Death By Greed And IPO

Arthur,

Medium was once (briefly) a (somewhat) unruly place of lively, often uncomfortable discussions. No more.

Clearly, Medium is rushing to position itself for an IPO before the coming stock market collapse. To do so, it must offend no one, and cull all those voices that might. It must become a shallow puddle of politically correct nonentities preaching to each other, certain of no disruptive dissent. A platform where the quasi-illiterate can gather to scratch each others backs and sigh, safe in the knowledge that they will never be challenged. A place where feminist, poc, progressive, lgbt screeds can exist in comfortable blue bubbles without fear of being triggered, without ever confronting an argument. A marketplace of ideas that only offers one brand. A propaganda kiosk with a slight (increasingly slight) literary veneer.

To a large degree, this has all come to pass. No snowflake (of any age) need fear melting on Medium.

The ouster of people like Ron and Sveltlana for expressing unpopular positions is disgusting enough, but erasing their writings is pure fascism. It’s not enough to banish them, it is necessary to vanish them. The word purge, in its purest Stalinist sense, is appropriate. Off with their heads and down the memory hole. The commissar curators are in complete control.

What a great selling point for the inevitable IPO: something for no one and nothing for everyone; a safe swamp of mediocrity where anyone can air their fluff and pretend to have said something. Where no one’s feathers are ever ruffled and feel good illiteracy prevails. Useless, meaningless, pointless and therefore saleable.

Here’s to Ev Williams’ billions. If money is the only measure, he is an assured success. If courage is a measure of success, he is a coward and a loser.

Mike