It only feels appropriate for me to begin this article by addressing the fact that it will be my last for The Odyssey Online. It has nothing to do with my experiences writing for the site, the staff or anyone else on the Clarion University Odyssey team. It’s a purely personal decision that was made shortly after writing my article published two weeks ago (linked below) in order to focus on my fiction writing. I feel that my mind isn’t in writing these articles and that I should follow the direction it keeps steering me in.

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/your-life-after-c...

So, why should you write for The Odyssey? First of all, because it teaches discipline. It’s like bonus homework for those long weeks anticipating finals, the ones where you stress more over making deadlines than impending exams. You become familiar with writing, even when you don’t want to. It’s like going to the gym as a regular in comparison to stepping foot in a new gym for the first time (not that I’d know what the former feels like). I’ve noticed a significant increase in my productivity as an author since starting the Odyssey as well as my delivery. The Odyssey teaches you how to communicate with a wider audience. (Now, I’ve never personally tapped into this audience; I might’ve dipped my toes in the kiddie pool next door, but my articles have never scored one hundred shares in my year writing these things.) At its core, that’s what I think writing is, no matter whether it’s fiction, nonfiction, journalistic articles, or indulgent opinion pieces like this. Experience in any of these fields will surely compliment the other, despite the many differences between them.

Another reason, and the catalyst behind this article, is that the terrain of content publishing is currently being terraformed by large companies and militant enforcers of propaganda. Look at the Huffington Post, one of the most successful content platforms on the net, run almost exclusively by white women (Don’t worry, they included one token black editor.) They write about the wage gap and yet they don’t pay their writers at all. Buzzfeed preaches about how the new woman is plus-sized, and yet they look as though they just stepped off the catwalk. These publishers control the media, as well as countless others of their ilk. Whether it’s in favor of the left or right, it’s trying to pull readers/viewers in some direction.

Our generation loves to mock Fox News, but hydra has more than one head. This devil also has a cunt, and each share is a finger lubricating it for reproduction. Man or woman, white or black, they don’t care. What they want is fear, the kind of fear one Googles in order to dismiss, or a sense of security. Are you worried you might be racist? Don’t worry, post this hashtag on your Twitter and you’re a certified activist. Can’t find that job you’re looking for? It’s because you’re a woman, and there is a secret board of men dedicated to holding you back. Let these rich women tell you how you’ll never be capable of overstepping the same hurdles that led them to where they are. It has nothing to do with real people; all they want is our money, our attention, our allegiance. They do not consider the casualties of this crusade for even more richness, the division they are widening. Pseudo-issues such as “white people problems” (because we all know that the only problems a black person could possibly face are deciding which liquor store to rob and getting murdered by police) contribute to this culture of new racism.

They tell us to hate each other for who we vote for, what we describe ourselves as, rather than to grow to understand one another. They use strawmen such as the imbecilic, racist Trump supporter and the SJW to prevent us from communicating. We’re all confused, and afraid of each other, and winged media is only trying to keep us separated rather than coming together to find a solution. If the media was a satire, it would be poorly-received. If its logic was used in court, it would be dismissed. You cannot hate hatred away, but I also believe that you cannot hate what you understand. Rape culture, the patriarchy and other shadows of scarecrows are just boogeymen for millennials to live in fear of, simple excuses for complex issues. The media is raising us to chase shadows and to live in fear of each other, when we should be protesting the progenitors of our anxieties, the ones who gave birth to them.

If you’re interested in The Odyssey, it’s not only in your best interest, but in the best interest of readers everywhere that you enlist to contribute honestly to the junkyard that is the internet. Our rations of truth are too meager, and we as a culture cannot sustain ourselves on it. The media is attempting to construct a Fascist train of thought that opposing ideas must be eliminated rather than entertained. The chorus needs more voices, ones that can stand out from the crowd. If you write one honest article, it’s one more than those at the top of this game will ever produce.