so interesting and full of wisdoms.....will offer one idea as per "the market" for the novel it seems to me the problem is not only being perceived as entitled "white" guy it seems the market for reading books (or alot of stuff) is totally weighted towards the bulk of readers: females!! just take a look at substack and im not complaining but this island in my opinion is ruled by a superior tribe ha
enjoy the day what a lovely bride and quote from madame bovary sublime
"Serious art reflects society as it is in all its juicy complexity; it doesn’t dumb everything down to a Manichean dichotomy of good versus evil and try to force you to think a certain way."....."Instead we need freedom. Balance. Centrism. Open-mindedness, empathy, self-awareness..." - AMEN. Your newsletters are always so refreshingly substantial, intelligent, and balanced. You inspire me to learn, read more, improve my writing, and think bigger. Thank you.
In your Welcome email you state: "We need to return to sanity, some notion of objective shared reality, and common sense." Absolutely right. Looking forward to reading more of your posts.
Agreed. And I look forward to more insights. You've had an interesting journey and the solid truths you've stumbled across will ultimately outlive the woke. But for now, we are all stymied.
I didn’t know your specific case, I admit. I thought about that after my comment. My feeling in general is that everyone has a first amendment right to free speech. That said, seeing as this is a private platform, I don’t want to see SS become Twitter, where angry, nasty commentary prevails and it becomes a ruthless fight to the death. Substack is so popular in part because both free speech AND civility coexist. I figured--and I own that I might have been wrong here--if they removed the comment it must have been pretty off-color. I think you can say anything you want, but it can be done respectfully. Yet, to your point, I didn’t actually see the comment you made. I assumed. That might have been a bad call on my part.

One final comment: part of absurdity of contemporary extremism, in my opinion, is the sharp binary of A is Woke versus B is free speech. Just because someone moderates a comment, that doesn’t automatically mean they are woke. On the flip side, just because someone votes for Trump, say, doesn’t mean they’re ‘racist’ or ‘fascist’ or ‘anti-democracy.’ There’s nuance in all this.
Sincerely apologize if I did blunder here. Thanks for the comment.
Well, in light of all this, I have to say: You’re right. That’s bullshit. I wasn’t aware of Bailey’s writing--I’ll check that out. Your original comment sounds MILD as hell to me!! That sucks, David! Sorry that happened to you. I’d be pissed like you as well. I get it, man. A censorious environment is NOT what we need.
Man we think the same ... I'm also a no TV no phone guy.
I'm now going to read all your stuff in chronological sequence.
I hope you will read my similar journey to yours... But I was in nz...
so interesting and full of wisdoms.....will offer one idea as per "the market" for the novel it seems to me the problem is not only being perceived as entitled "white" guy it seems the market for reading books (or alot of stuff) is totally weighted towards the bulk of readers: females!! just take a look at substack and im not complaining but this island in my opinion is ruled by a superior tribe ha
enjoy the day what a lovely bride and quote from madame bovary sublime
"Serious art reflects society as it is in all its juicy complexity; it doesn’t dumb everything down to a Manichean dichotomy of good versus evil and try to force you to think a certain way."....."Instead we need freedom. Balance. Centrism. Open-mindedness, empathy, self-awareness..." - AMEN. Your newsletters are always so refreshingly substantial, intelligent, and balanced. You inspire me to learn, read more, improve my writing, and think bigger. Thank you.
❤️❤️❤️🙏
In your Welcome email you state: "We need to return to sanity, some notion of objective shared reality, and common sense." Absolutely right. Looking forward to reading more of your posts.
Yes!
Agreed. And I look forward to more insights. You've had an interesting journey and the solid truths you've stumbled across will ultimately outlive the woke. But for now, we are all stymied.
Well said!
I didn’t know your specific case, I admit. I thought about that after my comment. My feeling in general is that everyone has a first amendment right to free speech. That said, seeing as this is a private platform, I don’t want to see SS become Twitter, where angry, nasty commentary prevails and it becomes a ruthless fight to the death. Substack is so popular in part because both free speech AND civility coexist. I figured--and I own that I might have been wrong here--if they removed the comment it must have been pretty off-color. I think you can say anything you want, but it can be done respectfully. Yet, to your point, I didn’t actually see the comment you made. I assumed. That might have been a bad call on my part.

One final comment: part of absurdity of contemporary extremism, in my opinion, is the sharp binary of A is Woke versus B is free speech. Just because someone moderates a comment, that doesn’t automatically mean they are woke. On the flip side, just because someone votes for Trump, say, doesn’t mean they’re ‘racist’ or ‘fascist’ or ‘anti-democracy.’ There’s nuance in all this.
Sincerely apologize if I did blunder here. Thanks for the comment.
Michael
Does SS have a complaint department where you can make a legitimate claim of being unfairly censored?
Well, in light of all this, I have to say: You’re right. That’s bullshit. I wasn’t aware of Bailey’s writing--I’ll check that out. Your original comment sounds MILD as hell to me!! That sucks, David! Sorry that happened to you. I’d be pissed like you as well. I get it, man. A censorious environment is NOT what we need.
He deleted your comment there, too?