and no longer on The Sun payroll. And oddly, defrocked or not, I find it necessary to take a priest’s vow of poverty.
This because the GOP’s Inquisitor General is finally closing in on blogs – the last bastion of low rent journalism.
“A Florida lawmaker has proposed a bill that would require bloggers who write about Governor Ron DeSantis or other elected officials to register with the state or face fines.”
This according to a post from the online news source Deadline.
“The legislation, proposed by State Sen. Jason Brodeur, a Republican, also would require that the bloggers disclose how much they are being paid for their posts.”
Well, I saw that coming. Censorship on a grand scale is the hallmark of Gov. DeSanitizer’s Holy Reign of Florida Error.
Listen, this guy went to war with Disney so Mickey wouldn’t say gay.
He made teachers drape their book shelves with bed sheets lest students be exposed to…whatever.
He’s installing thought control at every level of public education, from kindergarten through grad school.
He’s ramming through legislation to make it easier for politicians to sue the lamestream media for defamation. And screw the First Amendment.
So of course he’s going to bring his iron-fist-in-velvet-glove regime down on bloggers. Why wouldn’t he?
The anti-Ron hates it when anybody whose mouth he can’t put words into says anything remotely critical of his esteemed self. (And, yes, State Imposed Censorship is The defining characteristic of a fascist regime.)
State Sen. Jason Brodeur, the anti-Ron handmaiden who is leading the Inquisition on bloggers, “reasons” (if you can use that word in this context and keep a straight face) that people who make money writing a blog about state officials are basically lobbyists.
And since lobbyists must register with The State, then why not bloggers?
To which I can only reply “no contest.”
I have never made a dollar off my blog, FreeGNV.com.
And I am never going to make a dollar off it.
Not because I am adverse to making money by practicing my journalistic craft. I did exactly that for half a century.
It’s simply that I’ve gotten too old and too lazy to be that entrepreneurial.
Apparently some people do make money blogging. I have even heard rumors that some people make a ton of money blogging.
So I Googled “How to make money as a blogger.” And here’s what I learned.
I took one look at a Top 10 list of how to monetize my blog…
…and I needed a nap.
Listen, the other day my wife called FreeGNV “my hobby.” My immediate response was to take that as a slur on my journalistic inner being.
But now I am ready to embrace my hubby hobby.
If it ends up that the price of keeping FreeGNV alive and well is filing a state form that says “It’s a hobby, dude, not a business” then so be it.
Which is not to say that I might not exercise a bit more, um, journalistic discretion going forward.
It’s been a while since I last used the actual name DeSantis in one of my blogs. But I’m beginning to realize that even “DeSanitizer” might be a little close for comfort when the State Inquisitor General comes calling.
So my fallback position, when the ax starts to fall, will be to refer to You Know Who as…
…He Who Must Not Be Named.
How ya doin, Voldemort? I’m still here buddy!
FreeGNV 