The dumb bitch and the grift

One of the things my cancellers constantly call me is a grifter. The dictionary defines grifter as: “a person who engages in petty or small-scale swindling” and defines swindling as “deception to deprive (someone) of money or possessions.” So basically a grifter is someone who uses deception to rip people off financially.

The accusation “grifter” is a common one among cancellers these days. I think the use of this term betrays the frustrations of a working class without job security or unions, a collapsing middle class that can’t afford home ownership anymore, the decaying promise of academia as a space where intellectuals could earn a living, the AI takeover and Spotification of the arts, music, and other creative work, and the rise of the gig economy and hustle entrepreneurship. Basically — it is fucking hard to make a living, everything costs too much, some people are making money by posting on the internet and turning themselves into a “brand” and it’s not fair. All of this is very understandable, and I have compassion for it. I just think that this anger would be better spent getting organized than attacking people who seem to be doing okay in this dystopian capitalist hellhole.

I admit that my job is very weird. I have never met anyone whose job looks much like mine. But I certainly don’t make my money by posting. I am not an influencer. An influencer is someone with a large social media following who gets paid endorsement gigs from various companies. I have never taken an endorsement gig and I never will. I am a writer, a publisher, and I use my Instagram to share my ideas and promote the writing that I sell to make a living.