I once described to one of my closest friends the conceptualization I have of power structures. Every person and group of people is a power structure. Me. You. Me and you together. Me and you with some other people. The United States Congress. The National Court Reporters Association. My union.

You get the idea. And you are a part of many power structures. You are power.

Power structures generally tend to have an interest in growing and surviving. That might be the amount of money in your wallet, the respect and admiration you get from your peers, a deepening relationship with a spouse, or some other benchmark that defines the success of the power structure. But the bottom line is that in their quest to survive and grow, power structures shape reality around them through whatever action or inaction.

And I explained to my friend that our adherence or deference to certain power structures, in that case an association we were both part of, was detrimental to other power structures, working reporters as a whole. We let things go undone because the effort to convince the power structure to do the right thing was too great an effort. The others helping manage the power structure were too adherent to their own beliefs to do the right thing for the majority of people and the future of our profession. I explained that I believed in our own structure over and above these other structures, and that we could be real agents of change while the others focused on “survival.”

But I found myself in that position again and again. Trying to convince an evermore resistant power structure that its course needed to be corrected. And I found myself in that position with multiple power structures. When I was a nice, respectful man, I was treated the worst I’ve ever been treated in my life. It wasn’t the kind of overt bullying you see on the schoolhouse grounds. It was subtle, quiet crushing of my ideas. And I often took that in stride and just went on to the next idea.

But around the time of the Speech-to-Text Institute fiasco I realized our power structures were failing us badly. Sometime in 2021, I realized that I didn’t have to take the predetermined course dictated to me by those that “knew better.” I could grow my own power structure. I could become a threat to those that didn’t fall in line with me. I corresponded with other people in other fields in similar situations, like Dr. Mitch Li and Take Med Back. Power structures failing the average person. I realized I could become a bastard, and people would deal with it because most people don’t have the mentality needed to weather a determined fight. Most people are conflict avoidant. Most people are, like me, too polite to rock the boat.

I used this to scare off people running hit pieces on us, like Victoria Hudgins. I used it run off Jim Cudahy and the STTI. I used it to create a public information campaign the likes of which have never been seen before in court reporting. Because, again, I believe in a greater power structure of people that work for a living. There is certainly a hierarchy, and some make more than others, and I certainly fight more for the downtrodden than the well off, but at the end of the day, we’re all in roughly the same boat. There are large power structures, like Veritext et al, that are trying to rig the game against the working reporter. Doesn’t matter if you make 30 or 300. I knew this based off all the many things I documented over the years, my research into corporate consolidation generally, and what knowledge I have of politics and finance. It’s kind of a simple calculation though. If you could screw people you didn’t care about to make a little more money, would you? How about a lot more money? What if, like Veritext, the very point of your existence was to make money? Outwardly, I think most people would say no. Who wants to admit they’d hurt others for money? In our hearts though, I think we all know that we have in groups and out groups psychologically, and most of us would happily disintegrate the out groups to make room for our tribe. Look at history and tell me that’s not true.

And that’s what this story’s about. I got mine. I want others to get theirs. I will happily disintegrate every social norm to make room for the people that work for a living. Because you’ve been squeezed for so long by forces you don’t even think about. Forces that maybe you even believe are your friend. Some of you contribute information. Some share my work. Some contribute $5. Some contribute $500. As our power structure grows, the others will have a simple choice: Join or die (figuratively).

And it’s not like this is unique to me. Agencies live by the same logic. Work on our terms or starve. Our country? Pay taxes or go to prison. NCRA? Become a member or lose your certs. Everybody else gets to use their power to leverage other power structures. They do it with zero remorse, even where their actions may be illegal, unethical, or evil.

Well now we’ve put a piece on the board. And better yet, in the hands of someone that plays strategy games for fun.

So if you work for a living, consider joining the power structure that is Stenonymous. See the kind of impact I have with a blog and some words on the internet. Now imagine that kind of power with a reasonable budget behind it and no real fixed expenses.

I’m sure the people that study power dynamics and social groups have a better way to describe what I’ve described. But isn’t the result the same? We stick together, we win. We give up, we lose. That’s been true since the days of medieval combat. Thank God we’ve evolved into economic combat, huh?

And for all my newest fans, welcome to the show. Happy to have you. These methods may seem strange to you, but lampoons have seen great usage throughout history.

And what are we but keepers of history?