Jon Del Arroz didn’t listen.
I didn’t listen to @voxday. I gave an interview to unfriendly media. They trashed the shit out of me. Listen to Vox. I knew better. Fortunately, it’s a site that has less traffic than my blog, and so I won’t give them the satisfaction of linking and giving them clicks. Most won’t ever see it.
The fact that there are exceptions does not mean the rule does not exist. The default position must always be “don’t talk to the media”. You may think you’re prepared to take the heat, you may think you will somehow outwit them, but I can assure you, you are not and you will not.
See, here’s the thing. I’m already on the ADL’s list of 36 Hitlers. I’ve already been trashed around the world, everywhere from Le Monde and Entertainment Weekly to the Guardian and the New Zealand Herald. After 16 years of sporadic efforts, the media has exhausted all the tricks in its usual repertoire without being able to discredit or disqualify me. My friends and family openly joke about me being the epicenter of galactic evil, and I’ve made it very clear to all and sundry that I don’t give a damn what they may think of my opinions one way or another.
But you haven’t been through that crucible. You’re not as emotionally antifragile. You’re not as psychologically inured to what people think of you and your opinions. You still have friends and family and acquaintances and co-workers who would be horrified to see you described publicly as a Nazi, a racist, a sexist, a white supremacist, an anti-semite, and so forth. And that is what the media will do to you, no matter who you are, because that is what they do to everyone they don’t like.
So, don’t talk to the media.