I Stopped Writing For The Odyssey
So if by any chance you have not noticed, I have not been sharing any more articles from The Odyssey, and honestly it is such a relief. I quit my position as contributing editor and content creator over a week ago and I could not be happier with my decision.
The world is a harsh place, and criticism is everywhere, but in today's world, it seems that everyone has an opinion and they believe that their opinion is the only one that matters. It's a little disgusting, and it is only becoming worse. Without getting too political here, I do believe that the whole hyperpartisanship issue in the country is to blame. It's all too far left and far right that it is hard to come to the middle, and nobody wants to believe that their opinions are wrong, so they fight about it. On the internet. Because that's constructive.
And that's all that I found on The Odyssey. Bratty, self-entitled millennials who use social media as their fighting ground. All the articles being made on serious subjects from drug abuse to politics was becoming a never-ending attack on my news feed every time I went on to Facebook. I couldn't get away from it because The Odyssey would just keep sharing the same aggressive articles that started the most debates over and over again and never giving way to other writers who may have had something impactful to say a chance (yes, I'm more than a little bitter that one of my response articles was never shared by the organization while all the other ones were. I'll probably be uploading that one on here in a few weeks if you are interested in reading it). But my issue with the company runs even deeper.
My issue is that not only was The Odyssey perpetuating online fights and arguments, but they were also creating them. Each week, chapter editors who work for organization send out article ideas for writers. They are huge lists -most of them are cheesy, over-done listicles - with ideas that upwards of hundreds of students are writing about at the same time. Inflammatory and biased titles like "Why Trump Is Not My President" and well everything liberal and more liberal. The poor Republicans didn't stand a chance when it came to writing an article for the site as it would be hammered with criticism and angry responses. This is not to say that one side is better than the other, but it is to say that a writing organization that -uses? writers aren't paid so not employed - from diverse backgrounds and perspectives should not be so blatantly biased. So I quit. I quit writing for a company that created conflict, rewarding it by sharing the most popular, or rather, anger-ridden articles, and perpetuating a divide in this country that isn't going anywhere, any time soon.
I also quit because I did not want to associate myself with a bunch of writers who complained about the world and thought that they were the most important thing in it. The students who write about their opinions and mouth-off to those who disagree; the students who attack others online who believe differently. I quit because I no longer wanted to be associated with a site that fosters such behavior and tells young adults that it is OK to voice your opinion AND tear down others while you're doing it. Of course that seems to be what people use the internet for nowadays, but it's tragically unhealthy and it needs to end. So I'm trying to make it end by no longer contributing to it, though only one of my dozens of articles got any attention, and I stayed out of the way of all of the drama for the most part during my year-long writing venture.
And now I'm here, writing for myself about the stuff I care about and hopefully others do too. Without writing for The Odyssey, I have more time and greater flexibility to write for myself and to grow this website to make it the best it can be. I do not regret the time that I spent writing for that site, but I am actually so glad that it is over. And it encouraged me to begin this venture, so if I had to find a positive in the experience, than I believe that I have.