Summary

The author argues for the closure of GEN, a Medium publication, due to a perceived decline in the quality of its articles, which the author believes have become intellectually troubling and akin to propaganda for the neo-liberal left.

Abstract

The author expresses a strong opinion that Medium's publication GEN should be closed down, citing recent articles that have been published on the platform. The author, who identifies as a centrist, feels that these articles are not only of poor quality but also promote a biased political agenda. The author is particularly critical of an article that compares Donald Trump to a Nazi, arguing that such comparisons are an example of reductio ad Hitlerum and demonstrate a lack of intellectual rigor. The author emphasizes that Medium is a platform with the potential to host insightful and nuanced discussions and worries that GEN's approach to content is not only failing to challenge readers but also contributing to the degradation of meaningful discourse. The call for action is directed at Medium's co-founder, Ev Williams, to re-evaluate GEN's contribution to the platform's mission of deepening readers' understanding of the world and empowering writers with significant ideas.

Opinions

The author believes that GEN's articles are intellectually flawed and serve to reinforce an echo chamber, particularly for the neo-liberal left.
The author is critical of the propagandist nature of GEN's content, which they argue is sponsored and promoted by Medium in a way that other, more deserving publications are not.
An article equating Donald Trump with Nazism is highlighted as an example of the decline in GEN's content quality and is seen as a dangerous simplification of complex issues.
The author contends that GEN's writing team lacks meaningful insight and is more focused on monetizing attention and reinforcing existing beliefs rather than fostering genuine learning or discourse.
Despite the author's centrist stance, they assert that the comparison of Trump to Hitler is facile and lacks the depth of a more nuanced analysis of their ideologies.
The author suggests that GEN is becoming a parody of itself by prioritizing popular, identity politics-driven content over more insightful and analytical pieces that could truly challenge and engage readers.
There is a call for Medium to support writers who contribute equitable voices with high levels of analytical skill, rather than those who simply pander to the lowest common denominator or the loudest voices.
The author criticizes the current state of GEN as a platform that, instead of providing enlightening content, merely serves as an echo chamber for its readers' pre-existing political biases.

I Think It’s Time Medium Closed GEN

Today was the day they jumped the shark

Nobody else seems to be coming out and saying it. So I’ll say it. I think it’s probably time that Medium closed GEN. The last five articles that have wound their way onto my desktop have been truly awful on a whole new level.

They aren’t articles I disagree with politically, but they’re articles I disagree with intellectually. They’ve been articles that have bordered on propaganda for the modern neo-liberal left and as a centrist, that leaves me troubled.

The articles are written by heavily promoted and well paid columnists who are given free rein to write what they feel is appropriate. As a result they predominantly write things that appeal to a core base of supporters.

The writers in question get a little financial biscuit and a pat on the head for feeding the echo chamber, and the echo chamber gets to feel justified in leaving their views unquestioned.

That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem if it weren’t tacitly sponsored by Medium in a way that other, much better publications, aren’t.

Why are you writing this now?

Earlier in the week I read a fairly dangerous article that said ‘all police officers are out to hurt you’. Something that does little more than stoke the fires of divisive rhetoric. Sure… it’s a popular thing to say in the current climate, but it’s ultimately untrue.

The police aren’t a homogenous group of people and they don’t act as such. Later that day police officers in Queens took a knee and proved my point. However populist the articles may be, and however appealing they are to the core base, there was a significant nose dive in quality today.

I just read this article.

Donald Trump Is a Nazi. Full Stop.

We can stop with all the hedging and qualifying

gen.medium.com

Now I’m not rushing to Trump’s defence, let’s be clear on that from the get go. I firmly believe the man is a narcissistic idiot, is utterly out of his depth and has no place running a country. I don’t believe he should ever have been elected and hope that he’s flung out of power and financially ostracised by his nearest and dearest for running America like a reality show.

However the article I posted above asserts that he’s a Nazi and more importantly if you disagree with the author then YOU are a Nazi too.

