Not really that impressive

  • TheFreshestHell [he/him,any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Love to see people on hexbear dot com mock a strike carried out by workers in a quickly proletarianizing industry.

    Labor actions are only good when the workers I personally sympathize with do them, right?

    • Mrpakiman [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Fuck these journalists who have been demonising strikers for decades. When rail workers and nurses strike. The world gets worse, because the work that they do adds value to the world. If journalists strike, the world would be a better place, since they do not add value to the world. And they stop churning out their misleading garbage.

      Next you gonna tell me that we need to support landlord strikes, cause they are technically workers* too.

      • MerryChristmas [any]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        Journalists perform labor and landlords don't. At least argue in good faith here.

        It's also worth pointing out that these journalists don't have any real editorial control. Giving them more power in the workplace is a step toward changing that. You're getting angry at the workers for doing their job and collecting a paycheck instead of the guys who tell them what to write.

        I don't expect the media class to be the vanguard but I also don't see any reason why we shouldn't lend them critical support in their struggle against their own oppressive class dynamics. It doesn't have to be a black-and-white sort of issue.

        • TheFreshestHell [he/him,any]
          ·
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          I don’t expect the media class to be the vanguard but I also don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t lend them critical support in their struggle against their own oppressive class dynamics.

          When newsrooms unionize their content almost always shifts leftwards (see: The Onion) but some bitter assholes here want to act like that's a bad thing.

          • MerryChristmas [any]
            ·
            2 years ago

            Exactly, the worst case scenario is nothing changes. There's literally nothing to lose by supporting the strike. They're not going to turn the NYT into an even more reactionary propaganda outlet by unionizing.

            • FourteenEyes [he/him]
              ·
              2 years ago

              Now I am holding my breath waiting for this exact thing to happen

              NYT fires entire writing staff and replaces them with even more ghoulish ones

          • RagingGingivitis [fae/faer, it/its]
            ·
            2 years ago

            You make good points. I have trouble rooting for anything involving the NYT, but a union strike does also prevent them from publishing conservative traah for a while.

          • Shoegazer [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            The Onion isn't a news source lmao. Do you have example of any actual news outlets like WaPo, CNN, The Guardian, etc. going leftwards?

            • TheFreshestHell [he/him,any]
              ·
              2 years ago

              WaPo unionized in the 1930s and is an open shop; its union is famously weak. CNN isn't unionized as far as I know, but I'd definitely argue The Guardian US' beat reporting is more left now than it was in 2015.

              You want a more recent example, look at the Chicago Tribune. Big difference in its editorial line from before and after it unionized in 2018. Hell, it pissed off John Kass so much that he quit. That alone moved the needle left on that paper.

              Like these are still liberal institutions and I'm not expecting NYT reporters to start suddenly calling for a PPW, but goddamn. At least with a union reporters don't get fired for publicly expressing solidarity with like striking warehouse workers. I got canned once for doing just that.

        • RagingGingivitis [fae/faer, it/its]
          ·
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          I wish the reporters at the new york times everything they wish for workers, unions, minorities, and trans people.

          A win / win would be them winning the strike and then still collapsing in a year.

        • Mrpakiman [none/use name]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Sorry, as a leftist I should support the very people who are actively trying to surpress and destroy unions, affordable health care, or any vaugly left political project. All my effort should be speant protecting an adult nussery for the sons and daughters of various oligarchs and aristocrats too stupid and weak to get an actual job. We need to pay these people as much as we possibly can for there glorious opinion pieces and repeat state propaganda.

          • RagingGingivitis [fae/faer, it/its]
            ·
            edit-2
            2 years ago

            Unionization hurts the NYTs owners and further adds to the union moment of the journalism industry.

            Every moment they’re striking is also time they’re not spending bashing unions or publishing unhinged transphobic op-eds.

            I hate the NYT, but unionization is a net win. @TheFreshestHell also pointed out the onion went much further left after they properly unionized. Not holding my breadth on that last bit, but critical support is warranted.

    • RagingGingivitis [fae/faer, it/its]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I hope their paper crumbles and turns to dust. They’ve demonized unions for years and have ramped up transphobia over the last two years.

      The new york times collapsing would be a good thing.

      • TheFreshestHell [he/him,any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I've got no love for the NYT as an institution but I'd still not shit on workers striking for better conditions. Plus lack of editorial control is a big factor in a lot of news guild agitation. Like most reporters have no say on the the editorial slant of their paper.

        • FourteenEyes [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Is it really striking for better conditions if they go back in the next day and continue working under the exact same conditions

    • Shoegazer [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Labor actions are only good when the workers I personally sympathize with do them, right?

      Literally yes lmao. I don't give a shit about NYT journalists. They can rot in hell.

    • walletbaby [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      If you want sympathy out of the world, you have to put it in first.

      I don't know why you're so mad at my opinion. You know it's right, which is probably why your inner kvetch kicked off.

      • TheFreshestHell [he/him,any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Because I'm a reporter working on unionizing my own newsroom, jackass, and a big paper striking is a win for people trying to do the same in smaller outlets. I'm mad because for all the talk about how the PMC needs to proletarianize, once it actually starts to happen there's absolutely 0 solidarity. Never mind that most reporters are already fucking hourly wage workers.

      • RagingGingivitis [fae/faer, it/its]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        If you want sympathy out of the world, you have to put it in first.

        I don’t know why you’re so mad at my opinion. You know it’s right, which is probably why your inner kvetch kicked off.

        This comment is gross. I can’t articulate why, but its set off my ick alarms.

        I am now in favor of the NYT strike.

    • FourteenEyes [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      The NYT is a fascist rag staffed by ghouls so yes fuck them

      I will not offer critical support to the guy who edits and publishes articles like "Opinion: Kanye's New Answer to the Jewish Question is Intriguing"