I concur. The idea that organic change will disrupt the current state elides the question of why major information aggregators exist in the first place. In order to get a handle on what’s out there you need something to assist you in sorting at all. I’m in the dark walking through the forest at night. I have no idea what’s out there and what I would be interested in. Word-of-mouth does help, but it still leaves a large lacuna of connection.
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
Think positively. By reading posts from somebody unknown to you from somewhere only "they know" might give you some insight you are happy to gain; it will surprise you; sometimes you may even become a bit disturbed by how much in unsison two different hearts are beating 😅.
You can and will be able to build trust.
And with that "personal" trust, you may be(come) able to recognize what might be/is true & close to your heart, again.
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
As INDEPENDENT universities, which never apply for the financial assistance of the state or try to stay as autark from the political landscape they might be positioned in, any media can only be true if it is able to depict the "absolute" truth, for however relative that "truth" may turn out to have been.
As a gardener I enjoyed that metaphor for this piece. I worry the chaos will persist in the absence of a fact checking component- the oligarchs are removing fact checking and FB is censoring- major no-no for healthy soil.
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
Please forgive my intrusion. I don't even know if what I am asking is pertinente or not, seriously. ¿how can you have "decentralization" if the main internet plattforms are just google... youtube... ?
Weed identification is important: is it useful (ground cover to assist in slope stabilization as one example, or is it.... kudzu... poison ivy?) Education matters - what are we looking at (or hearing) and where's the reasoning and analysis on the part of the viewer/consumer/gardener.
There's a lot out there designed just to promote or provoke responses.
That process has been going on for a few decades now. The uneducated, the ignorant are easier to control. Education matters - which is one reason they’re continuing in their attempts to destroy it.
I agree; the question becomes how to educate and reeducate to produce critical thinkers who value civic engagement. The battlefield is the school house.
I worry less about “cancel cultures” (I loathe HOA’s having suffered through one) and more about promoting spaces where people (and animals and plants and other things) can be healthy and nourished. There’s a lot of provocative behaviors on social media and elsewhere that feeds “sensation seeking” (neurologically) and it’s not healthy, particularly when rage is fed. Certain 'weed-like' behaviors (examples include misogyny, assault of various kinds, racism, hatred, as a short list) really do NOT have to be ‘lived with’, encouraged, given room to flourish, etc as these things in the form of both plants and some human behaviors are destructive, toxic, often fatal with long term exposure.
Jumping back into gardening analogies, I’ve been at war with poison ivy here in my personal yard for a few years now. We seem to be winning, but we’ll see.
I think that choosing one's own environment is preferable than having someone else control it from "above". I've been cancelled for not toeing the line on the erroneous health fads of the day, only to be later vindicated.
Yaaaa, I'm allergic to HOAs.
I don't spray the weeds (and I eat a lot of them). It's about competition and natural selection. Certain ones will get shaded out naturally. We keep clipping the poison ivy from the places where we walk. But wildlife feed on this weed, even though most humans can't, so we don't want to totally nuke it. Plus, this weed and its relatives are being studied for medicinal utility, and people like to eat from the related plants that produce mangos and cashews.
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
I do understand your points. Re personal gardening issues (here) we reseed native plants, etc, don’t spray our dandelions, etc. We have very different attitudes toward poison ivy (yes, it’s personal). The local wildlife is flourishing. More to the point, in terms of environmental and, dare I suggest, social “controls” - what I see in the social environments is a lack of civility, increasing dishonesty with correlating levels of disrespect (while simultaneously demanding respect), dismissing of others with some insane levels of (battles for?) social one-up-manship - which may be competition or not - among other things. Those are the social/civil weeds I’m working to eliminate or if I can’t eliminate them to avoid (not reinforce the behaviors). Choosing one’s environment is great if that’s possible. I know that my selected social interaction environments have shifted dramatically in the past decade plus. I’m also retired from the health care system (as a provider) and have lived in enough places and over enough decades to have seen lots of health fads come and go - but some good information managing to stick.
Some are so allergic to poison ivy that they can't eat the related mangos at all, so I get the personal aspect. I do a lot of teaching about how urushiol works, which can help most people avoid the need for medical care and steroids. Jewelweed is great.
