In this article I note that I'm now a “freelance” journalist. I actually became a freelance journalist at the worst time in American history.
This is because most news organizations are bleeding money and they no longer pay for “freelance’ articles to the extent they once did. Furthermore, these mainstream news organizations definitely do NOT publish the type articles I’ve “pitched” or submitted.
My sense is many Americans now realize that captured mainstream news organizations “control the narrative” by hiring and retaining only a certain type of group-thinking journalists.
However, these editors and publishers also control the narrative by rejecting copy from bolder, independent freelance authors like myself.
Even with my articles that have been published at Internet sites that are a part of the “alternative press,” none (or very few) of these sites pay for content. So the only place a “contrarian” freelance journalist can earn any money is Substack … and only the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent of Substack authors make as much money as salaried journalists in the captured mainstream press.
Anyway, the voices of independent-thinking, non-captured freelance journalists have either been throttled or this class of journalists is unable to make enough money to make a living. These trends/observations involving the bleak state of freelance journalism also protect the dubious or bogus “authorized” narratives.
Yes the MSM is hemmoraging viewership. However they are being propped up by government and big pharma advertising at the moment. In Canada they are propped up by government subsidies however in spite of this three larger MSM went bankrupt recently. The government even boosted the subsidies from $15,000 to $30,000 per newsroom employee however it will not stem the red ink on their balance sheets. MSM cannot compete with the internet, not even counting the people who dropped their subscriptions because of MSM unethical practices.
My question has been: What the hell are journalism colleges teaching students these days? Do they no longer teach even the basics of what truly constitutes journalism?
Here in Canada we are now in the same position Russian media was in during the Soviet era when the government owned and controlled all journalism, thanks to our Prime Minister propping up the CBC and nearly all other outlets—including small town newspapers like the one I work for as a freelancer—with millions of dollars of subsidies. The CBC = Pravda.
Prior to Covid the rural newspaper subsidy was needed, with media corporations cutting staff and even closing small town newspapers. For example, Black Press bought the Nelson Daily News in 2002, which had published for over 100 years in Nelson, BC, and promptly closed it down, replacing it with a tabloid-style weekly crap sheet called the Nelson Star, with probably less than a third of the staff. Recently Black Press filed for bankruptcy but not before its owner, David Black, paid himself tens of millions in "salary" to extract the cash before it went under and was sold at auction for pennies on the dollar, no doubt.
During Covid, these bailed-out newspapers then dutifully followed the government line on pandemic reporting, to the point of not even publishing letters to the editor that expressed a contrary opinion. The only exception to this in our region was the last standing independently-owned community newspaper, the Valley Voice. Even they wouldn't publish news pieces that questioned the official narrative, but allowed free reign on the editorial page so readers at least got to see a contrary perspective.
So, like you, I'm a basically unemployable freelance journalist, now resorting to Substack. But I have yet to crack the code of all these Substack success stories we hear about. It certainly helps if you migrated to Substack with an already famous name, like Naomi Wolf, as just one example. All we can do is hang in there and tell the truth at whatever cost!
Bill, the world we knew that even had paid journalists is over...more professions are going the same way...there is no going back.we have 10 months until the next cull...stop mourning.thry will take down the grid...so you need food and a place to hide..or die.
I'm sorry to be so bleak..but the world in which capable people had jobs is gone.,,you have less than 10 months.
Figure out how to survive..or how you want to die.
If I worked in a profession besides journalism and hadn’t written so many taboo stories, I might be able to conceal my real nature and could perhaps secure a job. But, alas, my stories are out there for all to find. The safest route for potential employers is to not even interview such a person, much less hire him.
…. Which is not to say (if I WAS hired at a MSM organization) I would even try to write “rogue” or “unauthorized” articles. If I needed a job and a steady income, I’d probably be a good team player who wrote only the stories that were assigned to me and/or I would come up with my own stories which I concluded were “safe for publication.”
However, my sense is I wouldn’t even get the chance to prove this because the person interviewing me would quickly suspect my real bent of mind from reading my clip file and would immediately identify me as someone who would turn out to be a “high-risk” employee.
