This afternoon I was startled by the ringing of the doorbell downstairs when I was not expecting anyone for a couple of hours and, for a moment, felt flustered because I was not really dressed up and felt a little unprepared for a visitor. But, about halfway down the stairs, I realized oh, it’s the person repairing the bell itself.

So often, signals of all kinds need to be interpreted open-mindedly and free of assumptions; and I thought about this today with regard to virtue-signaling behaviors. Back during (my second stint of) grad school, I recall feeling put down by a much older man as he attempted to establish a closer, and almost predatory-feeling, partnership with me than I felt comfortable entering. (As a side note, I do feel it important to mention that this person, who I believe to be a good person at heart, as I believe everyone truly is, seemed most likely to have simply grown up and worked for a long period in environments within which the marginalization, and possibly the exploitation, of women may have been considered normal.) During one group interaction, I felt a noticeable sharpness toward women expressed when he characterized those uncomfortable with transgender people in bathrooms as being overly sensitive; and I did say something about this. Even though, on the surface, it may have appeared in other words, that this man was expressing kindness toward transgender people (a group I also support), based on tone and context I felt strongly that he was actually making a misogynistic comment; and I’ve frequently experienced similar feelings about the corporate news industry’s pivot towards an almost exclusive focus on race (instead of, rather than in addition to women’s rights) after the women’s movement in corporate journalism expressed skepticism towards this sector’s relationship to the stock market. Of course, this has appeared to be (and, notably, in many cases, certainly has been) a step forward for an industry famous for its tendency to trample civil rights; but, as I have written often, I feel this maneuver, too, has been much more of an attempt to slow or prevent advances for women, and especially women who are not of color, than it has always been about helping advocate for the advancement of anyone.

Even the naming of the 2019 blockbuster Bombshell (given the moniker almost inexplicably just about two years after Alexandra Dean’s Hedwig Kiesler documentary), while ostensibly an expression of support for corporate news anchors, was arguably much more of an attempt to suppress the recognition of women in academia.

I do realize all of these issues are difficult topics to address today, so laden each seems to have been by news corporations with opportunities for misunderstanding; but I still believe doing so is more than important, but necessary.

Given today’s Free Press “bombshell,” it feels more important than ever to talk about distinguishing between news reporting and advocacy, so many outlets’ conservative and liberal biases being so overt, as it often feels like I am the only person left in the world who supports progressive ideas but not corporate media hegemony over the world. (There, in other words, does not seem to be any organization to which I am able to turn about my concerns over the journalism industry’s relationship to the stock market because I am not a part of the extreme right and because so much of the rest of the world seems convinced that governance via media corporation is a preferable alternative to democracy.)

I have been heartened, however, by some public voices in recent years, including an interview given by linguist John McWhorter back in 2021 (though his voice has arguably since been captured by corporate media) in which he critiqued not all so-called “wokeness,” but “wokeness” that is mean. My critique is of “wokeness” that is not what it appears to be at all but, rather, “wokeness” that is corporate media’s last-ditch attempt, under existential threat, to co-opt and suppress various civil rights movements for the sole purpose of preserving its ability to merge with the stock market.

But seeing this, even for those who want to believe corporate wokeness is real, is not impossible. (Especially given this week’s news, what if corporations like CNN could talk about how they disclose to their shareholders, and to the public, payments to keep abuses of women and girls quiet and whether these procedures should be re-examined?) All that is needed, rather than just hoping or worrying about what all corporate media’s noise may be indicating, may be actually taking the time to look and see what they are doing.