Five Media — and Social Media — Hygiene Tips in the Age of Trump
One small thing that everyone can do in order to cope with the upcoming Trump administration is to support a vigilant free press. Yes, there are lots more things we should all do — donate to Planned Parenthood/Southern Poverty Law Center/Human Rights Campaign/Greenpeace RIGHT NOW, get ready to march in LOTS of protests, find a liberal to run for local office, etc. etc. — but the daily support of real journalism is incredibly important.
Note that “real journalism” is not “the media” as brought to you by Facebook algorithms (hi, Peter Thiel!) or “the media” as represented by sliverofskewedinformationthatsupportsmyperspective.biz, but the actual newsgathering media that consists of reporters who research, investigate, and contextualize information that actually matters. Despite decades of budget cuts and vilification by right wing reactionaries, the fact remains that newspapers and even television news do important, real work. These are the men and women that not only will let you know what our new presidential administration is doing, but they will also — hopefully — let you know just how much impact it is going to have on the fabric of America. And that work will be more important than ever starting today.
To that end, these five little tips will not only help support that work, but also help keep you (realistically) informed and maybe — just maybe — help us battle not only whatever Trumpism will come to represent, but also the post-factual age that we seem to have entered.
1. Look for information not confirmation
The main reason Trump opponents were so sure he couldn’t win was because we ravenously digested only the things that told us he couldn’t win, completely ignoring the things that told us he could. Well, he did, and guess what? There was lots of quality reporting out there that said that exactly what happened was possible. Not “field-goal-from-37-yards” possible, but “hey look at all these Rust Belt voters who are pro-Trump” possible. You can’t fight what’s happening if you don’t know what’s happening.
2. Stop sharing clickbait and pretending it’s news
This is self-explanatory. Occupy Democrats is not a news source. The Raw Story is not a news source. They only exist to get your blood pressure up, push your liberal buttons, make you smug and self-assured, and take your clicks (and ad dollars). Fuck them. You’re not changing anyone’s mind when you share those links. You’re not providing anyone with any real information. You’re just making yourself feel better while getting played by some B-list internet marketer who’s raking in AdSense dollars thanks to you.
3. Follow your friends and family on social media
Every social media platform has one business goal: capture your attention so you can be sold ads. If you keep clicking on those echo-chamber links that people keep posting, you’re gonna keep seeing them. But if you get back to liking/loving/retweeting the good-vibe stuff that your family and friends are posting, you’re gonna see more of that. And yeah, you may see some stuff that aggravates the shit out of you and disrupts your precious worldview, but you’ll also get a much more well-rounded look at what’s going on around you. Re-follow/unblock everyone and like/love/hate everything they post! Fearlessly comment like a motherfucker. Scramble the algorithms!
4. Subscribe to newsletters!!
Stop depending on social media to bring you updates from your favorite activist group and media organization! Facebook hates activist groups and media organizations (hi, Peter Thiel!). Sign up for a newsletter instead. Yeah, you’ll get asked for donations from your favorite activist groups and subscriptions to your favorite media organizations (YOU SHOULD DONATE AND SUBSCRIBE ANYWAY). But you’ll also get the updates you need from them. And, as for those media organizations …
5. Pay for journalism
Reporting is EXPENSIVE. Lawsuits from a vindictive executive branch are EXPENSIVE. Buy a subscription to one or two or 12 newspapers/magazines that do real reporting. Pick up three copies of your local alt-weekly’s print version. Whitelist real news sites in your ad-blocker. Give these people the money to do the work. Because lord knows, we’re gonna need them to do the work.
