Are Influencers the New Public Intellectuals?
And are public intellectuals being forced to behave like influencers?
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There is a 3,000 word version of this essay that appears in the March edition of ELLE Australia. I wrote both versions when Larissa Behrendt was scheduled to appear as a panellist with us for All About Women festival, but she has since had to withdraw due to a scheduling conflict. I also wrote both versions before I had a chance to interview and speak with our other panellist, Sisonke Msimang, who will definitely be on-stage with us. This longer version includes interview content from panellist and author Hannah Ferguson, criticism of Murdoch’s media monopoly, Behrendt’s criticism of the ABC, and much more.
I’d like to especially thank ELLE Australia editor Grace O’Neill for commissioning this, giving permission for my to publish the alternate version here, and being a legend in general. Also, thank you to the amazingly influential and public thinkers I’ve spoken to for this and for the panel: Larissa Behrendt, Mary McGillivray, Hannah Ferguson, and Sisonke Msimang.
In 2021 someone who didn’t like me started making changes to my Wikipedia page. They deleted positive reviews of my books, added a few links to negative blog posts about me, and generally tried to make me sound like a vapid asshole. It’s against Wikipedia policy for people to edit their own pages, but I’m lucky to have friends who keep an eye on mine and try to prevent this type of ‘vandalism’ (Wikipedia’s term) from staying online for too long. The editing war went on for weeks. What upset me most of all, as this absurd digital skirmish was unfolding, was that this person kept deleting the top-line descriptions of me as a journalist and academic and activist, instead replacing them with a single, low blow: influencer.
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