Conservatives fell for a trap. It’s been over a decade in the making and few of us saw it coming until it was too late. To be fair, this trap was actually so well executed and seemingly coordinated that it’s actually impressive how well it worked. Now, the walls that have been around us the whole time are finally starting to close in.
The trap was to believe that even hyper-leftists in the tech industry would be fair when it came to the use of their platforms. By “fair,” I mean they would accept that there are views that differ from their preferred progressive standpoints and those views are worthy of being expressed on their platforms. For a time, this was true. But as the giants such as Google in search, Facebook and Twitter in social media, and YouTube for video grew to the point that they’re essentially unchallenged and virtually invincible, they’ve now changed their tune. The worst crime anyone who uses their services can commit is to be conservative.
Steven Crowder is learning it again and again with the most recent incident happening today.
But @YouTube, if your goal is to encourage "healthy dialogue"… you should be giving "Change my Mind" a plaque. pic.twitter.com/zpegfx92DP
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) April 24, 2019
In order to be able to continue making a living, and employing 15 people… I have decided to identify as a trans-queer, intersectional code-specialist. @YouTube, is this acceptable? Please advise.
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) April 24, 2019
The point is this: if @YouTube demonetizes "Change my Mind" on the basis of it being a "violation of guidelines"… there is NO WORLD in which Conservatives are welcome. RT if you get it now!
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) April 24, 2019
GENUINE QUESTION: if @YouTube considers "Change my Mind" to be a violation of "guidelines"… how can conservatives create content which is NOT a violation of guidelines? I want to know.
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) April 24, 2019
Many of us make our living by creating and sharing content online. Unfortunately, the platforms that we work on, including YouTube, have revealed in recent years that there is a proper way of thinking in their eyes, and if you dare to offer a perspective that challenges this proper way of thinking, you’re a horrible human being who doesn’t deserve to live, let alone earn a penny from them.
Like I said, this was a brilliant trap, properly executed over the years to draw us in and then shut us down once we became dependent and their competition was suppressed. That’s where we are today.
The easy answer to all of this is to abandon the platforms that are unfriendly to conservatives and work only with those who truly appreciate free speech, cordial discourse, and the enterprising nature of Americans. That’s the easy answer, but it’s not an easy solution. You see, the sites that pay the best happen to be Google and their video spawn YouTube. To get the necessary eyeballs on this content, we often rely again on Google as well as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and other progressive giants.
Where do we go from here?
Two options
For people like Crowder (and us), the easy days of “just make great content to make good money” are behind us. We can no longer just produce what we like and expect it to be respected by the traffic-drivers or revenue-drivers that literally hate us. We have to be careful. We are forced to bow before the politically correct leftist gods, also known as the “manual review” snowflakes who hold our fate in their hands.
But that won’t work. We won’t bow. Just as I can’t imagine Crowder toning down his “Change My Mind” series in any way, I know we would never start posting politically correct content that will appease the keyboard caretakers who reign over us. So that leaves us with two options.
Option 1: Fight for our right to be right
This is what most of us do today. We produce content and then fight tooth-and-nail to get it the traffic it needs. Once it gets the traffic, we then have to fight to keep it monetized. It’s a daily grind, but it’s effective to some extent. Nevertheless, it’s not only a waste of time but it’s a benefit to the people who are trying to suppress us in the first place. YouTube makes money off Crowder’s content whether they pay him for it or not. That’s the nature of YouTube. If he sucks people onto the platform to laugh as he “owns libs,” there’s a good chance those people he sucked in will then watch other videos with ads.
Just because they demonetize his content doesn’t mean they’re not making money off it.
So if option 1 sucks, then what’s the alternative?
Option 2: Pick up our balls and take them to a new playground
This is the option that invariably gets offered by scholarly Twitter users any time something like this happens. But it’s not that easy. I’ve tried multiple ad networks, affiliates, crowdfunding, and even outright begging and it doesn’t yield a fraction of what Google ads deliver. And frankly, that’s not enough either, but it’s more.
For Crowder, whose content thrives on YouTube, it’s not easy for him to become a Vimeo star and expect to reach the same people or get nearly enough money from it. Or any video platform for that matter. I’m not sure what BlazeTV or DailyWire pay, but outside of their paid services, much of there content goes on… YouTube.
But it’s more than just monetization. I’m sure Crowder and others like him are also like us in that our goal is to spread a proper message on the various topics that affect Americans on a daily basis. That means we want our content to be seen by a wide range of people, including progressives. Sometimes, especially progressives.
Working on a third option
I’ve been reaching out to conservatives about Proper Narrative, LLC. I hope this can help encourage conservative content producers to do what they’re doing by rewarding them beyond their standard revenue sources. It’s still early stage at this point, but one never knows when the right call will come in.
Final Thoughts
Until one of the two (or three) options becomes clearly the best choice, conservatives have to do what we can to support each other. To the digital media world, we’re the enemy. Nobody said being conservative in 2019 would be easy.
Petition Capitol Hill for Term Limits
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