I read that same comment yesterday, “the purge of the capable,” and it struck me deeply. My wife and I have both lamented the utter lack of competency in every. single. field. She is a nurse and I am a pharmacist, both retired now. We both thrived in professions where perfection is the minimum standard. Our smallest mistake can kill or injure a patient and cost us our ability to earn our living. An honest error can mean a jail sentence and fines. But no one, no one is held to a similar standard. All we ask of anyone is competence- whether you’re flipping burgers, bagging groceries or fixing cars, be competent. It is nearly impossible to find any more, even in our own professions. When people say, “I don’t really trust anyone in health care now,” my reply is, “Good. You shouldn’t.”
Thanks for this post. I'm glad to see this phrase - "the purge of the capable" - resonates with other people. That this purge has already occurred does, I think, explain our New Abnormal world.
Nice to see another RPh of quality out in the world! I still have ten years til retirement but take pride in my quest for high order competence and trying to teach the young ones to think for themselves. No vaccines from me thank you! And you're more likely to have me talk you out of a drug therapy than into it (unless it's vitamin D or something useful). But you are 100% right about the lack of competency in our shared profession. It's the one thing that's hardest to teach too. You wouldn't think that "just do it right and with a purpose" would be so hard to understand. But here we are. And yes, I'm just a lowly RPh not a fancy PharmD. I get mad if someone calls me doctor. I work for a living!
Bill, your "sob story" assumes you stay in the same field. If you opened a restaurant, worked in construction or started a mail order business you would be fine. In construction the only thing that customers care about is "Can you do the Job?" and "How Much". You are not unemployable except in the MSM and I personally would not want to go work for them in this age because they are so unethical.
That's a good point. There's plenty of jobs where my bent of mind wouldn't matter at all. But in the field where I have three-plus-decades of experience - and a field I think best suits my skillset or greatest insterests - I'm un-hirable.
I also think writers like myself - because we are so rare - are more important than ever. The future of the world will be decided by which narratives or ideas prevail with the masses.
Big and important changes would have already happened if there wasn't 100-percent groupthink in the MSM newsrooms.
I agree. People like you are important. Unfortunately you are a revolutionary so we are back in the 1776 era when revolutionaries were thrown out by the British. The solution is not very appealing as it means mass insurrection as in 1776. You should read Eugyppius's Fable he put out this morning about a fanciful village and how the elites kept the people down and how the people struggled to get a good government.
Will do. I'm considering a follow-up piece, which I probably won't write, where I give several examples of local jobs that came open in the past months or years where I know I would have been very qualified. I was never asked to interview even though I talked to a few people and sent letters of interest to the people who would do the hiring. My suspicion is I am now known as a maverick who would either be controversial to many people or someone who might "rock the boat" in some company or organizaton.
I don't get out nearly as much as I used to, but I'm still probably the best-known person in my town who was against all the lockdowns, vaccines, etc. That right there is probably a label that's enough to make me "un-hirable." Plenty of people might (secretly) agree with me ... But more local residents and important stake-holders in these organizations would be likely to raise objections to my employer for hiring someone with my "radical" or "dangerous" views.
You can multiply me by millions of people who are in the same position. This is really a different form of Covid "collateral damage."
Thanks, Fred. That thought just occurred to me while commenting on this thread. The people who were smart enough to sense the Covid lies - and brave enough to speak out - are probably un-hirable in many "manager-level" jobs. To protect one's future employability, it's best to remain silent.
This is a version of "self censorship," which is another goal of our rulers.
Here in NZ we have FB pages designed to help get employment for those who went against the narrative. Lots have got jobs in their field or related, or now doing something else ( as a stop gap) and now find they have actually a better work life
They will go this summer. Bird flu. Bill get to the truckers...it needs to be a massive uprising at the first summer created by deep state riot. That is where you need to focus your talents..you have to figure out how to do what substack cant...wake people up and tell them what is coming..and how to deal with it.
Well, to some degree it's exactly the same families. Adam Schiff's XX-great grandpa was a NY banker that funded the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. Bush family started in America with Prescott, who was a Nazi banker. None of these people are really that new. None of these policies are new.
We have to become ungovernable. Just refuse. Force your state office holders to refuse. Engage your local sheriff to refuse. But to do that, you gotta cut off the payoffs from Uncle Sam to industry...
