Michael, you nailed on the head. First, before I forget, you might enjoy the article (linked below) by Hamish M about Substack's growth and getting caught in the middle of ideological disputes. Post-DT, I don't trust a single national new outlet. FOX, no way. Then I go over to MSNBC and N Wallace starts the hour thus: "The former discredited and disgraced president, DT...." So I'm done there, too. I have my go-to authors. David Brooks, Maureen Dowd, some others on foreign policy. But I'll never again jump into a post-2016 box. I only trust the Brits -- The Economist and the LFTimes. As for publication, screw it, my friend. I went through that bog for a LONG time and it just isn't worth it. The industry has become so disintermediated that it's easy to self-publish books and just get your ideas out there. I'm not saying that an individual has the power of SImon & Schuster, but it can be done. Good ideas disseminate. And to be perfectly F honest, I just don't care. I've got my merit badges. Now if only I could some more subscribers -- not that I'm not happy with where I am at the moment -- and maybe a signed Ron Guidry jersey.
Yes!! BBC is good. Everything else, especially in America right now, is deeply suspect. Although the NYT seems to be bouncing back with their new Executive editor. More diversity of views.
I think you are right about Substack, and the fact that we are entering a new age of rethinking everything when it comes to publishing (whether books, music, art, etc) and how to connect with readers/listeners/viewers. It' freeing and promising and I hope will continue to develop. And I hope the publishing field will ride its coattails at some point, but probably not in my lifetime.
As for the politics, I will have to respectfully disagree with you. I think the word woke has gotten a bad rap, has been maligned, in fact. Perhaps both the right and left are moving toward the extremes, but I happen to like the "extreme" that the left is moving, opening up gender and racial and sexual divides, giving people more choices in how to identify themselves. There's a richness there, and a kindness, and a truthfulness. Boys have not always been boys and girls have not always been girls from ages past, in the narrow ways the genders have been defined. Do we want biological male who identify a female to play women's sports? Maybe, maybe not. But do we want to ban books about transgenders, about our racial past, about kids with two moms or two dads, that's a solid no for me. The liberal extremes it seems to me is moving in a direction that is more inclusive, more tolerant, more kind, more open-minded, while the conservative Right is moving in a direction that is more intolerant, more exclusive, more mean-spirited, more violent, more racist and homophobic. I can't see how you can equate the two as equally "bad". Maybe you can explain more what you mean.
Hi. Thanks for reading. I like the way you frame your statements and your question. You’re kind about it. The answer would be a very long, complex one. I tried to find some posts of mine as responses but they’re all paid. I did find one free one:
Basically, broadly speaking, based on what you’ve written, I get the feeling that you’re watching a lot of media but aren’t necessarily paying deep, serious attention to what’s actually been happening. One of the grotesque aspects of Wokeism—or if you want to call it contemporary progressivism, that’s fine; the word doesn’t really matter—is that to the untrained tribal eye it LOOKS great. But looks can be deceiving. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. I’m all for trans rights etc. But that’s just one tiny slice of a much bigger, more complex pie.
It’s important to remember that, for example, 66% of Black Americans believe biological sex is fixed and cannot be fluid or changed. And most Black Americans are centrist, not Progressive. The majority of Black Americans are against defund the police and many other far-left ideas. (Pew Research): https://michaelmohr.substack.com/p/some-surprising-data-on-black-americans
The one that really gets me riled up is book banning. Book banning is stupid no matter who does it. But the left has been cancelling authors, preventing publishers from putting books out, getting books pulled from the shelves, like nobody’s business the past decade. It started with Mark Twain decades ago. Suddenly the Right starts doing it and all the sudden it’s an outrage. But it’s fine when the left does it. That’s gotta be called out. The hypocrisy there is just gross.
I could go on and on. Unfortunately, most people today seem to watch MSNBC and then form broad, uninformed opinions. You have to really look. It’s uncomfortable. But it’s necessary.