That means today was the day that GEN jumped the shark. This is Medium sponsored Reductio ad Hitlerum and it should go without saying that an editorial team worth its weight in salt should have higher standards than this.

It’s a publication, not a Youtube comments thread.

So you’re a Nazi now?

According to the effervescent Drew Margery…Apparently so.

Trump is the new Hitler, is a facile and easy argument to make — a more interesting argument would be a comparison between the two. Trump is repugnant but his ideologies weren’t formed in the crucible of World War I. He lacks military experience and he hasn’t performed any expansionist nation building (yet).

Trump is still beholden to, and participating in an electoral system and functioning within a democracy. Hitler wiped most of his politcal adversaries out by 1933. As far as I can tell, Joe Biden is still alive (albeit in a bunker). Nancy Pelosi hasn’t been stabbed at home a la The Night of the Long Knives.

Yes I think that Trump might make a play to throw out the electoral process citing riots and Covid-19 as his reasoning for doing so. I also don’t think he’ll succeed because the legislature of the USA won’t allow him to do so. He may try to replicate 1933, but I’m not convinced it’ll work.

That’s something worth talking about, an idea worth exploring in depth. Something to get your teeth into. Trump is Hitler is facile.

GEN is becoming a parody of itself

The writing team show up and they write something lacking meaningful insight. Then they get paid by those who agree with them in the form of monetized attention. It’s operantly conditioning discourse to the lowest common denominator.

What does anyone learn? What does anyone take away from what is being said? Or does it simply continue and empower the existing echo chamber?

I’m aware that I don’t have to read anything on Medium if I don’t want to — but the point is, the more popular it is, the more it gets recommended. Some of the best writers on this platform have very complicated and nuanced things to say about the modern world.

Some of the best writers on this platform have the power to change how you think on a permanent basis. That’s commendable and interesting.

Even if you do lean left or live in the centre ground like I do…. let me be clear with you. As an intelligent and rational human being, you deserve better than GEN. There are a plethora of interesting voices on Medium that get lost in the tsunami of dross being pumped out at record levels.

Those voices often aren’t curated and they’re certainly not in GEN columns. They often aren’t what people WANT to read, they’re what people NEED to read. The nuance and insightful intelligent articles get lost because there’s an overwhelming insistence on pandering to mainstream identity politics ideologies and clickbait.

I say that as a committed penguin.

Quality writing should win out. That means elevating good articles, not appointing a core group of writers to be the woke-spokes-people we never asked for.

Who needs a wonderful and thoughtful piece about being a white teacher in the modern multicultural classroom when Jessica Valenti is writing about the rise of Karens, all white men being bastards, and how all police officers are thugs for the umpteenth time this month?

So I’m going to implore and tag Ev Williams — and I rarely tag anyone in my stories. Please go back to the drawing board with GEN and its staff. Concentrate on providing a platform for writers with interesting ideas and those who provide decent social commentary, offer insight and solutions to modern issues that affect us all.

In a world of chaos Medium needs to put its weight behind and disseminate equitable voices with high levels of analytical skill. It needs to reach and encourage those who have something useful to offer.

GEN is a currently a team of ‘woke’ angry chimps with the intellectual heft of a particularly uppity sea sponge. They get up, they angrily whack the keyboard with their fists and hit publish. That doesn’t make them enlightening, it makes them the exact equal and opposite of ‘Fox News’ — the fact that they play into my existing political bias only serves to make it worse

THAT is what pushes it into dangerous territory. I agree with most of what they say. I know thousands of others do too. This article (which won’t be curated) isn’t a stand on political grounds, it’s on intellectual grounds. Put your best thinkers forward, not your loudest voices.

Something to remember…

Medium’s mission is to deepen readers’ understanding of the world and to empower writers to share their best work and biggest ideas.

If ‘Trump is a Nazi. Full Stop.’ Is genuinely the best work and biggest idea that GEN had today. It’s time to pull the plug.