Does anyone else remember when "they" broke up the anti-work movement on reddit by putting a mod on fox news then dividing the community by creating the work reform sub?
I some times think about it and how shitty people are
Talking to the media can be incredibly helpful for a movement. It can turn a movement into a near revolution—if the person is competent, well-spoken, and tactfully spreads a great message.
The problem with that interview was the person was not media ready. They needed to be coached. For a long time. They needed to be more charismatic. They needed to know what to say and what not to say.
They didn’t do any of that. In fact, they failed every single part. It’s a high risk/high reward gamble. But you have to be ready for a hostile interviewer, trick questions, traps in your own wording, tone, image, everything. It could completely destroy an idea, much like it did with antiwork. But it could also turn something small into something huge.
Its not like they weren't warned or anything. The mods told the community that they got approached for an interview in a pinned post. Declaring they won't be doing it unless they had someone really really good at speaking.
In comes one of the oldest mods, who genuinely is completely anti all forms of work, from when the sub was actually against the very concept of working, claiming to have media training (they had been interviewed before, through email). And they launch themselves to the occasion and the rest is history.