You took your time building the case for the modern commitment of “media” and “journalism” to placating the wealthy and powerful. I agree with you the same essential problem plagues most, if not all, corporate “management”. Our society has become plagued with commitment to, and acceptance of, a single narrative. Exceptions are not allowed, period. The truth will, sadly, continue to be forced to lurk in the non-mainstream press — like Substack.
My budget is constrained these days, as I am unemployed, but I’m willing to share. Thank you for your excellent work!
I saw you just upgraded to an annual paid subscription. Given your limited disposable income at the moment, that means a great deal to me. Thank you very much for the support.
This so tickled me. Welcome to the club Bill! We are an elite bunch. I am unfollowable on social media. I am unelectable for state or federal office. I am unemployable. I should be an ideal candidate for all the above (college graduate, 30 year business owner, married 29 years, 2 professional kids, etc) but people like us scare the powers that be (and the asleep normies) more than anything else.
All too true, in my world too. Try getting an honest answer to a fair and relevant question on proposed legislation from our so called representatives. They are one or both totally indoctrinated true believers (sheep) and controlled facilitators with the benefit of a bureaucracy of same furthering their agenda and nests at the same time.
As a paid subscriber, I'm happy to support writing and topics that interest and inform me. Your work speaks for itself, so you don't have to over sell yourself. But in this instance, it helps to define the cultural and professional dilemma of a divided public in our time. I don't see how we can change their world, and it eventually implodes anyway. Just sucks that it hurts so many people in the process (which is their goal). So IMO we capable should go galt in every way we can while still sharing open source info for others. Welcome all ye curious and capable!
Thank you very much for being one of my paid subscribers. In 20 months, I've grown my "paid subscriber" number to 292 - which is actually not that impressive given the long hours I've put in trying to grow this metric. When I was publisher of The Troy Citizen, I changed our weekly from a free newspaper (supported entiredly by advertising) to a paid subscriber paper after the paper's first year. In about one month of a subscription drive I organized, I got 3,000 paid subscribers to sign up - in a town with a population of (then) 13,000 .... 33,000 in our county).
So, with that context, 292 paid subscribers doesn't really impress me. Still, this figure is greater than probably 99 percent of Substack authors. And I definitely appreciate all my paid subscribers.. I also appreciate all my free subscribers ... Just today, I finally went over 6,000 total subscribers.
It took me just a couple of months to exceed 3,000 Substack subscribers. It's taken about six months to add my last 1,000 subscribers - so my "subscriber growth rate" has slowed tremendously. I think this is common with most "Substack contrarian authors" - which makes me wonder if "someone" might somehow be messing with our algorithms.
One of the hardest parts about aspiring to excellence is confronting contemporaries who are satisfied with mediocrity. This results in the inept managing the adept, or “the ascension of the non-capable”.
I'm - in a completely different field. Tai Chi instruction, meditation, etc. etc. I have people's brains & bodies in my care. I take this responsibility quite seriously!
But the overall field....is largely inept, even when "well trained."
And you nailed it too. I’m a 35 year veteran of another, completely different field, hospitality, and can regularly be found lamenting the quality of candidates coming through. My senior staff will say to me things like “Can you train the staff to put the white tablecloths and the black tablecloths through separate wash cycles?????” (Whilst holding up a mass of now-grey tablecloths). My reply is usually “You’re joking right? I can’t even train the staff to serve the customers”
Dude..you sound like a Debbie Downer…thinking way too negative…if you put the opposite spin on your thinking of yourself, your outcome would be different…there ARE still places you can work your craft that have the same basic principles as you…get your stuff out there, EVERYWHERE…someone is gonna like what you write and say, and pick you up!! You keep thinking negative and that all you’re gonna get!!!
AND…you’re here on substack…get to writing mister!!!
We believe in you!! Now you just have to believe in you!!! And also, start writing…lol 😜😁
Thanks for the pep talk. I can think of maybe a handful of alternative media news organizations who might be interested in someone of my bent of mind (Blaze News, The Epoch Times and Del Bigtree's "The Highwire" come to mind. Maybe a few more ... but that's not many.)
For now, my best opportunity to maybe "influence the debate or discussion" is probably here on Substack. And I AM cranking out more original stories per month than 99 percent of Substack authors ... so I am definitely "writing."
