The calm after the swarm
Reflections on what happened after I published this: https://medium.com/@noraloreto/cbc-opinions-is-a-right-wingers-dream-6856d41fa7ef
What happens when you make a reasonable assertion about media bias that hits a nerve? Welcome to last week’s vortex.
It started with one critic. While responding to this individual, whose arguments are a mix of peripheral contestation and fundamental disagreement with what is right and left, more people pile in. Twitter groups these things together but before you know it, a conversation has nine participants and it spirals out of control. You can’t respond to anything seriously so you, and many of the people in these threads start joking. Your jokes are hilarious but then, out of context, they make no sense. They start appearing over the next few days as if you meant them in a reasonable, non-hilarious way.
At the same time, you’re searching for legitimate concerns, people identifying typos and things that you don’t want to miss. Writing a blog means you have no editor. The Void becomes your editor. You take comments seriously and in good faith. You’re responding to people. You want to thank the folks who say thanks. You want to tell the folks who want you to piss off to piss off. You’re playing whack-a-mole with a machine that can’t handle the intensity. Your browser crashes every eight minutes and you lose many wicked burns. Oh well — most really aren’t that wicked.
Then, you get mentioned by people you follow or who follow you; the folks you engage with daily. There are some questions, which you answer. There are hearts too. You’re trying to keep up.
And, you start to get private messages. All of them nice, or in good faith and critical. But labour intensive to reply to. Either you reply, or you don’t and you feel bad. So you reply.
Never mind that the world keeps turning anyway and, as you’re responding you’re also RTing things here and there about other issues. Now there are too many notifications. You switch to mentions only on your alerts. You look at things in chunks and constantly.
But the speed at which things come at you accelerates. There are people who deserve a response. And there are people you want to respond to. There are friends. There are acquaintances and also people who disagree who are worth your time. And, your offer to help improve things is accepted by one higher-up. Maybe it’s an immediate reaction to sidestep the criticism, maybe it’s genuine. Either way, it feels respectful.
Then, it’s quiet again, and you can focus on other issues. You leave your phone at home and go pick up your toddlers. You go to bed.
For some reason, something kicks it off again the next day except now, people are gunning to defend the people who you’re criticizing, as if a memo was circulated. You’re told that these people are wonderful; how dare I criticize them. They are smart. They are great. I am being vicious. I am jealous. I should be happy for CBC Opinions because they are publishing at all (0_0).
The fact that you’re responding to things that are personal is terrible. Because the original argument not only remains *unchallenged* but is also fundamental to the entire point of engaging with people. CBC Opinions is not balanced and here is the proof, is how this starts out. No one argues that I’m technically wrong, with maybe one exception. But everyone argues that I’m wrong in general, about everything.
Because: socialism is a failure because no one likes it. Because the invisible hand of the free market picks the people’s winners. Because it is literally crazy to expect the CBC to promote opinions that progressively challenges the mainstream (do not tell these people about CBC Ideas). Because I should build my own audience and not feel entitled to a platform at CBC Opinions. Because why am I so obsessed with all of this?
I’m not. I’m … not at all obsessed with this. I wrote a blog post and now my Twitter timeline has gone to shit. Sure, no one is telling me to kill myself. But at least in those circumstances, you can wholesale ignore those people. Here — my argument is important and having it obscured to be about me personally or my career can’t stand. I have to correct people.
After nearly 30 hours of shit, I get the only substantive response from the platform’s producer:
This remains the official, public reply, as since, there’s been nothing. Sure, this is subjective to an extent, but not entirely. When a transphobic activist pens the only article about Trans* issues since June, you have a serious problem from an objective perspective. And, even though I never claim there’s a secret network of right wing writers, you can clearly see that there is a bias when you go through every single article you can find.
I think Urback’s last point is the worst of the five. Individualizing this is the antithesis of the problem I’m diagnosing and what the platform needs to do to address it. It wholesale dismisses the issue and allows people to turn this into a bar fight.
There’s been no private response to my request for clarification on those numbers. No follow-up. The handful of messages that I have received from progressive writers since paint a behind-the-scenes image that, yes, in many instances, the political line of articles is being, whether lightly or not, massaged. Yes, there is a non-invisible hand or hands shaping the content at CBC Opinions to skew it right. No, my numbers aren’t wrong. If they were, Urback would have qualified her assertion. Instead, she’s hoping her follows believe her and don’t believe me.
Here is my word of warning: do not swing at the right-wing media establishment and miss. If you’re going to swing, you must connect and then wait for the clobbering that ensues. Cloak yourself in whatever armour you own.
And, just like the right has so clearly done, so very well: if you find yourself in a similar place, you will have my support. My vocal support.
As a freelance writer who is deeply concerned about the health of democracy in Canada, I see a straight line from the unfair prevalence of right-wing political commentary in the mainstream media, and the widespread cynicism and disengagement that plagues too many people. Also, I’m lucky. I don’t need to worry about ruining my career because I don’t rely on most of these people for my next contract. Not everyone can take this kind of risk.
Nor should anyone have to. No one should fear for their professional careers because they challenge the status quo. Until Canada’s national commentariat can grow up a little and take criticism like professionals, the quality of public, political discourse will continue to crumble.