Social media has been crazy in the last 15-20 years. Most of it is worthless. I won't invest any time on certain other platforms where people have gotten eliminated for their opinions. So far I've seen no need to personally block anyone on this platform. I like a good argument, but don't have time for obnoxious behavior.
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
Substack still feels like a jungle to me when I find a random flower like 'Yuri' in the comments section. If I get list of random substack posts it usually isn't what I'm looking for. If I want cucumbers it would be nice to know what section of the garden its in. At $5 a month it would be better to get a basket of 20 for $50. Maybe some advertising would help to offset some of the cost?
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
We teach them how to live with us, in the garden, respectfully calm and in peace, loving and respecting our neighbors as ourselves. We teach them how to care for, plant, water, tend the weeds, in this Garden of Hope, until the harvest time is come. Then we gardeners reap and preserve to store for the good of all!
I’ve given birth to gardens, ideas, stories, and a child. Also, mold in the back of my fridge, but nobody’s perfect. I’m here to write, find writing I wouldn’t otherwise, and trust in the natural order of the word and voice compost heap.
I miss George's amazing insights, don't you? Our neighbors are clearing out their house getting ready to put it on the market in order to move and I just showed them George's monologue on "stuff".
Mackenzie: That was so well said! Ha: And the "voice compost heap." I, too, am here to "write and find writing." (and keep up with my substack and my book manuscript)Thank you.
Although one could argue that part of the chaos is the continuing short attention span created by text limitation. We are making big decisions with increasingly depleted content so it's nice to see a piece, albeit a long one, so well articulated
I’m all for “well articulated”. Many people don’t have the time to read multiple long essays daily. The videos coming out daily are often an hour long. That’s too much for me.
I think Heather Cox Richardson does a great job in terms of content and brevity. I particularly appreciate the links to sources provided in each newsletter.
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
When I don’t have time to read, I listen at a faster speed. I’m a boomer, too, and appreciate the vast content available. But I’m still employed and have limited time. So, I use the audio if my hands are full with other tasks and listen at anywhere from 1.2 - 2x speed, depending on the speakers rate of speech.
Has this old Boomer, a reader of books in print, periodicals in print, both of which are often long, has, for digital media found it a) tough to read and b) absorb content in the length and depth and included links, become someone with a Gen Y attention span? Is there a book, the length and style of “On Tyranny” that explains how to get through the volume of substacks and their voluminous content? And still work and breathe?
Tho many substacks are in response to “news flashes”, I wish there were an option to choose the day on which each are delivered. Certainly there must be a program for that!
I'm another boomer (though on the 'younger side of that grouping, which I find too big - but that's a different topic) who has lots of things, physically and digitally, in my "to read" piles - I've found it helpful on this platform to go the the "home" icon (L side of the screen) and click the box (usually more than one) of those that I am "following". I also feel a bit over-subscribed but doing weeding (to continue the garden analogy). While there are writers who respond to news flashes, I'm finding others who respond in greater and usually thoughtful depth. I don't know that there's a program for that or if it's all algorithm driven. I've gone to keeping a list of those I find useful to read on a regular (daily) basis.
And my attention span has been challenged in the past several months - which I don't think is generationally linked (just self-reporting).
"On Tyranny" is an excellent example, however, of delivering succinct points (as does Heather Cox Richardson) - and then I find myself re-reading many things.
I agree, such a good book. I had to go back and check on some things because I didn't believe them (They sounded fictional). When I read the articles that the book referred to, it was eye-opening and truthful.
Also watch "The Zone of Interest" for a riveting and chilling look at homelife in Nazi-town Auschwitz! Then I dove into the perpetrators, found "Make Germany Great Again" in numerous speakers, Hitler for starters - any pattern here?
I couldn’t finish “Zone of Interest” - I was just horrified. Yes: chillling. We had a friend visiting who was attempting to watch it with us - she and her family got out of Chile shortly after Pinochet came to power. There are too many patterns. And several things are hitting very close to home for various individuals’ and families experiences and histories. We’ve seen much of this before (oh, but let us not use the word ‘fascism’) - and I’ll stop here. To call our current timeline stressful is probably the understatement of the decade.