Yay!!! And thanks for realizing it was a pep talk…I totally understand where you’re coming from…positivity will get you further…and believe in yourself!!! Also…Newsmax…and yes, substack is a great place to be…anything in your local area? Meditate or pray on it…you’ll get some answers…but I’ve realized that until I start working on it…even just small things, the universe picks up on your desire and puts people in your path that will help get you where you wanna be…I’ve only been reading substack for about a year, so sorry if I haven’t seen any of your stuff…but I’m gonna be looking for you now…lol…see? It’s already working!!! 😁
Great advice and much appreciated. It can't hurt to apply for jobs at every Internet site that might pay salaries to journalists like myself. Of course, if I was hired at one of these sites, I wouldn't have time to write about anything and everything I want to write about.
I'd really love to be, say, one of Tucker Carlson's "producers." That way my work and input would reach millions of people!
If you know someone who knows Tucker ask him or her to put in a good word!
I like your goal…maybe start “bugging” Tucker and his show…send them some of your stuff…be the thorn…and he seems like an very honest guy so I don’t think you would be plagiarized by him or his team…I don’t know him or anyone on his team…but I do know a lot of people…I’ll put the word out for ya…positive thoughts!!!
As noted elsewhere, the alternative media websites that do run articles like mine .... don't pay writers for those stories. I appreciate everyone who has picked up any of my articles, but those story runs don't pay the light bill.
Bill at some point in time the pendulum will swing back the other way. But if it doesnt, we need to establish our own companies and institutions where truth and the good is upheld.
Bill, surely you aren't surprised by this. All you have to do is look at the president, vice president, and all his cabinet and appointees. These days people aren't put in positions because they are qualified or good at it.
I think you're right. You are unemployable in mainstream news. Me too.
I hung onto my position, but they keep isolating me further. Now, management decided I didn't need an editor to assign me stories. I assign my own stories! Heh heh, that's what I wanted all along. But it's a double edge sword: if a story drops, doesn't come to fruition, no one's to blame but me.
But they already know I referred six (6) people in the Dept. of Public Health in Massachusetts to the Attorney General for prosecution on fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and documents violations.
Yeah, so I am a thorn n their side and they would be happy if I was gone and they could get some new grad to work for less.
You said you became a freelancer at the worst time in American history. In reality, you are a lucky lad who has wandered into your noble profession of truth-telling at perhaps the best times in human history. Rejoice!
Due to the egregious and clumsy misinformation and disinformation filling the "big media" with lockstep collisions and preposterity, your customers are abandoning the dogma published by editors beholding to the special interests. Generations have been deceived by the likes of New York's Times, which skillfully fooled us. Thanks to the clumbsy overreach of todays "big media", we can now more clearly realize the deceptions and so realize that we need you truthtellers to allow democracy to work.
So, you need onlyto work hard to find the important facts and to deduce for us the common good implications. This market is seeking high quality and will happily buy it directly from skillful truth tellers. Work that you enjoy is one of life's best gifts.
Do not lament that these tainted "big media" folks won't buy your product. You cannot use the biased editor as your marketing and distribution surrogate and retain your credibility. You must of course remain true to the reader and never "sell out" yourself.
Look for corroboration in the subscription numbers to the big media and at the political swings globally away from false narratives and toward common good. Your career should soar!
In this article I note that I'm now a “freelance” journalist. I actually became a freelance journalist at the worst time in American history.
This is because most news organizations are bleeding money and they no longer pay for “freelance’ articles to the extent they once did. Furthermore, these mainstream news organizations definitely do NOT publish the type articles I’ve “pitched” or submitted.
My sense is many Americans now realize that captured mainstream news organizations “control the narrative” by hiring and retaining only a certain type of group-thinking journalists.
However, these editors and publishers also control the narrative by rejecting copy from bolder, independent freelance authors like myself.
Even with my articles that have been published at Internet sites that are a part of the “alternative press,” none (or very few) of these sites pay for content. So the only place a “contrarian” freelance journalist can earn any money is Substack … and only the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent of Substack authors make as much money as salaried journalists in the captured mainstream press.
Anyway, the voices of independent-thinking, non-captured freelance journalists have either been throttled or this class of journalists is unable to make enough money to make a living. These trends/observations involving the bleak state of freelance journalism also protect the dubious or bogus “authorized” narratives.
