We thrive on controversy. Say something in this country, make a statement, be declarative, and someone will get in your face and tell you you’re wrong and suddenly there’s an audience. People choose sides, there’s shouting. We should license controversy vendors who appear quickly to sell tickets, popcorn, and soft drinks of choice when this happens.
For a long time now there’s been a watchdog group with a website and an agenda to keep track of fraud committed against writers. You would think this would be a noncontroversial, no-brainer—writers work on margin, are underpaid usually, and can’t afford attorneys to look out for their interests. Despite exceptions, most writers rarely are able (or even, sometimes, willing) to litigate on their own behalf. It’s time-consuming, ulcer-causing, and pricey! And often it’s against a corporate entity that has a war chest that can spend a writer into oblivion even before the case gets before a judge. So Writers Beware started up as a service to alert writers to who the bad guys are. And there are—bad guys.
Not too surprisingly, said bad guys don’t like this. Writers Beware has taken a bite out of their bottom line, derailed some of their scams, and given writers some power to protect themselves. That’s to be expected.
But this is just underhanded. Assuming for a second it is what it claims, it is to be dumbstruck at the lunacy. Why would a writer join an organization dedicated to destroying another organization that is protecting writers?
I don’t know who is really behind Write Agenda, but they’re going after people who have done service for writers. If in fact individual writers are doing this, it seems as boneheaded as blue collar workers who attack unions for defending higher pay and better working conditions.
Which happens.
As a kid, this is simple. There are bullies in the schoolyard. It’s nice when the teacher looks out for them and does something, but what was better was for there to be some kid big and bad enough to take on the bullies and sort of protect the weaker ones. That’s pretty much what such organizations like Writer Beware do. Fraud is a criminal offense and it’s nice when an Attorney General or D.A. prosecutes for it, but the fact is they don’t have the resources (or sometimes the inclination) to police the way we’d like them to. So occasionally a watchdog group springs up and when they’re effective, the bullies look for opportunity to get rid of them so they can return to lording it over the other kids.
But there always seems to be a handful who don’t like the protector. For whatever reason, they seem to prefer to get beat up rather than accept help. It doesn’t make sense, it’s counterintuitive—maybe they don’t like feeling beholden and certainly we’d all like to be able to take care of ourselves.
But we aren’t kids and this kind of assault is pretty common these days. Labels get thrown around, occasionally bordering on libel or slander, tempers rise, and the controversy draws an audience.
In this case, it’s reasonably easy to see the difference. Writer Beware has a track record. All The Write Agenda seems to have is a bunch of baseless assertions. But they’re engaging in the Great American Pastime of “Let’s Create A Controversy!” combined with “Let’s You and Him Fight!”   At least we have one advantage in this one—writers (generally speaking) can read.
