This message goes out to those readers who have enjoyed one or more of the almost 200 articles I have written for Collective Evolution since April 2018, and more broadly to those who believe in CE’s mission and mandate to provide conscious fact-based journalism: Now is the time for us to come together as a community.
It is a time when our ability to speak out against the fraud, corruption and manipulation of the social media giants and the powerful financial elite that support them is being severely impacted by these very forces. And unless those who believe in the value of our work and our mandate are willing to put a stake in the ground at this time and really support our efforts to overcome mainstream perception and its agenda to keep people distracted and asleep, our voices may be snuffed out.
The profound irony of the situation is not lost on me. Allow me to explain.
Facebook Reach
A basic explanation of how Facebook works and its impact on CE’s revenues is in order.
Up until a few years ago, the basic algorithm that Facebook used for delivering content into individuals’ daily news feeds was pretty simple: the more the individual actually clicks on the content provided by a source, the more consistently it would be delivered into their news feed. This algorithm was really in service of the people, give them more of what they are indicating that they want to see in their news feed.
Of course this was of great benefit to companies like CE, who were consistently creating content that people wanted to read. And so a few years ago it would not be unusual for a CE article to get over a million views, from some of the over five million people who had ‘liked’ the CE Facebook page that was launching the articles. This number of views in turn generated advertising revenue that more than supported CE’s operating expenses and initiatives that helped them really get their message out.
Fast forward to today, where the Facebook algorithm is increasingly being used as a tool to limit the distribution of content that mainstream forces do not want proliferating amongst an awakening population. New organizations are cropping up in cyberspace that purport to have the authority, knowledge, and discernment to label certain content as inaccurate, misleading, or flat-out ‘fake news’ that is somehow a threat to the public. What’s worse, these organizations and their findings actually have an impact on the reach that media companies like CE get for their articles.
Is this a violation of freedom of speech? Not exactly–it’s even trickier than that. It’s as if you are running a newspaper business, and they tell you that they will not prevent you from writing what you want. Your newspaper sells out daily at all the newsstands. Slowly, they start pressuring the newsstands not to put out all the newspapers you sent them. Then they start buying up all the newsstands, and the newsstands now tell you that they are not sure your content is suitable for their customers–even though they are selling out. Then the newsstands just stop buying and selling your newspapers, and you’re out of business–all because your content is not what the powerful new owners want the public to see.
The Latest Hit Job
Many examples could be given of how this plays out in our modern social media infrastructure that is so crucial in terms of the information the average person gets to see. Let’s examine the latest hit job on CE in detail to get a really clear picture of what is going on and the hypocrisy that is inherent in it.
In early March of this year I wrote an article entitled “Unvaccinated Children Pose No Risk To Anyone, Says Harvard Immunologist“. It was an article revealing that immunologist Tetyana Obukhanych has substantial scientific insights that lead her to believe that unvaccinated children pose no greater health risk than vaccinated children. I would defy anyone to examine this article and find any place in it where I am promoting ‘false news’ or authoring ‘misleading content.’
The article centers around a 2015 ‘Open Letter To Legislators Currently Considering Vaccine Legislation’ she wrote where she argues to legislators, some of whom are poised to remove vaccine exemptions from their districts, that “discrimination in a public school setting against children who are not vaccinated for reasons of conscience is completely unwarranted.”
Does making a factual statement and providing the details that a person said something or did something constitute false news or misleading content? Of course not. Nowhere in the article do I personally state that unvaccinated children pose no risk to anyone. I may as an individual believe that this assertion is possible, but I do not promote it as established fact. That’s journalism.
However look at what the ‘fact-checking’ effort pictured above really is. This newly-formed online watchdog is taking a fully UNPROVEN ASSERTION, that ‘Choosing not to vaccinate increases risk of potentially serious illness to self and others,’ and utilizing it as ESTABLISHED FACT without providing evidence. It is this ‘fact-checking’ group that is promoting misleading content and doing what they are accusing us of doing. All that I am doing is sharing the opinion and actions of an Immunologist who would like healthy debate and dialogue to be going on, challenging assumptions that are passed off as fact and providing fact-based testimony to substantiate her opinion. And she does so in the interest of the health and well-being of our children.
But here’s the kicker in all this. How does this company afford to operate? Who butters their bread? As Joe Martino reveals in a rare rant below (not to be missed) they are funded by groups like the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, probably the most powerful advocacy group for mass vaccination in the world, working in lock step with the pharmaceutical industry. Do we see perhaps a slight conflict of interests between a group supposedly going on the internet doing objective fact-checking of content, and a massive financial supporter that is deeply invested in the mass proliferation of vaccines across the globe?
They contributed a staggering $382,997 to these ‘fact-checkers’. Do you think that these fact-checkers are not fully compromised by the agenda of the rich and powerful? Can you imagine what CE would be able to accomplish with that kind of money?
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Full Disclosure And Transparency
I would like to offer full transparency as to how this ‘strike’ against CE affects the company and impacts me personally.
When I started off with CE in April 2018, I was offered a 3-month contract that would pay me $3400/month, and I was grateful for it. Living in Toronto, this amount is considered just above a living wage. When my contract was over, and because dwindling advertising revenues due to Facebook algorithm changes had already negatively impacted CE, I was told that the company would love to retain me, but that at this time they could only afford to offer me $2040/month, allowing for reduced hours. This affected not only me, but all employees of the company.
I understood, and accepted it with gratitude. This has been the best company I’ve ever worked for. I love and respect Joe Martino as a man of great integrity, courage and wisdom, and I share this feeling with all the great people who work here. In fact I consider CE to be a model for how evolved companies should operate in the future. There is no hierarchy, we are all treated with great respect, our input is always welcomed, and self-responsibility is engendered in a way that makes each of us want to go above and beyond to make things work.
However, as Joe reveals in the video above, these strikes against CE (all of which have reeked of censorship and the growing establishment control over content) has seen a reduction in our reach to the public that results in a monthly loss of about $10,000 in advertising revenues. This is equivalent to three times my previous full-time salary. We are at the stage where any more shortfall in advertising revenues will affect the company’s ability to pay its employees, including me.
In truth, if I could afford it, I would work for this company for free. I feel we have an important mission and I feel like I am a big part of it. However the reality is, with a 5-year old at home, I have to eventually get back to earning a living wage. And I certainly hope that I can do it as a member of Collective Evolution.
The Takeaway
The irony is, all this chaos and uncertainty may actually be the catalyst for something very positive. The efforts by Facebook and other social media players to drastically reduced our advertising revenues has forced us to look at a different revenue model, which involves community funding. In truth, getting off of the conventional advertising model and being directly supported instead by those who believe in what we are doing is more aligned with our values.
Now, rather than passively clicking on whatever content comes to them from their Facebook news feed, our supporters will have to make conscious choices as to what content they will access and give their attention to, if they want to see anything other than a monotonous litany of mainstream propaganda. And in taking the important step to directly support companies that are trying to make our world a better place, our community will begin moving off the mainstream grid and increasingly gain power to effect change in the world.
The support we have already gotten as a result of people joining CETV is one of the main reasons we are still in a position to fight for our existence. If you don’t know about it, CETV is our online video platform that features the news broadcast ‘the Collective Evolution show’ and other great weekly shows. Consider joining here.
We have many other great ideas that we are dying to implement that will truly bring our community together, but we are still working our way out of survival mode. If everyone pitches it, we could probably exit survival mode overnight and really get things into gear. So I’d like to offer a slogan I came up with for our CMM (Conscious Media Movement) Campaign, which you can donate to here: Help us survive, then together let’s thrive!