Yassmin Abdel-Magied

@yassmin.bsky.social

screenwriter + novelist
newsletter yassmin.substack.com. @yassmin_a on most other socials

@yassmin.bsky.social

On this. Ketan's work was KEY in helping me personally get through the experience - having the evidence in front of me, being able to say to people - look, they wrote HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF WORDS ABOUT ME IN THE PRESS -- it helps hold back the gaslighting, helps remind you your experience is real-

@ketanjoshi.coReposted by @yassmin.bsky.social

Soon it'll be a decade ago, but in 2017 Australia's News Corp papers enacted a campaign of bullying against @yassmin.bsky.social for criticising war commemorations' narrow focus.

I covered it at the time on my blog: quantifying the volume of coverage ->

ketanjoshi.co/2017/05/14/p...

many thousands of words on a facebook post It’s hard not to feel a little unnerved by these serious and impactful attempts to chip away at public participation. The Australian, the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail weren’t using their power to call out the powerful. You might expect there to be some moral calculus or ethical consideration here – but the criteria for engaging on a sustained attack on like the one above are simple. You need to be foreign, Muslim or poor, and you need to be outspoken. It’s happened many times before – usually triggered by someone appearing on the ABC’s Q&A. The cost of speaking freely, in these instances, isn’t determined by a large collection of distributed individuals on a social media platform; nor is it determined through a slow and deliberative process of introducing and passing legislation. This is a process triggered simply by the decisions of a few people in an office. As I discussed in my previous piece, the flurry of articles and the arterial flow of Andrew Bolt / Tim Blair blog posts supporting them tend to have a real impact on social media. Sustained, angry abuse lasts longer than the initial burst of outrage. These outlets are shining a bat signal to their audience – this is what you need to be furiously unforgiving about. In these instances, immense power isn’t used responsibly, or with consideration for the human cost of their actions. Major parties are tentatively toying with the political benefits of racism, again. Social media use keeps ratcheting upwards. This mix is perfect for traditional media outlets with vendettas to deploy.