Monday, June 11, 2018

Mic Drop

This was an entertaining article about the turbulence felt at Mic.com:

https://theoutline.com/post/2156/mic-com-and-the-cynicism-of-modern-media?zd=1&zi=w2kbxqh2

I try to remain skeptical of any opinions coming from ex-employees (especially anonymous ex-employees), but these lines really stuck out:
“Mic trafficked in outrage culture,” a former staffer who left in 2017 said. “A lot of the videos that we would publish would be like, ‘Here is this racist person doing a racist thing in this nondescript southern city somewhere.’ There wouldn’t be any reporting or story around it, just, ‘Look at this person being racist, wow what a terrible racist.’”
Also, the introduction makes the same sort of observations that float around half-formed in my own head, and it's a pleasant surprise to see someone else making them (the author of the piece was Adrianne Jeffries):
Every day, there was someone, like plus-size model Ashley Graham, to cheer for, and someone else, like manspreaders, to excoriate. Kim Kardashian annihilated slut shamers, George Takei clapped back at transphobes. “In a Single Tweet, One Man Beautifully Destroys the Hypocrisy of Anti-Muslim Bigotry.” “This Brave Woman's Horrifying Photo Has Become a Viral Rallying Cry Against Sexual Harassment.” “Young Conservative Tries to Mansplain Hijab in Viral Olympic Photo, Gets It All Wrong.”

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