<div dir="ltr">Political patronage has long been a publishing business model. Google James Callender.</div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Feb 15, 2019 at 10:26 AM Sharon Fisher <<a href="mailto:slfisher@gmail.com">slfisher@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Good for you,Tom. Thank you.<div><br></div><div>On another subject, what's pitchwhiz?<br><br><div class="gmail_quote"></div></div><div><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Fri, Feb 15, 2019, 6:19 AM Tom Geller <<a href="mailto:tom@tomgeller.com" target="_blank">tom@tomgeller.com</a>> wrote:<br></div></div></div><div><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">I've thought of writing this up somewhere public, but am unsure how to make the social good worth the time and trouble. But I figured I'd pass it on here. Nothing changed to protect the guilty.<br>
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Warning: long and irritating.<br>
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So I see this on Pitchwhiz.com:<br>
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> Navigating a Post #MeToo Office Landscape<br>
> From: Artemis Comms<br>
> <br>
> We are looking for a feature for our men's lifestyle magazine The Edition on how today's modern man can navigate the often prickly landscape post #metoo. We are looking for an understanding of how inter-sex relations have changed, and how the movement has changed office behaviour in the US.<br>
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I'm suspicious of "men's lifestyle magazines", but curious. So I write to find out how many words they're looking for. I get this back from a Nick Walton:<br>
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> Hi Tom, thanks for your note. You can see our last issue here: <a href="https://issuu.com/donriosa/docs/the_edition_issue_1" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://issuu.com/donriosa/docs/the_edition_issue_1</a><br>
> Could you give me a sense of how you would approach this prickly topic? We'd be looking for approx 750 words with a piece from a guys perspective ie we're not all bad but we're kind of being judged guilty until proven innocent because of a few bad apples, how if at all, has the office environment evolved because of the movement and how has behaviour norms changed in response to it.<br>
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Wow. My response:<br>
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> Hi, Nick -- thanks for the quick response.<br>
> <br>
> I certainly wouldn't use that "few bad apples" thesis to write the piece. It's defensive and weak: We'd end up with 750 words of "wah, wah, leave me alone, I didn't do it". Not really useful for what's essentially a how-to article.<br>
> <br>
> Instead, I'd look at what "#MeToo" means. It's not an accusation: It's people (both women and men) saying "I've been sexually assaulted." That's all! We're Pavlovian beasts: If you got mugged in an alley, you'll not only avoid that alley, you'll avoid all alleys that look like it. With so many assaults happening at the workplace, we're trapped in that dark alley together.<br>
> <br>
> I also wouldn't use the thesis that behaviour, or the office environment, has changed. The number of assaults isn't dropping significantly, nor is the (tiny) percentage that get reported going up. #MeToo is like a co-worker announcing, "I have cancer." That doesn't change the incidence of cancer for others in the office -- unless they go home and examine themselves for symptoms. That's where the key lies. Only the self-absorbed respond with, "Hey, wait, I didn't give you cancer! It's not my fault! It's just a few bad apples!"<br>
> <br>
> So! That's the angle I'd take. Fun to work out. :) Cheers, [.sig]<br>
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Of course they "went with a writer who has also been doing research on the topic and is approaching it from a different perspective altogether". Gee, I wonder what kind of perspective that would be.<br>
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---<br>
Tom Geller * Writer & Video/journalist * <a href="http://tomgeller.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://tomgeller.com</a><br>
Rotterdam, The Netherlands, <a href="tel:+31%206%2087071468" value="+31687071468" target="_blank">+31 (0)6 87071468</a><br>
Oberlin, Ohio * <a href="tel:+1%20415-317-1805" value="+14153171805" target="_blank">+1-415-317-1805</a><br>
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</blockquote></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Dana Blankenhorn<div><a href="http://www.danablankenhorn.com">http://www.danablankenhorn.com</a></div><div><a href="http://investorplace.com/author/danablankenhorn/#.WJzBOzsrLIV">http://investorplace.com/author/danablankenhorn/#.WJzBOzsrLIV</a><br></div></div></div>