A word about all the people I've pissed off with this week's blog post:

https://mastodon.social/@Teri_Kanefield/112187081021199665

(When I woke up this morning, I removed about 25 comments !!)

I wonder if I feel free to write a blog post that I know will anger people because I don't monetize.

I have ads, but it pays a tiny fraction of the cost of maintaining a website and using MailChimp. People might be surprised at how much my blogging venture costs.

A few years ago Substack tried to recruit me . . .

1/

. . . they wanted me to use their site instead of my blog.

The recruiter asked for a video conference and was shocked when I told her that I don't want to monetize.

Several people (including a few friends privately) that the MSNBC outrage has gotten worse.

I offered this theory: During the Trump era these networks thrived because there was an easy target for outrage.

Since then, they've had to rely on baseless rage-inducing speculation.

2/

I think another part is that individuals can monetize so easily.

I remember when I discovered Twitter analytics: It showed me that when I said something disparaging about Trump, my engagement went up.

I was appalled and never looked at Twitter Analytics again.

So many factors in this new world of media encourage posts that outrage people or confirm their biases.

3/

I just wrote a book on Disinformation and included the election lies, so I don't say this lightly, but both of these tear at the fabric of a democracy:

(1) disinformation and misinformation
(2) the kind of outrage and fury that exacerbates polarization.

Unfortunately, both of those are profit driven.

maybe that should be next week's blog posts and I take off the rest of the week 😉

I spent an absurd amount of time writing this week's post because I knew I was going against the current.

4/

@Teri_Kanefield You will have seen more of this than I have, I think, but a common rhetorical dynamic on the right is to needle people for the sake of it, purely in an effort to get a rise out of them. It's a pattern. I've become inured to it, and that's good for my own blood pressure, but does nothing to overcome polarization. It will hurt, but at some point, at least if things continue on their current trajectory, these people will need to be presented with consequences they don't expect.