Yes the MSM is hemmoraging viewership. However they are being propped up by government and big pharma advertising at the moment. In Canada they are propped up by government subsidies however in spite of this three larger MSM went bankrupt recently. The government even boosted the subsidies from $15,000 to $30,000 per newsroom employee however it will not stem the red ink on their balance sheets. MSM cannot compete with the internet, not even counting the people who dropped their subscriptions because of MSM unethical practices.
My question has been: What the hell are journalism colleges teaching students these days? Do they no longer teach even the basics of what truly constitutes journalism?
Here in Canada we are now in the same position Russian media was in during the Soviet era when the government owned and controlled all journalism, thanks to our Prime Minister propping up the CBC and nearly all other outlets—including small town newspapers like the one I work for as a freelancer—with millions of dollars of subsidies. The CBC = Pravda.
Prior to Covid the rural newspaper subsidy was needed, with media corporations cutting staff and even closing small town newspapers. For example, Black Press bought the Nelson Daily News in 2002, which had published for over 100 years in Nelson, BC, and promptly closed it down, replacing it with a tabloid-style weekly crap sheet called the Nelson Star, with probably less than a third of the staff. Recently Black Press filed for bankruptcy but not before its owner, David Black, paid himself tens of millions in "salary" to extract the cash before it went under and was sold at auction for pennies on the dollar, no doubt.
During Covid, these bailed-out newspapers then dutifully followed the government line on pandemic reporting, to the point of not even publishing letters to the editor that expressed a contrary opinion. The only exception to this in our region was the last standing independently-owned community newspaper, the Valley Voice. Even they wouldn't publish news pieces that questioned the official narrative, but allowed free reign on the editorial page so readers at least got to see a contrary perspective.
So, like you, I'm a basically unemployable freelance journalist, now resorting to Substack. But I have yet to crack the code of all these Substack success stories we hear about. It certainly helps if you migrated to Substack with an already famous name, like Naomi Wolf, as just one example. All we can do is hang in there and tell the truth at whatever cost!
👍
Bill, the world we knew that even had paid journalists is over...more professions are going the same way...there is no going back.we have 10 months until the next cull...stop mourning.thry will take down the grid...so you need food and a place to hide..or die.
I'm sorry to be so bleak..but the world in which capable people had jobs is gone.,,you have less than 10 months.
Figure out how to survive..or how you want to die.
Can you further elaborate about "10 months" ??
Please !
Been waiting for the other shoe to fall for 3 years now. The Mormons have been preparing for decades.
Cutting-room-floor text ....
If I worked in a profession besides journalism and hadn’t written so many taboo stories, I might be able to conceal my real nature and could perhaps secure a job. But, alas, my stories are out there for all to find. The safest route for potential employers is to not even interview such a person, much less hire him.
…. Which is not to say (if I WAS hired at a MSM organization) I would even try to write “rogue” or “unauthorized” articles. If I needed a job and a steady income, I’d probably be a good team player who wrote only the stories that were assigned to me and/or I would come up with my own stories which I concluded were “safe for publication.”
However, my sense is I wouldn’t even get the chance to prove this because the person interviewing me would quickly suspect my real bent of mind from reading my clip file and would immediately identify me as someone who would turn out to be a “high-risk” employee.
I read that same comment yesterday, “the purge of the capable,” and it struck me deeply. My wife and I have both lamented the utter lack of competency in every. single. field. She is a nurse and I am a pharmacist, both retired now. We both thrived in professions where perfection is the minimum standard. Our smallest mistake can kill or injure a patient and cost us our ability to earn our living. An honest error can mean a jail sentence and fines. But no one, no one is held to a similar standard. All we ask of anyone is competence- whether you’re flipping burgers, bagging groceries or fixing cars, be competent. It is nearly impossible to find any more, even in our own professions. When people say, “I don’t really trust anyone in health care now,” my reply is, “Good. You shouldn’t.”
Thanks for this post. I'm glad to see this phrase - "the purge of the capable" - resonates with other people. That this purge has already occurred does, I think, explain our New Abnormal world.
