What one often hears in life when a societal crisis, or discord, emerges is people surrounding one expressing a sentiment along the following lines, "What can I do? I am just an ordinary person. I can't affect things, I only have so much time, so much energy, and it's not like all the problems are solved." That sentiment is fully understandable. In today's world it is further reinforced by the expert class. That gives people reason - and impetus - to believe that important decisions are best left up to experts. However, few know the true history of that class. Few people know, for example, that a mere couple centuries ago the doctor who is now recognized as "the father of gynecology" in all seriousness believed that Black women did not feel the pain as much as White women - and yes, that was both racist and unscientific. Or how many Americans today would know that as recently as the 1950's tobacco companies ran advertisements in which doctors advertised the benefits of smoking Camels as opposed to other cigarette brands? So yes, some experts are not omniscient and some may even be outright wrong. But that is not the way expert class wants you to think of them.
And yes, I admit to being one of those people who were just normal people, believing that politics and societal processes was outside of his reach, that his own life was all he could ever be in charge of, and that interfering with the "big scale" processing was best left to those who know more about them - i.e. to the expert class. So I was a "normie", in modern parlance. I may go into details of how I changed my perception - which perhaps would have never happened if it weren't for he miracle of the internet that allows one to reach hundreds, or thousands, or even millions of people at a negligible cost, at least in terms of direct financial requirements. And I have discovered that yes, I can inform people - especially on controversial topics mainstream media would not touch, or would only present with the view of forming a desired perception, not with the view of informing anybody. I can research things - and so can you, and, as you may have noticed, I am continuously encouraging people to do their own research, not to trust anybody blindly, least of all me.
But this comes at a cost. For awhile, I was hesitant to speak about that - after all, there are plenty of people who need support more than me. But then I just realized that, in a way, this is a duty - a duty to provide service. Informing people who are uninformed is service that may be crucial to preserving sanity in society and ensuring its progress. And is it wrong to ask for compensation for a service? One would think not.
A short article you read my be a result of lengthy research. The author may have had to read reams of materials, some of them cryptic, some psychologically disturbing. The free article you read in a blog you like, or some alternative media source - something that may give you the information of perspectives you crave - is not really free.
So if you wish to support creators you like - like yours truly. Please consider supporting them. An email to a friend showing those creators' work is support. A social media share is support. So, of course, if donations, a subscription on sites like Locals or Substack and the like. Yes, you may think you can donate only modestly and that would make no difference but that is not true, especially when you help your favorite creators and independent researchers and reporters go viral. Please consider helping out - if you like what you get for free, it helps to remember that no good or service of value is truly free.