re: the torstar story, it's good that those with high of media literacy recognize that: a) this is blatant click-baiting; and b) this is therefore an irresponsible undermining of the more prescient story about CERB, which is that it is a great case study for the power of UBI

...and that giving people who otherwise might be living paycheque to paycheque a MEASLY TWO GRAND A MONTH has given them the ability to, um, live their lives? comfortably?

but i often think about the echo chamber of my twitter feed; the fact that everyone i interact with here passively or actively KNOWS these things and can therefore dismiss and/or lambast the star for publishing what essentially amounts to anti-welfare state propaganda

for those who are not clicking past the headline, who are already averse to CERB, for those whose literal livelihood does not depend on understanding media, this is a trusted news outlet reporting reliable information to be taken at face value

so it's NOT just clickbait. it's actually a very dangerous and false narrative being perpetuated by an outlet with a massive platform and a trusted name, and a piece of writing that will be used to continually strip back and roadblock benefits like CERB.

i am empathetic to the fact that legacy media publications are struggling and need to employ new and novel ways to attract readers (and therefore advertisers). but doing so by perpetuating the narrative that poor people are lazy substance-abusers who do not deserve comfort?

that ain't it, champ.

this, particularly, ain't it.