Stop Elevating These Clowns

A few months ago I found out who Caitlin Johnstone who was. I promptly blocked her on Twitter. Why? She's a clown. She was still crowing about how Hillary was as bad as Trump, and how Assad wasn't really that bad for the people of Syria. Someone who is this twisted and lost isn't someone I should put much time into. Besides, you're not going to move this person's opinion, so why waste time and intellectual capital on them?

One of the best things about being put on the Berner's "hit list" of "neoliberal shills" was that it brought all the crazies out into the open. Once I got over the "thrill" of arguing with these people, I realized the best thing to do was block them. Block them all. Don't engage them in long conversations. Just block. Some aren't even real people (they're bots), some are just looking to argue with you, and others yet are just convinced you're the devil anyway. You'll end up way down the rabbit hole, with hours gone from your life. They're not worth it.

Of course, Caitlin Johnstone and her ilk don't go away- why you ask? Because too many people do engage them, and social media runs on engagement. So every morning when I read my emails, I see her name and articles in my email from Medium suggesting things to read. Are they anything I want to read? No, unless the headline is so crazy that I want to read it for a laugh. Clearly people that read and interact with me also interact with her too though- so I get her headlines.

My request? Please stop engaging these people. I wish I could tell Medium to stop sending me this garbage, but since that's not plausible, I just need you to not waste your time. Please? Trust me, it'll be good for you too.