Thread by @cloverhogan

Earlier this year I was approached to appear on this show #TheActivist

I was contacted by someone "looking for passionate activists who are actively engaged in making an impact in the areas of environment, health, education, and reducing world hunger."

I took a call with them.

They spoke about bringing activists together to solve global challenges. Yet every question I asked received an evasive answer - what's the purpose? How are they finding activists? Is it about collaboration? How are they platforming folks who have been historically excluded?

I wish I'd taken the evasiveness for the giant red flag it was. But this person kept emphasising what a brilliant opportunity it would be to put eco-anxiety on the agenda, & said my Q's would be answered on another call. So, I agreed to an interview with a producer from the show.

The "interview" was the worst I've ever experienced. When asked about my background, I mentioned growing up in nature, feeling heartbroken when I discovered documentaries, choosing to become an environmentalist at 11, moving to Indonesia, working with grassroots communities...

Afterward, this dude looked irritated. He said I sounded like a robot, talking from a script. He asked me to do it over, this time with more emotion, and gave me pointers of "what the producers want to see." We repeated this several times; until I burst into tears.

"PERFECT!!"

I'd done what he wanted, apparently. I felt humiliated. The only explanation I have for not hanging up then and there is gaslighting. I kept thinking, 'Perhaps I'm just being dramatic. This is showbiz, right? He's just trying to help me communicate better. I chose to be here.'

After the tears, he asked me about our work at Force of Nature (@fon_xyz). I lit up at the chance to talk about our research, programmes for youth, the urgency of the mental health crisis. He cut me off toward the end - it was too complicated. I needed to "talk like an American."

At the end, he revealed that this would be a competition show with activists going against each other for resources. I remember thinking I was in a Black Mirror episode. When the call ended, I cried & called my mum. The whole time, I was made to feel as if I was failing a test.

The weeks following, I tried to block the experience from my mind... only to receive an email that I'd been successful (yay me) w/ an invitation to meet the whole production team. I politely declined. & declined again, when told to reconsider as "this is such a huge opportunity".

I won't relay what has already been said so eloquently by folks like @jameelajamil @DijahSB @myeshachou
@xinwenxiaojie. What I will add, from BTS experience, is that they were not interested in the issues - at all. They only wanted a story. & a story manufactured for Hollywood.

Someone who worked on the set just shared this BTS view of production (they're under NDA but gave me permission to share anonymously).

Are we surprised? #TheActivist