We Must All Speak Out Because the Corporate Media Does Not Represent Us

If you have a story to tell, please allow me to help you share it with the world

Hello Friends!

Today is Monday, November 4th, 2024. I expect tomorrow to be one of the proudest days in American history, but for now it feels like we’re in the calm before the storm.

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to connect with a few of my subscribers over Zoom. I truly appreciate communicating with all of you through your thoughtful comments. Sitting down for a quick conversation provided me with some amazing new insights.

I’m getting to be more comfortable with Zoom meetings. To be honest, they used to make me nervous. I’m not like my kids who were born in the era of technology and who delight at every new app they get to try. In contrast, I tend to hold onto my phones until I get a message from the carrier saying, “Your device is no longer supported.”

So, even though I left one of my appointments sitting in confusion while I failed to hit the button that says “turn on your audio,” I am getting better at it. The thought of organizing a Zoom meeting no longer makes me break out into a sweat.

I’ve decided it might be nice to offer a weekly Zoom meeting for my paid subscribers. I plan on starting off small, seeing how it goes, and scaling up. I will remain true to my mission of not hiding information behind a paywall. I believe that the people who are most in need of sharing their message are often the ones who can’t afford to sponsor my newsletter. I also like to hold myself to the standard of offering information that does make it possible for people to sponsor me.

Other newsletters demand huge amounts of money upfront and hide the useful information.

I offer useful information upfront and allow my readers to see for themselves how that information is valuable. It’s basically the opposite of capitalism, and I think it’s a better way to live.

All that being said, I think I’ll begin by limiting my Zoom meetings to paid subscribers just to keep the attendance manageable. There’s a pretty good chance I’m going to mess it up, even though I’ve been laying the groundwork with a few of you over the last few weeks.

I am also very close to becoming a Substack bestseller, so this seems like an appropriate time/way to cross that finish line. Probably in the next month, one of you will upgrade to paid, and the next morning you’ll see an orange checkmark next to my name.

If you really want to get in, here’s my 60% off coupon:

A quick crash course on Medium

In the two calls I had last week, I was made aware that I’ve been using some terms that some of you are unfamiliar with. Once I started talking with people face to face, I recognized how the way Medium works might seem confusing. So, let me provide a simple analogy that defines what “publication” and “Boost” mean with regard to Medium.

Think of Medium like a newspaper with a million subscribers. Within Medium, there are publications. You can think of these publications as the sections of the newspaper: sports, entertainment, business, etc.

If you publish a story on Medium, you have the option of publishing it to your own profile or submitting it to a publication. Publishing it to your own profile is like sending it to the classifieds. Your work will still be visible if it’s in the classifieds, but fewer people are likely to read it.

I’m an editor for Cultured and Write and Review. If you submit a story to me, I can get more eyes on it by virtue of the fact that it’s in a section rather than the classifieds.

I’m also a Boost nominator. That means I can submit (but not approve) stories that will be given the benefit of Medium’s internal distribution mechanism. An internal set of curators will review my submissions and determine whether or not those stories are given a Boost. With regard to the newspaper analogy, that’s the equivalent of having a teaser for your work that appears on the front page. It drives a lot more traffic to your story.

Still confused?

The corporate media doesn’t work for us

What’s become clear to me is that the whole reason platforms like Medium and Substack even exist is because the corporate media is not serving our interests. A few weeks ago, Anderson Cooper was shocked when Charlamagne tha God criticized how CNN covered trump. I believe that Anderson Cooper is one of the better ones, but the whole media has been spending way too much time allowing sycophants to discuss messages that are either misleading or outright lies.

If you allow somebody on your platform to say things that are untrue, the damage is already done. Even if you correct that person after the words have been spoken, it’s too late, the message has already gotten out. We understand this to some extent. For the most part we don’t have networks that allow politicians to actively call for violence against specific individuals (it’s a shame I have to write ‘for the most part’). But politicians are frequently allowed to get away with making hateful statements against groups of people that do lead to harassment.

When was the last time you saw a major media network interview somebody who had been targeted for violence provoked by the irresponsible language of a politician that was given a platform by the same network? I’ve never seen that.

Was even one Haitian immigrant in Springfield allowed to discuss the harassment they had to endure after trump’s infamous statement at the debate? Why not! That’s a completely valid story to cover.

So, for anchors to act “shocked” that people think they aren’t covering current issues appropriately just shows how out of touch they are with what the general public actually has to endure. We DESERVE to hear these stories.

I need YOUR stories!

I think the most powerful thing in the world is listening to the stories of REAL people. I don’t feel the corporate media shares those stories. The corporate media is more interested in supporting a narrative. They will therefore, in my opinion, suppress information that contradicts their narrative.

I think that’s part of the reason why we’re all so frustrated and anxious. We know the things we see on the television and in the newspapers aren’t accurate. We’re constantly being forced to believe and accept things that we sense aren’t true. That’s detrimental to our health. At some point we all want to stand up and scream, “JUST TELL THE TRUTH FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE!”

Being a writer just means you’re mindful about the process of uncovering the truth. I do my best to help other writers, but even when everything goes right, a story might not find much of an audience.

That’s part of the game. I have 50k followers on Medium and sometimes I write a story that gets 10 views. When it comes to writing, you have to adopt a long-term strategy that was conceived with an awareness of the odds. I compare it to playing poker. If you’re drawing to an inside straight, you might win every once in a while, but in the long term that’s a bad strategy that’s going to lose more often than it wins.

I often see writers who have earned some sort of false positive feedback, and they can’t get off the strategy that got them one win but is ultimately going to be unsuccessful. A bad strategy that works sometimes is more dangerous than one that never works.

Anyway, all of what I’m talking about here is what made me realize the need for a regular meeting. Some of it is going to seem confusing, but if we stick with the game plan, we will be successful.

I’m excited about the fact that the tools are available to get eyes on stories that need to be told. I never expected to become an expert on a platform like Medium, but for as long as Medium is around, I believe it’s a valuable tool for getting the word out. Over the last year I’ve learned quite a bit about Substack as well, but I don’t claim to be an expert here.

I think for the first month at least, I’ll keep these meetings short and sweet. I expect to do it Sunday morning at around 8AM for a half hour only. Perhaps down the road I’ll go ahead and purchase a Zoom account so I can have longer meetings, but we’ll see how this works.

I’ll send out a message with the link to the meeting to my paid subscribers later this week. I’d like you all to start thinking of questions you’d like me to address. I want it to be an efficient use of your time, so send your questions in advance so I can come prepared.

I’ll also write about the topics you bring up so that everyone has access to them. Like I said, I’ll start small and then scale up. If you want to get in on this meeting, please consider becoming a paid subscriber!

Fingers crossed for tomorrow! I strongly believe Kamala is going to win and when that happens OUR WORK WILL BEGIN! Have a great day everyone!

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Thanks for reading! As always, leave your questions or comments below!

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