Freedom of _______

Why I am considering leaving Substack + Flip Phone February is back

I want to share thoughts from a Substack Note I posted last week about Substack CEO Chris Best, whose tech bro efforts to stand out as a disrupter and radical media shaman have crossed a line. In his recent post that was promoted to me via email, he touted the achievements of anti-trans, nazi-saluting Elon Musk with his overhaul of X, adding only a vague qualifier about how he acknowledges Musk’s “record isn’t perfect,” with a big silent BUT hanging at the end.

Chris Best, like all the enterprising tech dudes I saw on Tinder in San Francisco when I lived there who announced themselves as CEOs and Founders, ultimately wants to be just like Elon. If that means overlooking Musk’s recent nazi salute, and his even more recent power grabs using the shadowy, SS-like organization DOGE, to gain attention for being controversial and edgy, then the payoff must be there in his mind.

It doesn’t sit well for me, however. It’s one thing to support free speech, which of course I do and yet ironically Musk no longer does if it doesn’t benefit him. It is another to promote those who use their powers of free speech to give hateful ideals power and funding. I suppose that’s the catch 22 of implementing a law that offers freedom to all.

Had Best acknowledged Musk’s views and explicitly rebuked them, I would have felt more comfortable believing that Substack is an advocate for not just the 1st Amendment, but the spirit of the thing which was created to offer life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to as many people as possible.

Instead Chris Best, and certainly Musk, seem to be leveraging our holiest of Amendments to excuse the elevation of those on their platforms who want to engage in hate speech, much the way supporters of the NRA use the 2nd Amendment to defend their right to own automatic assault rifles. While it’s tricky business to limit speech and expression without shutting off important discourse, there is a precedent for hate speech laws that protect the public from words and gatherings that incite violence - notably in Europe where they had things like the holocaust so you know they know what is to regret not putting more protections in place for those that may become targets.

The idea that we in America could limit how much hateful inciting happens is not beyond the scope of what our Constitution allows. Obviously with this administration and our Inciter-in-Chief, we will not be seeing any new laws any time soon. But that’s where private platforms, like Substack, could do more to leverage their potentially awesome power for good. And yet, Best decided to go in another direction, one that could cause irreparable damage if he were to continue to grow the platform which is not yet profitable.

It is for that reason that I withdraw any contributions to the future financial success of this platform that has given me so much, and yet regrettably seems to be going in the wrong direction. As of today, I have paused all subscriptions which means it is free for all. If you have a paid membership already you will no longer get charged. You’re welcome to unsubscribe as a paid subscriber if that makes you feel better. I will keep my writing here for the time being so I hope you stick around as a free subscriber until I can figure out whether and where I want to migrate the whole blog and my mailing list.

For those still interested in supporting what I do, I invite you to join me on Patreon where I will be creating a new online community based around my podcast The Side Woo that allows people to support my creative projects without the fear of accidentally giving money neo-nazis supporters/apologists. My Patreon page is in its infancy, so there will be some goodies, but the meat of what it will be has yet to be fleshed out. Here’s the link: https://www.patreon.com/c/thesidewoo

I totally respect people who need to stick around Substack to pay their bills, or are willing to fight the good fight on this muddy ground. We all have our parts to play in this story and who knows where it will all lead. I trust that you all are making the best (not Best) decisions for yourselves as you feel guided to them.

Saying this reminds me of the scene in Lord Of The Rings where Gandalf admonishes Frodo who says he wished Bilbo had killed Gollum long ago- much like we all wish a certain someone would just eat one too many McDonalds cheeseburgers and you know what. Gandalf wise responds, “It is not for us to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” I look forward to hearing what all you will do with the time you have. Please let me know below in the comments if you feel like it.

Flip Phone February

Yes, it’s back. The month that makes Dry January look like a walk in the park for most people. I wrote my first post on the Flip Phone February Reddit group that I started last year and will post an excerpt of it here. Click through to join in on the conversation or make your own post about the heaven and hell of leaving tech behind.

What I have done this year instead of using a traditional dumb phone is target the things that are taking my attention the most and cut them out - namely email and anything scrollable. Read more »

Also, here is my recent interview with Allison Schulnik who talks about using her phone mostly as an iPod. (They even have a landline at her house.)

Byeeee.