Nice to see another RPh of quality out in the world! I still have ten years til retirement but take pride in my quest for high order competence and trying to teach the young ones to think for themselves. No vaccines from me thank you! And you're more likely to have me talk you out of a drug therapy than into it (unless it's vitamin D or something useful). But you are 100% right about the lack of competency in our shared profession. It's the one thing that's hardest to teach too. You wouldn't think that "just do it right and with a purpose" would be so hard to understand. But here we are. And yes, I'm just a lowly RPh not a fancy PharmD. I get mad if someone calls me doctor. I work for a living!
Bill, your "sob story" assumes you stay in the same field. If you opened a restaurant, worked in construction or started a mail order business you would be fine. In construction the only thing that customers care about is "Can you do the Job?" and "How Much". You are not unemployable except in the MSM and I personally would not want to go work for them in this age because they are so unethical.
That's a good point. There's plenty of jobs where my bent of mind wouldn't matter at all. But in the field where I have three-plus-decades of experience - and a field I think best suits my skillset or greatest insterests - I'm un-hirable.
I also think writers like myself - because we are so rare - are more important than ever. The future of the world will be decided by which narratives or ideas prevail with the masses.
Big and important changes would have already happened if there wasn't 100-percent groupthink in the MSM newsrooms.
I agree. People like you are important. Unfortunately you are a revolutionary so we are back in the 1776 era when revolutionaries were thrown out by the British. The solution is not very appealing as it means mass insurrection as in 1776. You should read Eugyppius's Fable he put out this morning about a fanciful village and how the elites kept the people down and how the people struggled to get a good government.
Will do. I'm considering a follow-up piece, which I probably won't write, where I give several examples of local jobs that came open in the past months or years where I know I would have been very qualified. I was never asked to interview even though I talked to a few people and sent letters of interest to the people who would do the hiring. My suspicion is I am now known as a maverick who would either be controversial to many people or someone who might "rock the boat" in some company or organizaton.
I don't get out nearly as much as I used to, but I'm still probably the best-known person in my town who was against all the lockdowns, vaccines, etc. That right there is probably a label that's enough to make me "un-hirable." Plenty of people might (secretly) agree with me ... But more local residents and important stake-holders in these organizations would be likely to raise objections to my employer for hiring someone with my "radical" or "dangerous" views.
You can multiply me by millions of people who are in the same position. This is really a different form of Covid "collateral damage."
I like your coining the phrase Covid "collateral damage". Very appropriate.
Thanks, Fred. That thought just occurred to me while commenting on this thread. The people who were smart enough to sense the Covid lies - and brave enough to speak out - are probably un-hirable in many "manager-level" jobs. To protect one's future employability, it's best to remain silent.
This is a version of "self censorship," which is another goal of our rulers.
Here in NZ we have FB pages designed to help get employment for those who went against the narrative. Lots have got jobs in their field or related, or now doing something else ( as a stop gap) and now find they have actually a better work life
BRAVO!
Feels like we’re living another Bolshevik revolution, no? If they succeed in getting the farms, we’re in deep trouble.
They will go this summer. Bird flu. Bill get to the truckers...it needs to be a massive uprising at the first summer created by deep state riot. That is where you need to focus your talents..you have to figure out how to do what substack cant...wake people up and tell them what is coming..and how to deal with it.
Ten months?
I do have a plan that would produce far more income for quality journalists or "citizen journalists." Stay tuned.
"Feels like we’re living another Bolshevik revolution, no?" It is good to see I'm not the only one who sees this.
Well, to some degree it's exactly the same families. Adam Schiff's XX-great grandpa was a NY banker that funded the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. Bush family started in America with Prescott, who was a Nazi banker. None of these people are really that new. None of these policies are new.
We have to become ungovernable. Just refuse. Force your state office holders to refuse. Engage your local sheriff to refuse. But to do that, you gotta cut off the payoffs from Uncle Sam to industry...
Dear Bill,
You took your time building the case for the modern commitment of “media” and “journalism” to placating the wealthy and powerful. I agree with you the same essential problem plagues most, if not all, corporate “management”. Our society has become plagued with commitment to, and acceptance of, a single narrative. Exceptions are not allowed, period. The truth will, sadly, continue to be forced to lurk in the non-mainstream press — like Substack.
My budget is constrained these days, as I am unemployed, but I’m willing to share. Thank you for your excellent work!
I saw you just upgraded to an annual paid subscription. Given your limited disposable income at the moment, that means a great deal to me. Thank you very much for the support.