Michael, you nailed on the head. First, before I forget, you might enjoy the article (linked below) by Hamish M about Substack's growth and getting caught in the middle of ideological disputes. Post-DT, I don't trust a single national new outlet. FOX, no way. Then I go over to MSNBC and N Wallace starts the hour thus: "The former discredited and disgraced president, DT...." So I'm done there, too. I have my go-to authors. David Brooks, Maureen Dowd, some others on foreign policy. But I'll never again jump into a post-2016 box. I only trust the Brits -- The Economist and the LFTimes. As for publication, screw it, my friend. I went through that bog for a LONG time and it just isn't worth it. The industry has become so disintermediated that it's easy to self-publish books and just get your ideas out there. I'm not saying that an individual has the power of SImon & Schuster, but it can be done. Good ideas disseminate. And to be perfectly F honest, I just don't care. I've got my merit badges. Now if only I could some more subscribers -- not that I'm not happy with where I am at the moment -- and maybe a signed Ron Guidry jersey.
https://hamish.substack.com/p/escape-from-hell-world?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Yes!! BBC is good. Everything else, especially in America right now, is deeply suspect. Although the NYT seems to be bouncing back with their new Executive editor. More diversity of views.
I think you are right about Substack, and the fact that we are entering a new age of rethinking everything when it comes to publishing (whether books, music, art, etc) and how to connect with readers/listeners/viewers. It' freeing and promising and I hope will continue to develop. And I hope the publishing field will ride its coattails at some point, but probably not in my lifetime.
As for the politics, I will have to respectfully disagree with you. I think the word woke has gotten a bad rap, has been maligned, in fact. Perhaps both the right and left are moving toward the extremes, but I happen to like the "extreme" that the left is moving, opening up gender and racial and sexual divides, giving people more choices in how to identify themselves. There's a richness there, and a kindness, and a truthfulness. Boys have not always been boys and girls have not always been girls from ages past, in the narrow ways the genders have been defined. Do we want biological male who identify a female to play women's sports? Maybe, maybe not. But do we want to ban books about transgenders, about our racial past, about kids with two moms or two dads, that's a solid no for me. The liberal extremes it seems to me is moving in a direction that is more inclusive, more tolerant, more kind, more open-minded, while the conservative Right is moving in a direction that is more intolerant, more exclusive, more mean-spirited, more violent, more racist and homophobic. I can't see how you can equate the two as equally "bad". Maybe you can explain more what you mean.
Hi. Thanks for reading. I like the way you frame your statements and your question. You’re kind about it. The answer would be a very long, complex one. I tried to find some posts of mine as responses but they’re all paid. I did find one free one:
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/p/the-case-for-being-serious
Basically, broadly speaking, based on what you’ve written, I get the feeling that you’re watching a lot of media but aren’t necessarily paying deep, serious attention to what’s actually been happening. One of the grotesque aspects of Wokeism—or if you want to call it contemporary progressivism, that’s fine; the word doesn’t really matter—is that to the untrained tribal eye it LOOKS great. But looks can be deceiving. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. I’m all for trans rights etc. But that’s just one tiny slice of a much bigger, more complex pie.
It’s important to remember that, for example, 66% of Black Americans believe biological sex is fixed and cannot be fluid or changed. And most Black Americans are centrist, not Progressive. The majority of Black Americans are against defund the police and many other far-left ideas. (Pew Research): https://michaelmohr.substack.com/p/some-surprising-data-on-black-americans
The one that really gets me riled up is book banning. Book banning is stupid no matter who does it. But the left has been cancelling authors, preventing publishers from putting books out, getting books pulled from the shelves, like nobody’s business the past decade. It started with Mark Twain decades ago. Suddenly the Right starts doing it and all the sudden it’s an outrage. But it’s fine when the left does it. That’s gotta be called out. The hypocrisy there is just gross.
Funny, this post got more shares than any other I’ve done: https://michaelmohr.substack.com/p/book-banning-happens-on-both-sides
I could go on and on. Unfortunately, most people today seem to watch MSNBC and then form broad, uninformed opinions. You have to really look. It’s uncomfortable. But it’s necessary.
Michael
This is a frontier.