The last time I looked at my PayPal donations account I noticed something odd, a spate of tiny attempted donations of just 1p or 10p. This was great news for PayPal because the corporation simply kept the entirety of these small payments for themselves in transaction fees, but I couldn't think of a reason for multiple people to attempt to send micro-donations all at the same time.
It turns out that the reason for this spate of tiny donations to my blog is that there's a ludicrous conspiracy theory spreading in right-wing political circles (from pro-austerity "centrist" Labour right-wingers to extreme-right ultranationalists) that sending tiny donations to independent left-wing media sites actually costs them money.
The people sending these micro-donations are so hopelessly gullible that their great fightback against the growing influence of independent left-wing media sites like Another Angry Voice, the Skwawkbox, Evolve Politics, Novara Media, and The Canary is actually to send us micro-donations in the ridiculous hope that it somehow costs us more money to receive them than they're worth.
On planet reality these micro-donations don't cost us anything, they actually just serve as free gifts to PayPal because although they take all the money for themselves in fees their policy is that if the donation is really small, the fee never exceeds the payment.
Just imagine being such a hopelessly gullible believe-everything-I-read numbnuts that you'd not only actually believe that the biggest online payments system on the planet has a glaring flaw that allows enemies of political free speech to shut down websites by sending them micro-payments, but actually attempt to join in such a futile attack.
If so-called centrists as so mind-bogglingly gullible, is it any wonder at all that they lap up and mindlessly regurgitate every single ridiculous pro-establishment propaganda trope the mainstream media drip feeds them?
It's actually pretty hilarious that in their efforts to harm the independent left-wing media sites that speak out against the ruinous impact of right-wing economic dogma and the crony capitalist economy this rotten ideology has created, these delusional people have ended up lobbing free money at a giant corporation.
Attempting to attack left-wingers and getting owned by capitalism. If that isn't 'centrism' in a nutshell, I don't know what is.
On a serious note
Independent left-wing media provides a small but vital counterbalance to the hard-right, pro-austerity, pro-privatisation, anti-worker, orthodox neoliberal bias that has infested Westminster and the mainstream media for the last four decades.
Independent left-wing media is brilliant at producing viral content, but in terms of budget and overall reach we're absolutely dwarfed by the mainstream media outlets that endlessly push the right-wing neoliberal orthodoxy.
One of the best ways you can help us to increase our influence is to set up small monthly subscriptions. Maybe imagine how much you might have spent on newspapers and political magazines in the past (perhaps £10-£15 per month?) and divide that sum into small subscriptions to some of the independent left-wing sites you value the most?
If you can't afford to donate money to keep us going you can still help by sharing our content as widely as you can; by sharing on social media, by linking to our work, by email, and even by printing off our articles and sharing them with people who don't actually use social media.
Another Angry Voice is a "Pay As You Feel" website. You can have access to all of my work for free, or you can choose to make a small donation to help me keep writing. The choice is entirely yours.
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