We need to talk about…the abuse of writers and Vanity Fair’s homage to White privileged women of the GOP

We need to talk about how writers are used, abused and then tossed out like yesterday’s garbage. The trigger is the latest announcement that Mic got rid of their entire staff, to prepare for the acquisition by Bustle Digital Group. The same steps were taken with Elite Daily back in 2017, when the editorial staff had to go, after Bustle came to the rescue.

Now we all know that shit happens, and as the digital realm advances into the blueprint of Instagram’s flashy portfolio of laser-sharp images and viral videos, we have to wonder if we really need the buzzkill of words.

I happen to love words!

I can’t live without them, and about five years ago, I really believed that the industry was heading in the direction that would allow me to transform those words into a decent living.

Silly I know!

But listen, I was doing a lot of heavy content work for a handful of pubs, and this was while balancing a demanding 9 to 5 corporate job, that was unrelated to my editorial pursuits. From 2008 to 2012, I was blissfully immersed in the booming climate of digital content, and quickly finessing the voice that would allow entry into the platforms of choice.

Fast forward to the present, and the climate has rapidly shifted away from the practice of esteemed journalism, that provides the coherency and thoroughness that fact-checkers and proofreaders used to help validate with skills that are clearly invaluable.

But even before content writing was becoming extinct, there was the increasing headache of “trending” with the impressive “traffic numbers” that never have anything to do with quality, but everything to do with viral initiatives.

This very necessary requirement led to my abrupt dismissal from a popular online pub that caters to Black women — earlier on in my career. The naivety of assuming that my writing prowess would be more than adequate, is now pathetic, but back then, it was incredulous to accept that I was being dumped based on my inconsistent numbers.

And then there was the shock of returning back to the scene of a previously fulfilling assignment, and noticing that not only was the staff drastically slimmer, but the schedule of events had been switched mostly to video formatting; with far less emphasis on blogging. As a result, the editorial manager quickly realized that she had requested more contractors than she needed, and waited almost a month to let us all go.

It also didn’t help that I epically fucked up the Oscar nominations with the insertion of Amy Adams and Tom Hanks, which began as a PR nightmare before evolving into the right kind of attention for a company that welcomed it.

That disappointing episode led to another ill-fated gig with another over-hyped brand, that needed me to manage recycled content from a roster of staple outlets, who were all vying for the prized homepage allotment. The dispiritedness of reactivating three-year-old articles with the vital addition of related videos, while keeping track of multiple folders — can’t ever be astutely conveyed.

The temp-to-perm that was really meant to be “temp,” thankfully ended with an apologetic phone call from the recruiter who confirmed that due to “structural issues” the “content producer” gig was over.

But the very worst has to be the shitty affair with Huffington Post before it was relaunched to HuffPost.

The editors relentlessly stalked my work on Medium, and with my ill-advised blessing, they had unlimited access to essays that either made “editors pick” or were dripping with mileage. The Huffington Post platform was an absolute eye-sore that made well-written content look like garbage — but I was still convinced by the falsehood of “exposure” and how that alignment was ultimately beneficial.

Once I was an official blogger, I began to monetize my mission by building a series that paired me with PR firms that needed to showcase up-and-coming talents. It was fulfilling to create a personalized space on a platform that threatened to bury me with the messiness of disorganized labor.

The side hustle was cut short with an email from the new editor of the “cleaned up” HuffPost, who thanked all the Huffington Bloggers for their unpaid hard work and selfless dedication to sustaining a viral brand, but with the enhanced initiatives for a more ambitious venture — our services were no longer needed.

And just like that! The Blogger platform was shut down, and ousted bloggers were forced to reconcile with the brutality of losing everything we had tirelessly produced for free, and for the pleasure of a craft that we evidently respected more than heartlessly greedy editors.

Ironically, the “new and improved” HuffPost, employs paid non-Black writers to curate the “Black Voices” vertical, which is a huge kick in the gut when you consider how my “viral race-themed” Medium pieces basically helped to shape what is now being enjoyed by White writers, who were smart enough to wait for the money.

We need to never stop talking about how writers are abused for their talent, with the initial courting that never fails to bite us in the ass; just when we start getting used to the joyousness of word appreciation.

There’s also the race-obsessed editors, who are desperate to spotlight the trend of how Black people can’t ever escape the pained hashtag of#livingwhileblack.

That quest directs them to Black writers who are willing to provide clips with the likelihood that it could lead to a mutually beneficial partnership.

