Is it time for The Sussex Squad to hit the mute button on The British Press the same way Harry and Meghan have?
To be clear, this is not me dictating to the entire squad what each individual does or doesn’t choose to do. I’m simply putting this question out there for all of us to discuss.
I’m old enough to remember when The Sussex Squad were accused of being Russian bots, uneducated ‘sugars’, and ‘megbots’ desperate for attention. We are none of those things. On the contrary, we are online tech-savvy, coordinated, incredibly generous with our time and money, and we have proven to be effective against the attacks against Meghan, whether the #CarnivalOfSoCalledExperts want to admit it or not.
THEY DID NOT SEE US COMING.
We have proven to be a powerful force against the anti-Meghan narrative, but is that same power and energy now being used against us to keep the press machine churning?
Take some of the articles that have come out of the British Royal press machine since the Oprah interview;
Incandescent is the world’s sexiest bald man.
Lillabeth is bigger than Beyonce, Oprah, and Coca-Cola.
These types of stories are bound to go viral, but they have also resulted in The Royals being mocked.
There is a distinct difference in the tone of these articles compared to the more polished wafflings we see coming out of Vanity Fair, Tatler, and The Times, like The Other Brother feature by Roya Nikkah. The difference being these articles usually have ‘insider info’ from ‘palace sources’. They’re less ‘showbizy’ and written by official Palace Rota.
It’s obvious the more polished propaganda stories are coming from The Firm, but the showbiz style features baiting readers by throwing Beyonce and Oprah’s name into the mix…are all of those coming directly from The Firm too? If that is truly Palace PR trying to make their bosses look good, it’s not working, if anything, it’s getting them dragged. But, if you’re a rag-mag writer desperate for money and you know the Royals can’t clap back, do you care if they end up looking bad as long as you please your editors with web traffic?
Is there a chance that these click-baity articles are just the thirsty attempts of rag-mag writers trying to trigger the reaction of The Squad and other fan groups like the Bey Hive?
If it is, it’s working very well, because these stories go viral every time. With virality comes clicks, with clicks, comes money and money feeds the beast.
Of course, as I was pondering on the idea of hitting mute on the #CarnivalOfSoCalledExperts in the British press, I also thought about how we can still hold the press accountable.
Do we chose to hit mute on some things, like the clickbaity trash, but continue to call out the racist trash?
Do we hit mute for a sustained period of time and see what the clowns attempt to do when they’re not getting our attention?
Do we hit mute entirely and focus solely on Harry and Meghan’s endeavours?
Again, I don’t have the answers, I’m simply posing the questions.
We know the British press play on the insecurities of bitter and bigoted internet trolls who don’t realise their hatred for Meghan only benefits the tabloids. Should we really be engaging in a similar game by reacting to every ridiculous article they churn out?
How much do you want to bet we’ll be getting more baity articles going forward?
The question is; will you be responding?
Next; how Kate walked on water and fed all the hungry children of broken Britain lining up for food banks with one fish.