... And your comment is right-on!
👍👍👍🌹🌹🌹
This so tickled me. Welcome to the club Bill! We are an elite bunch. I am unfollowable on social media. I am unelectable for state or federal office. I am unemployable. I should be an ideal candidate for all the above (college graduate, 30 year business owner, married 29 years, 2 professional kids, etc) but people like us scare the powers that be (and the asleep normies) more than anything else.
All too true, in my world too. Try getting an honest answer to a fair and relevant question on proposed legislation from our so called representatives. They are one or both totally indoctrinated true believers (sheep) and controlled facilitators with the benefit of a bureaucracy of same furthering their agenda and nests at the same time.
As a paid subscriber, I'm happy to support writing and topics that interest and inform me. Your work speaks for itself, so you don't have to over sell yourself. But in this instance, it helps to define the cultural and professional dilemma of a divided public in our time. I don't see how we can change their world, and it eventually implodes anyway. Just sucks that it hurts so many people in the process (which is their goal). So IMO we capable should go galt in every way we can while still sharing open source info for others. Welcome all ye curious and capable!
Thank you very much for being one of my paid subscribers. In 20 months, I've grown my "paid subscriber" number to 292 - which is actually not that impressive given the long hours I've put in trying to grow this metric. When I was publisher of The Troy Citizen, I changed our weekly from a free newspaper (supported entiredly by advertising) to a paid subscriber paper after the paper's first year. In about one month of a subscription drive I organized, I got 3,000 paid subscribers to sign up - in a town with a population of (then) 13,000 .... 33,000 in our county).
So, with that context, 292 paid subscribers doesn't really impress me. Still, this figure is greater than probably 99 percent of Substack authors. And I definitely appreciate all my paid subscribers.. I also appreciate all my free subscribers ... Just today, I finally went over 6,000 total subscribers.
It took me just a couple of months to exceed 3,000 Substack subscribers. It's taken about six months to add my last 1,000 subscribers - so my "subscriber growth rate" has slowed tremendously. I think this is common with most "Substack contrarian authors" - which makes me wonder if "someone" might somehow be messing with our algorithms.
{...we capable should go Galt in every way we can while still sharing open source info for others. Welcome all ye curious and capable!...}
BINGO !!!👍👍👍👍
One of the hardest parts about aspiring to excellence is confronting contemporaries who are satisfied with mediocrity. This results in the inept managing the adept, or “the ascension of the non-capable”.
"The inept managing the inept."
I like that. (If it's okay with you, I'm going to steal that characterization.)
Go for it!
Wow. Just wow. Nailed it.
I'm - in a completely different field. Tai Chi instruction, meditation, etc. etc. I have people's brains & bodies in my care. I take this responsibility quite seriously!
But the overall field....is largely inept, even when "well trained."
I thought I was just being a snob.
And you nailed it too. I’m a 35 year veteran of another, completely different field, hospitality, and can regularly be found lamenting the quality of candidates coming through. My senior staff will say to me things like “Can you train the staff to put the white tablecloths and the black tablecloths through separate wash cycles?????” (Whilst holding up a mass of now-grey tablecloths). My reply is usually “You’re joking right? I can’t even train the staff to serve the customers”
I too, thought it was just me….
Thanks Liz T. That feels better, every little bit helps.
Is it Attention? They are on autopilot, zombie mode because they are so stressed they can't put 2 brain cells together.
It's scary, the zombie apocalypse is here, and it doesn't look like the movies.
Haha - “The Zombie Apocalypse” - I never thought of it that way but I reckon you’re onto something!
No mainstream newspaper would hire you? Then you're on the right track.
It is a badge of honor. I don't want to be in their "club" (The "Pack Journalism" Club).
Dude..you sound like a Debbie Downer…thinking way too negative…if you put the opposite spin on your thinking of yourself, your outcome would be different…there ARE still places you can work your craft that have the same basic principles as you…get your stuff out there, EVERYWHERE…someone is gonna like what you write and say, and pick you up!! You keep thinking negative and that all you’re gonna get!!!
AND…you’re here on substack…get to writing mister!!!
