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Journalism of Courage
An orange cat called Jorts has become an internet sensation and has turned out to be sort of a mascot for America’s labour movement.
It all started with a story about workplace cats, which was posted by an anonymous writer on Reddit in December last year. “One of the cats (Jean) is a tortoiseshell cat we have had for years. The other cat (Jorts) is a large orange cat and a recent addition. Jorts is just… kind of a simple guy. For example, Jorts can’t open a door even when it’s ajar— he shoves it whether he is going in or out, so often he closes the door he is trying to go through,” the post said.
The story ends with the anonymous writer’s friend Pam pointing out that the author was “perpetuating ethnic stereotypes by saying orange cats are dumb”.
As the story grabbed attention online, groups supporting Jorts and Jean emerged and the orange cat even got a personal Twitter account. @JortsTheCat, the Twitter account with a bio saying “Jorts the cat. Jean helps me”, now has a whopping 1,42,500 followers.
As the cat gained popularity, posts with pro-labour stance came up on the account and Jorts emerged as an advocate for labour rights, fighting against inequality and capitalism. From funny cat memes to suggestions on how to form a union, the Twitter account has become an online hub for labour movement supporters. A paw mark represents Jorts’ signature while inspirational letters for workers circulate on Twitter.
US Senator Elizabeth Warren was one of the users to comment. Warren wrote on Twitter, “Bailey stands with Jorts (on all four of his feet), and I stand with the working people of America who are making their voices heard and building their power. Unions built the middle class, and unions will rebuild the middle class.
The labour movement has gained momentum once again in America as unionisation efforts and strikes were organised. After a union won the right to represent US Starbucks workers in December last year, according to a CNN report, Jorts dropped off a few letters to the workers in appreciation.
A thread Jorts’ account talks about how to form a union in one’s workplace, urges people to talk to co-workers who already agree, get advice from local unions or organisers, work together to build support, show that support through election or “card check”. The thread came in the backdrop of Amazon workers’ struggle to form a union in Alabama, reported CNN.
CNN Business quoted the user behind the Twitter account as saying that both Jorts and Jean live full-time at a 24X7 workplace. “If a cat is sick they will come home with someone…They live at work but there is always someone on site,” the person said.
Commenting about the cat’s cognisance of their online popularity, the person said, “I almost swear Jean knows. She has gotten extra elusive about spending time anywhere she can be photographed.” The person added that the explosion of fan art and memes was entertaining and really touching.
