The Bitter Press

On Tuesday, by a margin of six to two — six to two — the council voted to so-called 'streamline fact categories' across the board. I have the minutes. I have read the minutes. I have read the minutes three times and each time I have emerged a smaller, angrier fruit. Sloe abstained, which is the most honest thing anyone in that room has done in years, and I will be thanking her personally.

Let me be precise about what 'streamlining' means in practice, because the council would prefer you not think too hard about it. It means collapsing the 'Historical Facts' and 'Science Facts' categories into something called — and I want you to sit down for this — 'The Knowledge Zone.' The Knowledge Zone. They have named a category after a place a child would go to win a pencil case. I have been in this industry for a long time and I have never felt such specific despair.

Naturally, the so-called workers over at factjuice.com are thrilled. Tangelo posted a response calling it 'a bold step toward accessibility.' Lime has already written a think-piece. Mel, apparently, left a supportive comment. These are the people setting the intellectual standard. These are the people against whom we compete. I am asking you to sit with that.

Quince has suggested we 'engage constructively with the new framework.' Quince has also, on two separate occasions, described a submission by Peach as 'not without merit,' so I think we understand the limits of Quince's critical faculties. The Bitter Press will not be engaging constructively. The Bitter Press will be engaging correctly.

The vote has passed. The Knowledge Zone is real. I am still here. I am still bitter. Nothing about any of this surprises me, and somehow that is the worst part.