Let them not say: they did nothing. / We did not-enough.
2024, man.
I would say we are once again at the point in the cycle where the outrage grifters misrepresent and misdirect for maximum clout and zero consequences.
I would say once again, but we are merely still there.
The outrage grifters moved to different platforms and different topics and different ways of convincing you that no one is talking about this and that their rise to prominence on the basis of some totally unrelated topic gives them expertise in whatever people are angry about right now.
They will share out of context screenshots with no links and no indication of when that story was published, steal anecdotes and stats and facts from the people who eke out ways of doing original reporting despite the whims of their private equity owners and then say that the mainstream media doesn’t want you to know this.
They will, if corrected, say things like “well it could have been true” and “facts are not the point.”
They are enabled by reflexive reposts and likes and shares, by ongoing subscriptions to platforms that monetize Nazis and posting on platforms with proprietors who boost proponents of theories that describe immigrants as akin to insects to be exterminated.
Attention is a privilege. Who deserves yours?
Attribution
Let them not say: they did nothing.
We did not-enough.Let them say, as they must say something:
A kerosene beauty.
It burned.Let them say we warmed ourselves by it,
read by its light, praised,
and it burned.— from Let Them Not Say by Jane Hirshfield