“A gentleman does not discuss religion or politics” is a maxim that you may be familiar with, often given when entering a new discussion or meeting new people. But when you take a look at the world of mass media you might notice how the most popular and influential figures are often the most obnoxious and polarizing.

Popular personalities like Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern and of course Simon Cowell of American Idol are just several figures that people love to hate. Drawing the ire of thousands, even millions of people is crucial to their success, as they attract the attention of other media sources chronicling their diatribes against the offended parties. The question is, does fanning the flames of controversy work for the blogosphere? Most indicators point to a solid ‘yes’ while some other voices of reason urge a more cautious approach. I took a look at what some prominent bloggers had to say about ‘being an ass’ in the blogosphere.

The Courage to Polarize

In his piece “Are You a Courageous Blogger?”, Brian Clark from CopyBlogger encourages new bloggers to stand by their beliefs and try not to second guess their statements when readers or other bloggers react negatively to their views.

“You need the courage to alienate the wrong people in order to resonate with the right people. You need to stick to your convictions when people tell you you’re wrong simply because your knowledge doesn’t mesh with their opinions.

Blogging by consensus is a recipe for failure. Your success will be determined by the execution of your vision. Think about it… if your audience is more qualified to write your blog than you are, why should they read what you say?

The fact is, if no one hates you, you’re doing something wrong. Trying to please everyone is the goal of mass media. That’s why it sucks. We’re supposed to be smarter, right?

But day after day, I see smart bloggers battered by asinine comments, and watch those bloggers back down and second guess themselves. Soon their content is watered down in the hope that no one is offended, but by that time, no one is reading”.

Clark goes on to cite Darren Rowse’s interview with successful blogger Tim Ferris as further support for his stance on controversy.

“Do not try to appeal to everyone. Instead, take a strong stance and polarize people: make some love you and some hate you. Hate is an extreme, but here’s the gist: what you write, in order to create the highest pass-along value, needs to be “remarkable”. Is it something that is worth remarking upon?

Polarize your audience, elicit some attacks — which create disagreement and rebukes and debate — and be anal about the numbers. Track what works and what doesn’t. Fine tune what works and test it again. Rinse and repeat”.

Professionalism vs. Politics

On the other end of the spectrum, courting controversy on your blog, deliberately or otherwise, can seriously damage your reputation as a professional blogger and is not conducive to an effective work environment, argues Randfish of SEOmoz.org. In his post “Why I keep Politics out of a Professional Blog”, he argues that socio-political discussions online often bypass rational thought and analysis as things become heated and emotional. He breaks down his aversion to controversy in the following points:

Belief: People’s political differences are often based on irreconcilable ideologies rather than facts, so a discussion may lead towards emotional name calling, souring any intellectual aspirations your blog might have.

Transference: Readers who have different political beliefs than you may reject your opinions on other, non related matters simply because of these differences.

Guilt by Association: Making your political beliefs clear may cause some readers to lump you into an ugly stereotype or make exaggerated claims about your character.

Relevance: Simply discussing politics or heated topics for the sake of creating controversy and debate detracts from the focus of your blog and its professional appearance.

Randfish does make an exception for discussing politics- if its for your personal blog or if the discussion is directly relevant to your industry. If you are writing for a professional or niche blog on the other hand, he sternly refuses to stick his nose in these matters.

So, when you are considering bringing up controversial topics or taking an iconoclastic stance on an issue, you have to be prepared to whether the oncoming storm. You should consider both sides of this argument before taking a hasty plunge into a heated debate. Remember, not all blogs are the same and stirring controversy simply doesn’t work to the benefit of all. At Apollo’s Blog for Example, we are all about open discussion and dialogue but we have specific goals and uses for our content that might be deterred if we were to ever get hot-headed.

That being said, we are always ready to stand for what we believe in – when it comes to blogging advice! So long story short, when you are courting controversy, try and keep it relevant to your subject matter so that you don’t risk alienating members of your audience unnecessarily. If you were writing a political blog from a liberal perspective for example, alienating conservative readers might be beneficial to your readership. In other cases, like yours truly, the environment isn’t exactly geared towards those exchanges. So remember blogging and social media are like double edged swords! Wield them wisely!