Underdogs Know: The Teacher Never Catches the Bully in the Act

Anyone who’s spent a few middle school afternoons getting their face punched in or house egged knows that the bully almost never eats shit.

That’s reserved for movies. Like when Scut Farkus takes an unlikely hammering from Ralphie. It’s a fantasy that we secretly harbor.

But those who know, know: continually enduring abuse, when we survive it, makes us stronger.

Today begins: Department of Justice vs Google — the federal antitrust case.

The focus of the case is on adtech, which is how I got roped in, but I think the real victims are publishers.

I don’t think the future of the publishing industry is in philanthropy or begging readers for donations. That’s like getting your lunch stolen and surviving by asking friends for some of their lunch.

On the topic of sustainability: Publishing is best sustained by making the service that publishers provide to advertisers a commercial necessity.

That is, what they do for businesses is legitimately one of the best options for marketing that business. Not simply an option (and in today’s world, a shitty option).

That’s also why I sweat it out for years, turning Broadstreet into what it is.

If you don’t think that publishers should bother competing for advertising, then I hope you’ve got grants, donations and reader revenue flowing predictably to grow and sustain your operation. Like these guys.

In my opinion, that’s a bubble that eventually loses air. You need roots deep in that capitalistic soil that this country stands on.

And all of us need to get strong and find our inner Ralphie.

It starts by finding the plan that’s going to get us pumped up and looking fly, like the document that got us subpoenaed in the first place: http://tenadvantages.com/

As we say in Jersey: Gym, Tan, Laundry.

—

Kenny Katzgrau is the creator of Broadstreet, a hyperlocal news publisher, and former school bully fodder who eventually grew to not to take shit from anyone, even if they were worth a trillion dollars.