A few days ago, George Monbiot posted that he was considering leaving the site and suggested that maybe we all leave in a co-ordinated fashion. We agreed and the original thought was that a mass exodus on Inauguration Day might make a point. But….and it’s a big but… the idea of hanging around a moment longer on Musk’s toxic cesspit of a platform is increasingly unbearable and unthinkable so we, and George, and a growing tsunami of others have already made the switch. You can find us @westcountryvoices.bsky.social.
Some jeered that the woke brigade was ‘fleeing’ X. We tweeted (yes, I know!) in response:
“We haven’t been fleeing. We’ve been voting with our feet. We don’t need the nastiness of the platform X-ing out democracy and decency.”
Today, the Guardian announced that it will no longer post any official editorial accounts on the site, saying,
“This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism. The US presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered for a long time: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse.”
Look, we have no illusions that we are a massive influence when it comes to championing the truth, democracy and the climate, but we do play our part and, before Musk, Twitter enabled us to reach tens of thousands of readers. We, and others, have seen our reader numbers dwindle as the algorithms suppress our content, whilst Musk encourages the flooding of the zone with the most hideous material and vile trolls. So, yes, part of the reason we are going is that we need to build our readership, not because we make any money out of you or because it feeds our egos, but because we are very seriously worried about the dissemination of facts and truths. We have important local and regional stories to share and of course we want as many people as possible to see and read them.
For example, we have been amongst the first to sound the alarm bells over freeports, physician associates, the fate of the Excluded, and, thanks to the skills, knowledge and insights of writers like Tom Scott, Dr Dan Goyal, Daniel Sohege, Mark E Thomas, to share stories and analysis that were not being published elsewhere. We are small, but we’re passionate and determined and that has helped us to punch above our weight and cement our reputation for living up to our motto: telling it like it is.
It was alarming to hear an interviewer on the Radio 4 media show asking a Financial Times journalist if the Trump victory and the vicious slating of the ‘legacy’ media was a sign that they should overhaul their editorial strategy. The truth and facts no longer ‘worked’, readers were not interested, the interviewer claimed. The implication was writ large: surely if a media outlet wants to survive, it must embrace disinformation. Whaaaaaat??? As we say in our profile – the truth is not the midpoint between a fact and a lie!
We and many others also don’t give a stuff for false equivalence or faux balance. We are not going t0 pretend to like Trump, his acolytes or his policies. How can we? They are abhorrent. He might surprise us, of course, and we will give credit where it is due. (not holding our breath!) Are we going to try harder to persuade people to challenge and question the assertions, allegations and lies spewed out by the Right? You bet! I think we need to be allowed to express outrage, disgust and frustration. We have readers for whom that is part of our appeal – the comfort of knowing you are not alone in feeling the way you do. But do we also need to strive to ensure we do not belittle, ridicule or demonise the victims of the gaslighting and hatemongering? Absolutely. But please do not ask us to sympathise with fascists, haters, bigots, misogynists and racists. We just can’t. And we won’t. To do so would not be balance. It would be capitulation. Not an option.
So allow us to set out our stall once again.
We are resolutely anti-fascist.
We want electoral reform.
We support the Climate and Nature Bill and we believe the climate emergency is the biggest, scariest AND most exciting challenge facing humanity. From this one overarching issue hang so many other challenges and concerns: poverty, inequality, migration, food security, loss of biodiversity, social injustice, societal breakdown, amongst others.
We do not back any one political party…only their policies where they chime with our values.
We work with other campaign groups trying to make the world a better, safer and fairer place.
We exist to give a voice to the voiceless and to build community.
Will you join us? It’s free to subscribe and we don’t have any ads!
Anthea Simmons
Editor-in-chief
You can send stories to me editor@westcountryvoices.co.uk . We don’t publish everything, of course, and we do help with editing if writing isn’t really your thing! We try to ensure that your authentic voice comes through, whilst also making pieces readable.