We believe in you!! Now you just have to believe in you!!! And also, start writing…lol 😜😁
Thanks for the pep talk. I can think of maybe a handful of alternative media news organizations who might be interested in someone of my bent of mind (Blaze News, The Epoch Times and Del Bigtree's "The Highwire" come to mind. Maybe a few more ... but that's not many.)
For now, my best opportunity to maybe "influence the debate or discussion" is probably here on Substack. And I AM cranking out more original stories per month than 99 percent of Substack authors ... so I am definitely "writing."
Yay!!! And thanks for realizing it was a pep talk…I totally understand where you’re coming from…positivity will get you further…and believe in yourself!!! Also…Newsmax…and yes, substack is a great place to be…anything in your local area? Meditate or pray on it…you’ll get some answers…but I’ve realized that until I start working on it…even just small things, the universe picks up on your desire and puts people in your path that will help get you where you wanna be…I’ve only been reading substack for about a year, so sorry if I haven’t seen any of your stuff…but I’m gonna be looking for you now…lol…see? It’s already working!!! 😁
Great advice and much appreciated. It can't hurt to apply for jobs at every Internet site that might pay salaries to journalists like myself. Of course, if I was hired at one of these sites, I wouldn't have time to write about anything and everything I want to write about.
I'd really love to be, say, one of Tucker Carlson's "producers." That way my work and input would reach millions of people!
If you know someone who knows Tucker ask him or her to put in a good word!
I like your goal…maybe start “bugging” Tucker and his show…send them some of your stuff…be the thorn…and he seems like an very honest guy so I don’t think you would be plagiarized by him or his team…I don’t know him or anyone on his team…but I do know a lot of people…I’ll put the word out for ya…positive thoughts!!!
As noted elsewhere, the alternative media websites that do run articles like mine .... don't pay writers for those stories. I appreciate everyone who has picked up any of my articles, but those story runs don't pay the light bill.
So this post drew a poem out of me. A very-brief slogan-like poem, but nonetheless. https://pomocon.substack.com/p/poem-for-a-2020s-cover-letter
Sad, sickened,
and confused,
Executive Normarians:
can it teach you,
Mass Disaster,
to hire back contrarians?
Bill at some point in time the pendulum will swing back the other way. But if it doesnt, we need to establish our own companies and institutions where truth and the good is upheld.
I agree, Arnold. I'm going to try to do just that. Of course, the PTB will try to stop any company like you describe - by methods fair and unfair.
Bill, surely you aren't surprised by this. All you have to do is look at the president, vice president, and all his cabinet and appointees. These days people aren't put in positions because they are qualified or good at it.
Hi, Bill,
I think you're right. You are unemployable in mainstream news. Me too.
I hung onto my position, but they keep isolating me further. Now, management decided I didn't need an editor to assign me stories. I assign my own stories! Heh heh, that's what I wanted all along. But it's a double edge sword: if a story drops, doesn't come to fruition, no one's to blame but me.
But they already know I referred six (6) people in the Dept. of Public Health in Massachusetts to the Attorney General for prosecution on fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and documents violations.
Yeah, so I am a thorn n their side and they would be happy if I was gone and they could get some new grad to work for less.
Self employment is on my horizon, methinks.
Bill,
You said you became a freelancer at the worst time in American history. In reality, you are a lucky lad who has wandered into your noble profession of truth-telling at perhaps the best times in human history. Rejoice!
Due to the egregious and clumsy misinformation and disinformation filling the "big media" with lockstep collisions and preposterity, your customers are abandoning the dogma published by editors beholding to the special interests. Generations have been deceived by the likes of New York's Times, which skillfully fooled us. Thanks to the clumbsy overreach of todays "big media", we can now more clearly realize the deceptions and so realize that we need you truthtellers to allow democracy to work.
So, you need onlyto work hard to find the important facts and to deduce for us the common good implications. This market is seeking high quality and will happily buy it directly from skillful truth tellers. Work that you enjoy is one of life's best gifts.
Do not lament that these tainted "big media" folks won't buy your product. You cannot use the biased editor as your marketing and distribution surrogate and retain your credibility. You must of course remain true to the reader and never "sell out" yourself.
Look for corroboration in the subscription numbers to the big media and at the political swings globally away from false narratives and toward common good. Your career should soar!
Thank you for those uplifting words, George. The thought has occurred to me that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing ... at just the right time.