15 Comments

Totally reasonable Julie - you have to eat, as you say. I’m happy to chip in for Oz writers. Things feel quite dystopian right now. I know the pendulum will swing back, but how long (and how far)?

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Thanks so much Harry -- and I wish I knew the answer!

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Thanks Julie. Maybe I’m overly optimistic, but it does seem like the tide might be turning, and people previously silent are starting to speak out, thanks largely to the courage of women like you, Suzanne Moore, Julie Bindel, Kathleen Stock and more. You give people like me the tools with which to articulate my views in a reasonable informed way.

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Thank you Anthony. I agree the tide is turning; but way slower in Oz than in the UK.

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I’ve decided to cancel my Age subscription and spend money on those committed to finding information and not promoting specific ideas. F.. those woke millennials. Gen X may be the last generation to maintain some sanity but hopefully the tide is turning! As seen with some young antiwoke YouTubers such as Misha Petrov and Amala Ekpunobi. The Age has gone horribly downhill recently and doesn’t cover major issues people care about much these days. The cowardice of the editor with this issue was the last straw. At least channel 7 grew a pair!

Would be interested to see you interact with some anti woke YouTubers who’ve taken stances on these and similar issues, and been met with demonetisation and even cancellation such as the Offensive Tranny (Marcus Dib) and Jay Fantom -has a channel called The Story Box.

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Very happy to support good writers.

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I always read your Age columns, and couldn’t believe they fired you. I hope this project goes well, and I’ve happily subscribed.

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It’s hard to find real journalism these days, so I’m glad to be a subscriber... all the best Julie and thank you for your dedication and honesty.

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It’s hard to find real journalism these days, so I’m glad to be a subscriber... all the best Julie and thank you for your dedication and honesty.

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Of course you should get paid for your work Julie.

The world seems to be going crazy and good on you for being brave enough to call it out.

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OK, but enough with the grossly titillating header photos please, I usually read you after I eat.

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I cancelled my online subscription to The Age today. I'm not announcing this as though it's some brave pronouncement that I'm hoping to be applauded for, but this felt like a place to express why, and maybe someone else will have had a similar experience.

I've been living in Melbourne for the past 12 or 13 years and almost all of those years I've had some form of subscription to the Age. It took me a while to notice (and now that I see it I can't not!), but I've gradually noticed a decline in both the quality of the journalism as well as the overall nature of the the types of stories that make it to publication. It feels like it's gone from being a place to find interesting things that are worth thinking about to now being the kind of place that just wants to tell you what to think, discourages questions and good faith debate and both actively and implicitly shits on those who try anyway.

I defended The Age for quite a long time as possibly one of the last places in the Australian media that stood for decent reporting and thought provoking journalism, but I just don't think that's the case anymore. It's funny, because I used to read your column in the Age, Julie, and I often didn't agree with you and spent a lot of time rolling my eyes. I was however then both curious and surprised to find out what had happened/gone down in the meantime... It's then even more curious and surprising that I'm here as a paid up contributor to your stack, but I read your first piece, and since then have read all your freebies and I've come to the decision it's worth it. I'm not sure we can ever get any kind of public discourse back on track without people willing to stick their necks out a little and ask the curly questions.

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Great to have you here!

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I am a subscriber Julie but maybe not for long for the simple reason that your posts are far too long. If you cut them down by 50% (such as this post) I might have the patience to persevere. I have started a substack and most of my pieces are 1 minute reads plus photos and podcasts. But good luck to you and if you want to cancel me no worries.

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Well David you can try reading my posts for 1 minute only. You’ll get the gist!

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