WHY I STOPPED MY MEDIUM MEMBERSHIP as per 12/31(with a farewell to all lovely friends over there)

Summary

1. Notwithstanding repeated requests for help and implementing suggestions of the friendly help desk, I experience permanent difficulties with the interface, am often disabled to respond, highlight or applaud. Medium Staff.
2. My redundant reponses loose urgency, originality and wit. I bore me and possible readers. I am not fishing for compliments.
3. My contributions are impotent and useless. I am not fishing for compliments.
4. A writer’s block when trying to start my own series obstructs me. Other priorities take time.

Explanation

In june 2017 I became a member of Medium. I wanted to write, loved lots of great articles (especially poetry and satire) and decided I couldn’t be a free rider any more. This medium deserved my financial support. The idea of writing in English, not my mother tongue, added up to the delight. And yes, I naively believed hat the Trump disaster would be a nightmare that ended soon.

And yes, I wrote, mostly responses to the posts of my beloved satirists, Allan Ishac and Steven Rouach. Apart from that I wrote a bit of poetry, inspired by Chalkboard, and especially one of the nicest women on earth: Kathy Jacobs. A lot of ideas about possible future contributions came up. I more and more craved for beauty, increasingly nauseated and physically and mentally harmed by the political, ethical, economical and social implications of Trumpism. The USA is a democracy, times will be a-changing in the future. But the damage done to the world by the Trump administration and its ultra-right wing supporters will take decades to repair, if repair will be possible. umair haque has made it all the more visible, we live in dark times. An overview:

• the ultra right white nationalist agenda has been adopted by the GOP and Trump (racist, anti female rights, anti equality, pro violence, anti immigrant);
• the judicial system has been more politicized than ever, biased to conservatism, and made impotent;
• the president facilitated and supported Russian interference in elections;
• the president doesn’t try to stop that kind of interference;
• the right to vote of minorities is structurally undermined;
• gerrymandering is used to redesign districts in favor of republican majority;
• the free press is permanently under attack, depicted as the enemy of the people;
• 6000 lies and counting show the contempt for the truth; disinformation, framing have become the trade mark of this president and his supporters;
• immigrant families are dispersed, children incarcerated;
• the ultra rich profit from tax reductions;
• the resulting fiscal gap is closed via reduction of social security and medicare;
• autocratic leaders are openly legitimized;
• former allies and trade partners are structurally alienated;
• environmental protection is reduced or skipped in favor of big companies;
• insurance of medical care expenses of extant illnesses is no longer obligatory, lies cover this up;
• refusal to take measures for gun control notwithstanding unprecedented gun violence;
• soldiers are sent to the border to prevent immigrants from entering (5200, more than to Afghanistan);
• no concrete, implementable plans or projects to improve the deteriorated public transport system have been designed;
• public money is wasted in futile projects to build a wall;
• the murderous Wahabist regime is supported with weapons;
• ach, you know it all.

I lost faith in the self-cleansing capacity of the DSA, forgive me. Even if the tree is cut, the roots are poisoned.

In the meantime I experienced difficulties with the interface of Medium. Even after following the advice of the helpdesk, I often cannot highlight, respond or applaud. I find it hard to retrieve articles of my favorite writers. I also reached the limits of my creativity. I find my responses repetitive, redundant, irrelevant. Oh yes, I support the resistance, but my support is like the flea in the fur of the Mammut shouting where to go for food.

My plans for series in Medium do not materialize. I started one, but I do not like the limited options of that application. I did not start my membership to get fans or become famous, just to find inspiration for writing and support other writers, but the statistics nevertheless show my irrelevance.

I will try to support whomever I can by applauding, within the limits of a non-member. I will be around till the end of this year and applaud and respond as much as possible (if the interface works). Who knows what sudden inspiration develops.