But that rarely happens.

Writers of color are pigeon-holed with the hints to calm down great expectations. Writers in general have the nerve-wrecking assignments that have nothing to do with content and everything to do with the bleak forecast, that has successfully convinced us of how useless we are going to be — sooner rather than later. Writers are expendable, and the sucky part is embedded in the callousness of editorial managers, who aren’t encouraging or empathetic or even ashamed about what they’ve done to help elevate this landscape of disorder.

It’s fucked up that the now jobless staff at Mic were purposely let go before the sale of the publication to Bustle; in order to avoid the burdensome entanglement with the union.

The abuse of writers, is a practice that’s inspired by the need to hide behind branding and the insult of “exposure” as the method of defying compensation; or the unpleasantness of being recklessly dumped for the fuck of it.

These are the bullet points that we need to talk about — until we don’t have to anymore.

We also need to talk about how the media is disgustingly committed to the American tradition of cleansing the deplorable acts of White women, who behave badly or enjoy the privilege of never having to be accountable for their questionable decisions.

Black women are demonized and demeaned, even when we reach the highest pinnacle of success, that positions us in the White House, armed with Ivy League degrees and the common sense that isn’t so “common.”

But White women can’t ever be treated with that level of public disdain and shaming, even when they’ve more than earned it. Melania Trump is still viewed as the “victim” when she solemnly stands beside her nefarious husband, despite evidence that proves their strong alliance. Ivanka Trump is given the neutral coddling by White women journalists like New York Times staple, Maggie Haberman, who highlights all the reasons why the First Daughter should be lauded and envied.

And this atrocious exercise is being applied to White women who are proud “Trumpsters,” and are doggone tired of feeling like societal pariahs when faced with the wrath of over-aggressive liberals.

Vanity Fair recently did a vibrant spread that pays homage to young, White women of the GOP, who are cautiously navigating the active minefield of college campuses that don’t cater to their conservative appetite.

The overly-long essay channels the whiny dispositions of a group of campus dwellers, who actually have nothing concrete to lament about other than the fact that being White women who vocally express their admiration for a bullish thug — who grossly disrespects all women — sucks ass.

We get to hear garbage testimonies that make it incredibly challenging to feel that urge to offer a bear hug in solidarity or allyship.

Not when you hear shit like this from Cammie and Caitlyn:

Caitlyn: “I don’t think Donald Trump is racist.” “He’s just making himself a consumable product.”

Cammie: “Morally, I don’t stand with him.” “He’s not moral.” “But what he represents for the Republican Party, I strongly support.”

Both White women feel that president Trump is simply using dangerously hateful rhetoric as a political agenda for the sake of “branding.”

No biggie!

We also have memorable gems from Maggie, who is a huge fan of Trump’s infamous “lock her up” chant because you “can’t ever trust anybody who trusts a Clinton.”

Maggie is also besotted by Trump’s business acumen:

He made very smart business decisions, and you would hope that he would hone in on these skills to build up this country.”

Yikes! She obviously has no background information on the dude that she’s gaga over. And it gets much worse when she wades into the subject of race, and takes the opportunity to generously showcase her privileged bigotry:

“I think [his racist comments are] a mix of what he actually feels and political theater. Being a businessman, I think, he knows how to sell something, so he’s trying to create this brand, because he knows if he keeps saying these things, people will keep watching and wondering what is he going to do next and that will intrigue some to vote for him.”

Wow. So casualties of hate crimes are simply providing award-winning theatrics for very intrigued and entertained White assholes.

FML!

Here’s the thing, I would hate to believe that these women are the very best that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has to offer. I also refuse to accommodate this ordained method of celebrating the acute ignorance of “White Women for Trump,” who can’t wait to prove why they’re runners up for the “Tomi Lahren Prototypes” contest.

CNN.com, Vanity Fair, The New York Times and all the others that are still standing on the anchors of non-diversity and adherence to “all-things Trump,” really need to stop “eating their cake and having it too.”

Featuring the privileged White women who helped to foster this infectiously potent climate of domestic terrorism, gun violence and divisive temperament is an aimless endeavor; when you consider how packaging and repackaging the demure perpetrators of our nationally recognized epidemic, is only exacerbating our pain and anger.

We really need to stop amplifying the voices of those who need to stay silent, and start working on restoring the dignified and valiant themes of a profession that Trump is gleefully destroying with his impossibly tiny hands.

Let’s start talking about that!