I’m not a popular writer on Medium. Almost next to zero — when compared to the top writers. After three years, I have little to show for my 265 Medium articles and 6578 Medium responses.
For sure, I am not paid well for my Medium writing efforts. But I am a little astounded at how much MPP money I do earn with my so few readers. I will have no trouble paying my Medium subscription fee several times over this year.
If I extrapolate my meager traction/MPP payment to the traction of the popular doomposters, I estimate they must be earning a nice middle-class income — just for writing doom and gloom. That’s better than working at the doughnut shop, isn’t it?
Doomposters like to tell us that they are educating the public about a dark future. If we don’t change our ways, they say, this dark future will be realized. But are they really educating anyone?
Medium is a left-leaning forum. Most readers here recognize the signs of a rising fascism. And climate change. And too many guns. And poverty. And incompetent politicians. And silly wars. And food shortages caused by silly wars. We don’t need doomposters to tell us this. Day after day after day. Month after month after month. Year after year. I’ve been here three years.
But what is their solution? Here is the solution I found at the conclusion of a recent popular doomposter article:
Our systems are failing now, just like I warned. You can see it happening in almost every headline — it’s the story behind the story. It will accelerate from here, and only get worse. Unless we ever do something about it.
Do something! What a great solution! Aren’t great writers supposed to change vague verbs and nouns to more specific words?
Almost as if everyone knows what “do something” is. Do you know?
I guess we could vote. We could protest. We could write, post, and share more doomposter articles. Maybe we could befriend those on the wrong side and talk some sense into them? These are the usual ways of those of us outside of the power circles can make things happen. Yet these usual ways seem so empty, don’t they?
Maybe we are comforted knowing that someone else is delivering the message to the wrong side for us. That absolves us of our responsibility, right? But the doomposters mostly live in echo chambers where Medium shekels can be thrown their way.
Maybe their doomposts are reaching a few citizens living in the wrong side and changing a few minds. So that justifies us throwing shekels at them to continue their great work. Really? The liberal media has a greater reach into the wrong side. And there has been no evidence that a significant part of the wrong side is changing their minds. If nothing else, the wrong side seems to be getting stronger.
Maybe we are comforted knowing that the doomposters are bending the will of those overly ambitious people who say they are fighting for us. Are these overly ambitious people reading internet articles all day? And taking advice from doomposters to “do something”?
Maybe we are comforted that when the collapse does come, we will wag our fingers with the doomposters and say, “We told you so.” That will make us so happy, right?
Maybe hoping and wishing will turn things around because we’ve read so many doomposter articles.
Methinks doomposters don’t want any workable solution. Workable solutions will mean less time spent reading doomposter articles.
It really is time to stop reading and encouraging these doomposting writers. They are bad for our mental health. They are bad for other people’s mental health. They are not moving the world forward. Yet the article that supplied the above quote is likely to earn more MPP money than all my articles will earn in the next year.
Tiered Democratic Governance (TDG)
I have been offering an alternative for world citizens to consider. It is about average people building a new kind of democracy. Starting in their living rooms. Working with their neighbors. Investing 10 hours a month!
Why aren’t we building this new, kinder, wiser democracy?
Have the doomposters got to our psyche so deeply that we are too paralyzed to even consider this new democracy — let alone build it? Did I already mention that doomposters are bad for our mental health?
While I really can’t prove this psychology as the reason why my ideas are not taken seriously, it takes no psychology to understand that the popular doomposters are pretty good at putting money into their own bank accounts. And amateur doomposters want to become popular doomposters. But how has all this moved the world forward? I’m not seeing much progress after being on Medium for three years.
We — the sensible people — have a choice. We can either continue to read more doomposter articles, which donates to doomposters’ bank accounts or we can start building a new democracy for our kids and grandkids. The doomposters have a vested interest to keep you reading their articles. Maybe that is what they mean about “do something.”
Published on Medium 2022
