“The opposite of normalizing authoritarianism is to make it weird, to call it out and to sort of mock it,” Jennifer Mercieca, quoted by The Associated Press, Aug. 6, 2024
So weird! The Boston Globe spent a week hyperfocusing on a tiny lesbian bar in the middle of the woods in Greenfield, the Last Ditch.
Weird that national reporters were listening in on a community safety meeting meant for a small group of queer and disabled people.
Weird that on the same day it published its Last Ditch news, the Globe published an essay, “In Trump’s America, violence against transgender people isn’t going up – it’s going down,” by a freelance writer living in Nebraska.
Weird that the author of the Last Ditch piece, Annalisa Quinn, masterfully covered the problem of American individualism and the politicizing of wearing a mask in 2020.
Weird that the Last Ditch story was featured originally on “Blocked and Reported,” a podcast criticized widely for its antitrans and anti-LGBTQ+ coverage.
Weird that the Globe piece was published a week before the current administration repealed Title IX protections for LGBTQ+ and trans students.
Weird that chronically online conservatives and right-wing media swarmed and applauded the Globe’s perverse coverage of a small town lesbian bar.
Weird that the Globe wrote an article specifically highlighting Republican Ted Cruz’s response.
Weird that the Globe doesn’t attribute or provide context for the inflammatory Instagram comments cited in the piece, but lends credibility by quoting a user with the screen name @scream_guy_wazzzuuuuuuup instead of ignoring the user as just another online troll with inflammatory comments in an viral Internet pile-on.
Weird that the Globe quoted an Instagram comment calling queer and disabled people “crazy.”
Weird that the Globe built a story from uncited Instagram comments to begin with.
Weird that the piece seems to strategically villainize a Black patron of the bar, whom they quote at length even though the patron is quoted saying they fear for their safety.
Weird that other mainstream media outlets also named and quoted this patron in their copyslop reporting of Last Ditch.
Weird that the Globe seems to have failed to mention the postpublication Instagram announcement from the Last Ditch bar owner:
“There are so many misconceptions due to the disorganization of the Globe’s article. [The Black patron] did not call for a shutdown, nor did he call for the bar to be firebombed. Further, he did not disparage the owner for being homeless. As a result of this abysmal journalism, [the patron] has been getting additional threats, slurs and harassment, and now he is being reported to the police over something he did not do.”
Weird that the bar announced Tuesday that it needs to implement new security measures in its community meetings due to infiltration and coercion from the media.
Weird that the most humane and comprehensive coverage of the bar was by the independent town newspaper. Greenfield Recorder, I love you.
Weird that only 36 lesbian bars exist in the entire United States.
Weird that there is no mention of the HIV/Aids crisis in a piece ultrafocused on queer people, specifically lesbians, protecting themselves from viral pandemic.
Weird that the Globe never mentions the lifesaving role lesbians played during the Aids crisis and continue to play in public health beyond. The letter L comes first in the LGBTQ+ acronym to recognize lesbians who stepped up to take care of gay men dying of Aids when no one else would.
Weird that an antivaccine roadkill enthusiast and the worst heroin dealer at the all-you-can-eat oyster bar is in charge of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Weird that the Last Ditch piece was published the week detection of Covid rose significantly in Massachusetts.
Weird that the piece mentions Covid case count when tracking moved on years ago to looking at viral activity in wastewater as being more accurate.
Weird that major media outlets continue to downplay the threat of Covid though the virus has proved to cause serious long-term illness.
Weird that the Globe seems to have a traumatic relationship with well-fitting and high-quality KN95 respirators when people are dying of previously eradicated measles infections two states over.
Most people are recognizing the Globe’s exploitative reporting for what it is: a tabloid hit piece on the LGBTQ+ and disabled community.
Lesbians and queer people continue to persevere, do the work and protect their own community when the rest of the world has abandoned and turned against them. The citizens of Greenfield are rallying around their neighbors and taking care of each other despite national media trying to tear them apart.
We are trying to make it out of this alive. Weird we have come so far together.
Weird we are still here.
For comprehensive and unbiased coverage of The Last Ditch bar, the history of lesbian bars and their continued oppression, I recommend this recent piece by Jack Gieseking of Queer Geographies.
Looking for free vaccines, masks and rapid tests in Cambridge and Somerville? We got you, always.