If you sing today’s blogpost title to the tune of Rockafeller Skank by Fatboy Slim (1998) then you’ll get the mood I’m in — but not the why. Upbeat is not my default mode. Maybe I got enough stage-3 non-REM sleep.
Anyhoo, I know the happy vibe will wear off quick if I stray onto social media. All the pretty poseurs, garrulous grifters and effing fools. At least that’s what I get shown as pat of the algorhythm’s efforts to expand my horizon beyond #cosplay.
I mean, good luck with that!
There’s a literal void between mainstream media — the place I get my inspo for posts — and social media. That’s not to say the latter isn’t without utility. Social media may be the toilet for our reptilian brain excreta, while it’s true that you can’t polish a turd you can sometimes make a silk purse from a sow’s ear.
Mixed metaphors aside, my point is that keen observers of the human condition can no longer ignore social media. It’s where people congregate to react.
So while ABC News informs my blogging strategy, TikTok moderates my tactics.
Today, for example. Some bloke with a face like a knee won the seat of Farrer in a by-election triggered by the departure of Sussan Ley.
One Nation’s first win in the House of Representatives, the result is being over-analyzed across all mainstream media.
Loaded totemic phrases like “winds of change” and “end of the beginning” and “get our country back” and ” change or die” are on high-revolution, with the chattering class split between those who see this as the thin end of a wedge and those who see it as a nothingburger.
#PMAlbo would have toasted the result too: every vote ON steals from the Coalition makes his grip on the next election even tighter.
But where’s the nuance? What are they saying on TikTok?
Conservatives braying for a return to White Australia are out in force, thumping their chests as if the game is won.
A progressive minority are quietly pondering how long before the One Nation member defects and becomes an independent.
Even fewer are openly querying Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie’s statement today that “I’d be willing to work with anyone“.
Work with them, or for them?
For a blogger it’s this comment — so far reported only in the mainstream media — that’s the takeaway from the Farrer by-election. While the Nationals may not wish to pair with One Nation, their survival may depend upon it.
I predicted exactly this outcome in a January post which you can re-read with relish here.
Well, maybe not always.
But I’m right about this. As a blogger, holding your nose and wading out into social-media is worth it. By contrasting the visceral real-time reaction of beasts in the field against the media-curated propaganda of the elites you get as close to the truth as you possibly can.
The writing is on the wall, you just have to stop and read it.
What I have learned since my first post in 2014 is that while the punters may not always be right, they always write about now.
