Here is a scenario I bet you run into every day:
-You encounter a bit if internet writing from Salon, Slate, Buzzfeed, Kotaku, Mic, or any of the thousands of other clickbait stackers and decide to read it
-The author uses a style and tone that indicates that they are speaking definitely; they want you to get that they are telling you The Truth, full stop, and you better heed it.
-The actual content of the piece is probably zero, if you are lucky, but it might be absolutely wrong. As in, it makes basic errors of fact and presents them as Truth.
I noted this trend starting back a decade ago or more so I started doing a little something whenever I encountered one of these "think pieces"; I researched the author and the author's background. I found that a huge number of these authors matched a very similar profile.
They are overwhelmingly unmarried, childless, middle-class, White women in their mid-20's to early 30's with a degree in English, Literature, or another very soft subject and a work history limited to creating internet clickbait telling people what to do for $0-$50 a pop.
In other words, these articles are usually crafted by women with virtually no experience of anything approaching Real Life.
One of my personal go-to examples is someone named Laci Green. I first heard of her two years ago when someone insisted I had to watch a youtube video she made that explained how women are oppressed and stuff. After wasting 20 minutes of my life listening to her whine as she recited a list of things that were either obviously false or at best dubious, I decided to look her up.
She is a millennial (shocker!) who did the entire 'get an associate's at a community college then finish a 4 year' path and got a BA in (essentially) pre-law/pre-ed in 2011. And then...
Well, not much of any import, actually. She volunteered for things like 'dialing to support gay marriage' and 'doing social media for non-profits', etc. But in 2009 she started making YouTube videos where she talked about sex while flashing cleavage.
So she is obviously an expert in things, right? I mean, people watch her YouTube videos about sex while she wears tight clothes! She obviously can tell me about economics!
A lot of "prominent feminists" fit this mold to a T. They have no husband, a mediocre education, and extremely limited experience, but they write a blog that people read so they are hired to write articles telling other people what to think and how to live.
I refer to these writers as the Know-It-All Chicks, or KIACs. They are Liberal women with mediocre educations, mediocre writing skills, and extremely limited life experience who write constantly telling others how to live their life "properly". She's never been married and her longest relationship was 4 months? The KIAC will tell you what to look for in a man! The closest she came to being a mother was paying for her own abortion? Let the KIAC tell you how to raise your children! She's never worked in the video game industry in any capacity? Let the KIAC lecture you about how you should make video games "the right way"! She went to college using her parents' money and loans and after graduation her parents still pay her rent and insurance? Let the KIAC explain why creating jobs for Working Class Rural White men who support their families is Bad and Wrong while subsidizing the education of Upper Middle Class Urban White women is Good and Right!
So why do they do it?
Two theories.
One: Ever see a toddler chant 'I want it, I want it, I want it' until the mother gives in and buys the toy for them? That is the absolute worst thing you can do, because kids need to learn self-control and delayed gratification, but people get tired.
I think the KIACs were that toddler and think that if they keep chanting their personal message over and over and over they will eventually get what they want.
Two: Ever see a guy flatter a girl in hopes of Getting Something from her? Or parents tell a mediocre kid they are 'special'? Remember that kid who got low Bs to high Cs in school but she would insist, insist, her low grades were because she was "gifted" and school "bored" her so she underperformed?
I think the majority of these writers are in one or more of those categories; they honestly believe their are superior minds and that if they just share enough the rest of the benighted world will see the light and be saved by thinking like them.
So why do some listen?
Some are in the echo chamber of the Left.
Some are there to mock.
What should be done?
This one is simple.
When you see an article check the education, experience, and bona fides of the author. Then see if the article has links to actual substance. Then read the article and judge it for itself.
Maybe it is good. Maybe it is insightful. Who knows?
But if it is terrible, wrong-headed, and bad - call it out. Warn others.
Have a good one!
