Is This a Joke?

You may not have realized this, dear readers, but I’m a skeptic. My career in journalism has taught me time and again not to believe most people’s descriptions of events. I also almost never buy into conspiracy theories — most conspirators are way too inept to conspire. But I think I’ve come across a conspiracy to believe in — a right-wing joke.

At least I think so.  This can’t be real.

I’m referring to the announcement of The 22 Convention, an event in Orlando, Florida in May designed to “make women great again.”

Expensive tickets are being sold only to “natural born women” and all the speakers are men. It’s “destined to be the mansplaining event of the century.” It’s also “the world’s ultimate event for women.”

Ha, ha. Very funny.

Yet the convention got straight-faced news coverage in the Orlando Weekly and The New York Post. Admittedly, this isn’t mainstream coverage — the Post edition also has a story about a dragon horn growing out of a man’s back — but at least some people are taking this seriously.

It gets a little more disturbing when you Google some of the convention speakers. One guy is described on Wikipedia as “a far-right white nationalist Canadian podcaster and YouTuber who is known for his promotion of scientific racism and white supremacist views.” There’s also “the king of making men strong” and a guy who has been a regular host of The Alex Jones Show on InfoWars.

So either these people exist or someone’s gone to a lot of trouble filling the internet with weird fiction.

Should we be mad because these guys are serious, or is this a conspiracy to make us look silly for reacting to an obvious put-on?

I don’t know, but I do have a solution: counter-programming. Someone needs to organize a competing event in Orlando — “the world’s ultimate event for men” — where men can learn how they’re becoming obsolete in a world of artificial insemination and revulsion against their warlike tendencies. Speakers should include an assortment of Glorias (Steinem, Allred, Gaynor, Estefan, Trevi, Delgado-Pritchett, etc.) It could be called the World of Glorias Women.

Those right-wing guys won’t know how to react.

Someone please get to work on this.

Lawyer marketing.  I’m always interested in innovative law firm promotion. Sometimes, though, I’m unclear on the concept.

Last week I got an unsolicited email from a law firm wishing me a happy New Year. It said “Cheers 2020! May it be healthy, happy and prosperous!”

Well, that’s nice, I guess. The sentiment, though, was followed, in smaller type, with this: “Attorney Advertising: Results depend on a number of factors unique to each matter. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.”

So 2020 may not be healthy, happy and prosperous?

Lawyers can be real downers sometimes.

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