Originally published via Armageddon Prose Substack:
Happy New Year! Here’s hoping it’s blessed for you and yours.
As anyone in independent media can attest to, it’s tough out here to make any kind of money providing counter-narratives to the corporate state’s Current Things™.
And so it’s time again for that regular-interval Armageddon Prose pledge drive.
It’s like PBS or NPR here, except that I don’t do propaganda for the government no do I recruit pseudo-celebrities for telethons to impress liberal wine moms (not my target demo) — both because I don’t have the capital and, more importantly, because I generally hold celebrities in low regard, right down there next to lawyers.
The cringe!
I do, however, have one thing in common with NPR: I hawk tote bags at the Armageddon Prose merch store with all-original designs by my wife, except that mine are way cooler than NPR’s and, again, the proceeds don’t go to support the dissemination of Deep State propaganda — they go to countering it.
Consider this
The likes of the Washington Post, MSNBC, et al. get bankrolled to the tune of billions of dollars every year by their corporate partners at the likes of Boeing and Pfizer and even the CIA. They are literal sock puppets of the corporate state masquerading as “new” outlets.
The true nature of North Korean state TV is at least transparent, which makes it markedly less insidious than CNN’s genre of fake news.
These propaganda outlets then turn around and use their cash and clout to beat their independent (and more popular) competitors into the ground via various censorship and deplatforming schemes, often in conspiracy with the government in contravention of the First Amendment, while paying their benefactors back in spades with fawning, uncritical coverage of the Current Things™.
The media you support with your eyes and wallet is the media that you get. If you leave those decisions to the state, The Today Show and Good Morning America will continue to predominate, setting the official narrative and making debunking and countering it an uphill battle.
Alex Jones is no saint, but he deserves massive credit for coining the phrase “InfoWars,” or “information wars,” because that’s what this is. The modern battlefield is one of narrative, and the domain is increasingly the digital landscape.
You may have noticed that I’ve diligently produced articles here on a consistent basis for the roughly past six months. Some are short and sweet while others I put a lot of time into researching and writing.
I will continue to do so in the new year, with the occasional break on account of travel/lack of internet access (as I will be for the next few days).
My subscriber base has grown over 2023, which is great and for which I’m appreciative. Of my roughly 2,600 subscribers, though, only 2.2% are paid; 97.8% are free.
I have committed to keeping all of my articles free, not behind a paywall, relying on voluntary paid subscriptions from anyone who sees value in my work. In the future, I plan to continue this model because I believe it’s most ethical and sustainable for the long term.
If you don’t have the means — and I understand, as I spent the majority of my adult life until very recently in basically abject poverty for reasons that were mostly my own fault — obviously take care of yourself and anyone who depends on you first.
But if you do have extra cash on hand, and you’ve ever had a kind thought for Armageddon Prose, consider lending a token of support.
I’ve tried to make it as easy as possible to provide any support in whatever way is most convenient:
- An Armageddon Prose Substack subscription. You can get one here for as little as $5/month. In my experience — and I’m not just saying this because I use the platform — nothing I have ever written here has been censored in any way. Many of the best dissident journalists have their own publications here, so signing up isn’t just a win for me; it’s a win for free speech more generally. All you have to do, if you’re already a free subscriber, is click the “upgrade to paid” button on the email you receive.
- Bitcoin address: bc1qvq4hgnx3eu09e0m2kk5uanxnm8ljfmpefwhawv
- Internet “coffee” tip jar
- My book Broken English Teacher: Notes From Exile (people seem to like it; it’s currently #172 on Amazon for “travel humor,” although that’s not how I would categorize it, intending as I did for it to mean something more)
- Locals
- Patreon (although they’re total commies who have censored my COVID and tranny stuff there and I’m sure they throttle my page)
- The AP merch store (I’ve been steadily adding more products with more original designs by my lovely and talented wife who deserves all the credit; I supply the ideas and she supplies the work)
God bless, and whether you opt for a paid subscription or not (again, I plan to keep all of my content open-access anyway), I wish you and yours nothing but the best in the new year.
Ben Bartee, author of Broken English Teacher: Notes From Exile, is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs.
Follow his stuff Substack. Also, keep tabs via Twitter.
For hip Armageddon Prose t-shirts, hats, etc., peruse the merch store.
Insta-tip jar and Bitcoin public address: bc1qvq4hgnx3eu09e0m2kk5uanxnm8ljfmpefwhawv
