Lately I have been noticing more and more a collection of people with similar interests, ideas or ideology are being referred to as "folks". And most of the time this reference is not made in a positive light. I see it often on political blogs such as humunga-pundit.com, but it has started to creep its way into the normal blog world as well (if there is such a thing).
Mind you, its not just in the domain of weblogs that this terminology has taken hold. It has long been rooted in the political realm to use "folks" in reference to groups of people, sometimes in a positive light, "These folk have been working hard to make a decent living wage.", and sometimes in a less favorable light, "If those folks down in washington could only see beyond partisan lines." Yet, it seems in the realm of political blogs of profuse punditry the term is used mainly in a negative light. I'm not sure if it is a reflection of our "working the ranch", folksy President, or maybe its a way to refer to someone you think is an asshole but the public forum forces a gentler terminology, or maybe its just a expression that has slowly evolved over time into our common consciousness. What I do know is that it has become quite prevalent in the world of weblogs, and frankly, I don't like the folks who are doing it.
There are, of course, variations on the theme. 'Group', 'Crowd' and 'Gang' are readily interchangeable with 'folks'. "I imagine the anti-war gang will readily agree", or "The pro-gun group will surely disagree." are examples of common use. However, I think "folks" is by far the most commonly used, and it takes the most derogatory turn, "If those pro something folks could only...bla bla..." Of course, most of the time its the politics they are expounding that turn my favor, but the "folks" reference is the icing on the cake. If the pro "folks" crowd could only see it my way...
Maybe its the down home folksy nature of these United States that lends itself to referring to people in this manner, adding a John Wayne swagger to the collective lexicon. We're all just a bunch of folks riding out on the great plains of life, punching doggies and writing weblogs on the side. Or maybe, its just the sour taste that people in the poli-blog-o-sphere (that hurt more to write than it took to read, trust me) have for other people's views, and "folks" is just a simple childish way of expressing it. Lets try an example:
A pro gun NRA member writing a post about a person who advocates stricter gun laws.
the poli-blog way: "if we leave it up to the anti-gun folks, we will lose our right to own guns."
non-bloggy discourse: if we leave it up to the people who want stricter gun laws, we will lose our right to own guns."
Which do you prefer. If you prefer selection one, than you most likely have a blogspot weblog with a name like "prophetic punditry", "rationales for the irrational" or "medium sized red rugby balls". I suggest doing a google search on your site for "gang", "group", "crowd" or "folks", the results are predictable.
So I am making a plea to all the poli-blogs out there, lets refer to people as people, and organizations by their names. I'll still go on disagreeing with pretty much everything you say, but it'll make it that much easier for me.
Intuitive readers might imply that this entire rant is a thinly veiled attempt at calling the people that use the phrase "folks" folks, but those folks would be sadly mistaken.
