Don't worry, I've been called far worse in my time here - and I don't take it too personally when people do. The Penguin persona (an exaggerated version of myself) can be rambunctious and is more ego-driven than I am. Many readers do exactly what you have done, arrive in a flurry of being triggered and then begin to understand the benefit of engaging with people you've slightly pissed off. Society and democracy is essentially a carefully coded disagreement and so we should be doing it more than we are - sometimes you do have to sideways your way into nuance though and the Penguin persona allows that (to an extent).
This place is full of echo chambers and quite often those people writing do not engage with their readership, I think this is quite short-sighted as a way of building a community. I see people gain huge followings very quickly, but all their followers agree with them and then they begin to believe their own hype and the ego really takes over. Buttons can be pushed but they can also be reset and worked with - and gaining an intelligent reader via comments discussion is one of the best things about Medium. I don't know how it works with Substack - I thought that was more newsletters etc.
I also work with asylum seekers from time to time. I work as an IMHA in a secure setting, often making challenges on behalf of disadvantaged individuals - and you'll understand if you've been into those places why most comments bounce off. If you've had the BPD patients split on you and decide you're the worst person in the world, the odd fiery comment online barely registers.
Keep writing those pieces - they sound like a good fit for Medium. Dianne Abbott is ace, but identity politics is not my jam at all. Oppenheimer is complicated (but I loved the film) and I suspect judge only trials would be better than the mess we have now. I have long argued for a lack of public involvement in rape cases - I don't think they're very helpful. https://medium.com/lucid-nightmare/a-deep-dive-on-a-footballers-overturned-rape-conviction-f528e3db67d9
As an aside the Significant Other Penguin also has fatigue (not thyroid related), but I am familiar with how that presents. Despite being very creative they do not write much either - but with Medium there is no time limit on any project. Once something is written it'll remain written and continue to earn so take it slow. I still get a few pence every month from one story I wrote back in 2018.
Yes, I am fairly gung-ho but I also think around the time the Penguin was conceived that the world had become far too concerned with how expressing opinions might affect others. I have long held the conviction that people can emotionally respond to things (as you did) but that doesn't mean the thing has to be withdrawn or reconsidered. We've got a tendency to weaponise offence that I find troubling. In short, as selfish as it sounds, the responsibility for how you react to my work lies with you and not with me - and what I write might or might not be offensive, the offence is is subjective. I can be cognisant that I might offend but all I have to do is monitor how i react to what you write in the comments section. I cannot control your thoughts, and trying to write something that wouldn't offend anyone at all becomes a race to the proverbial bottom both creatively and philosophically.
We end up with a society which says nothing at all for fear of the repercussions. Someone somewhere gets offended by everything - that's why I don't really enjoy identity politics and will resist almost every attempt by readers to foist an identity argument into the discussion. I don't care about people's identities - it can bring lived experience to the table, but it often doesn't equate with insight or intelligence.
The clickbait stuff is becoming less and less on the platform, though most of the remaining stuff is about how to make money here. There was recently a pivot around 'boosting' - the more sedate writers who are lovely, experts in their field as well as informative are finding themselves boosted all over the place. The more expressive, opinion focussed writers (like me), who enjoy getting down and dirty in the argument space aren't getting boosted as much. In the absence of a Medium endorsement what I can say is that engagement with readers is often key to generating a bit of momentum for your work. Regular high quality readers who engage have been cultivated over years of both argument and agreement. That means taking critique and giving readers something back.
Congrats. You just got your first follower ;o)
