An Open Letter to Tom Kuegler — Crisis Communications & You

Your crisis responses tell us more about you than you do

This was in response to a growing crisis between two Medium authors. Why do I care? I don’t really, but it’s a fascinating view into the worst possible way to address a developing crisis involving notable people. (Screen-cap: Author)

The tempest in a teapot

In the last couple of weeks, there’s been a bit of a Medium to-do unfolding as Medium elites go head-to-head over empathy and the young successful white entitled male. In one corner sits Shannon Ashley, a Medium writer suffering from an illness that requires an ungodly amount of money to correct. Mostly because there’s a profound lack of empathy in the United States for the health and welfare of its most vulnerable citizens. In the other sits Tom Kuegler, another Medium notable and young successful white entitled male who spends a lot of his time telling us how much money he makes and how we can too — for a price.

Where the controversy started

Shannon asked people in a group that includes Tom, to share a link with their followers to help her raise $60,000 through a GoFundMe for an operation to correct her debilitating medical issue (link below).

Some people did share her link, and for full disclosure, so did I, though I’m not part of that group, I picked it up elsewhere. In doing that, what Shannon noticed was the young successful white entitled males in the group didn’t seem interested, so…