Disclaimer: I’m on my 8th day of not smoking, could be crankier than usual.
So, oddly enough New Matilda was trending on twitter today and for all the wrong reasons. Before we go any further, I’m a massive fan of New Matilda, my bestfriend *donates to them every year on my behalf as his Christmas Gift to me. Anyhow, I like and appreciate the calibre of reporting on New Matilda, particularly the investigative reporting. I enjoy how they often do pieces that are not part of the standard Press Gallery group think. I could continue, but you get the picture, I really like New Matilda.
Hence why this piece “Why Courageous Clementine Ford Is Not The Answer” had me scratching my head. I often read stuff I don’t agree with, in fact, I often don’t agree with many feminists, but respect they come from different places with different daily adversity and believe just like all other areas of life, there is a place for everyone to contribute to improve a situation. I also don’t have a problem with the odd bloke contributing to the issue of Feminism either, as obviously, we can’t have equality & respect without involving the other party.
What I don’t get is a piece, written by a guy with seemingly no qualifications in the feminist arena pretty much telling me and others that maybe if we are nicer and less strident to the nasty men we might get equality sooner, or listened to, or treated nicely, or something like that...
To add insult to injury, Crikey then comes out with their “In defence of offence” which pissed me off no end. For starters, maybe I live in a bubble but have not seen heaps calling for the New Matilda piece to be pulled? In fact if you look at the comments on it, most are more questioning and pretty much just telling the author to bugger off, sort of like the Feminist equivalent of “You Know Nothing Jon Snow”.
Now, I’m not a writer, nor an Author, just a punter who actually reads a shipload of media, both old & new AND pays for it! To be quite frank, I’m sick of the likes of Crikey and others, deciding they know exactly what I am thinking when I dislike a particular piece and then decide to lecture me on how wrong I am.
I will state it is admirable that Crikey are defending other Indy media, though they are just the last in a long line of media ticking off social media, readers, viewers you name it for not liking something they produce. You know what? We are your customers. Without us paying for, reading, clicking on, tweeting, facebooking your content you would have nothing to sell to your advertisers and would not be in business. I don’t expect you to pander to your audience and I for one sure as hell hate group think, though I don’t think, as a reader, asking for a little bit of respect is too much to ask.
For the record. I personally feel that questioning of the Jack Kilbride piece in New Matilda is totally justified. It was the sort of click bait piece I would expect on the likes of The Daily Tele or Mamamia, not New Matilda.
How would you feel if...
New Matilda (who do so much awesome work in the Indigenous area) were to publish an opinion piece from some shiny old white tosser no-one has ever heard of, with absolutely no qualifications in the Indigenous Social Services area, yet was advising struggling Indigenous families on how they could get a leg up in society?
THIS is pretty much what the Jack Kilbride piece did, hence why so many were dirty about it. As I said, me, not fussed, have heard his opinion before, most notably from the likes of my old Gran, but hey, never hurts for people to know what others think. I just don’t expect it to be in the likes of New Matilda who are normally a tad more erudite than that.
By the way, still love New Matilda even if I disagree with their choices on this occasion :)
Cheers,
Noely
PS: A good rebuttal here to Mr Kilbride's piece: “Why Courageous Jack Kilbride Is Not The Answer”
*Getting someone to buy you a subscription or make a donation if you have too many media subscriptions is a good thing to do. Win Win situation, you are supporting Indy media and giving that shitty last minute Christmas present you really didn't want a big swerve ;-)