Ah! Yes. Why Boomers at my end could, if “early bloomers” _almost_ be parents of the other end puzzles me.
Thank you for the tip. I often save the graphic ones and a few others (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has a lovely, interesting mix) for later. His is broken into chunks on different areas and, with links to explore, pretty timeless.
I also love reading comments and find the communities as engaging as the writers’ essays.
Somewhere there’s a PhD student or 25 analyzing usage. We’ll wait for the book, won’t we?
Full confession: I had to come up with some system because we are information junkies here (have been for decades) and it can overwhelming pretty quickly. We also have good friends and family members who are writers and actual journalists (some active, others retired)
As several (yes, WaPo and NYT specifically) just have 'failed' in being actual outlets for journalists - we've felt like we've been weed-whacking (to continue garden analogies).
Sher: I agree. The new media's essays are comprehensive and on thoughtful topics, but they need to be more concise. Speaking as a former writing instructor...
I think you make a great point, Chico. I’m paraphrasing one of my in-laws (a journalist who has written a few books) - “it would be nice if we all had editors “ - usually followed by “… or maybe not”. For a platform like this (and others) unless there’s some ‘editorial oversight’ or requirement that all contributors go through some writing training and education, new media may start to look like “old media” and voices lost and content potentially throttled.
I agree that many can ramble on (((waves here from my office))).
I struggle to be concise, outside of writing clinical notes.
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
Substack would have us believe we’ve left behind the cold, stony temple of legacy media—its solemn priests, rigid doctrines, and smoke of sanctioned truths—for something kinder: a garden. A place of earthy abundance, pluralism, and fragrant divergence. But wander into this new Eden and you may notice something odd: every rose has a lock. Each petal costs $5.99/month.
This is no garden. It’s a gated arboretum where every gardener sells tickets to their own little plot, and one cannot smell the lilac without first offering up a credit card. A true garden, one imagines, invites the stroller to pause, to wander, to stumble upon something unexpected in a thicket of green. Substack’s world is less flâneur, more tollbooth.
Ironically, their own editorial sings the praises of the printing press for breaking elite monopolies of thought. But Substack reintroduces the toll: not via ecclesiastical hierarchy but a thousand monetized micro-silos. Subscription as salvation. And should your curiosity range wide? You’ll pay for that too.
In a world already fractured by chaos media—where noise trumps dialogue and trust is diluted—this micro-balkanization of thought, gated behind individual paywalls, only fragments further. A garden? Perhaps. But not one of mutual flourishing. More like an allotment garden in late-stage capitalism, where every cabbage is invoiced and the bees are freelance.
If Substack wants to be the future’s public square, let it build not more fences, but commons. Otherwise, we are just kneeling in new pews, paying tithe flower by flower.
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
A garden requires cultivation, weeding, watering and nutrients as well as its beginnings such as plowing, tilling, seeding and planting. Most of the garden care begins at the beginning. Even prior to planting a garden, the gardener contemplates what to plant, when and where including shady, partial shade or full sunshine, seasons and attention to the weather rain forecasts. I choose to plant hope, Liberty, equity and truth, all difficult crops but worthy of my efforts.
I Love Substack! My only complaint is that I would appreciate some kind of subscription method that would "pay" by the click OR a subscription that would allow me to choose multiple independent contributors. I can't afford to subscribe to everyone I appreciate and the subscription rate per person is steep when you consider I subscribe to the NYT (and all of it's contributors) for a set monthly rate.
Social media’s promise of choice was always a lie—subtly subverted by algorithms that hacked our free will. Substack provides actual autonomy over our media diets.
Autonomy in your feed? Maybe. Unless you don’t want content that attempts to persuade you to make more and more short form and long form content for substack. Constant obsession, an endless conveyor of words, is what the algorithm here rewards with reach.
Take a look at what gets promoted on Notes. “Turn your instinct into a hobby into a side hustle into a full time job in these 10 bullshit steps!” Steps that always involve playing with Substack’s features (comment more! follow everyone! write more notes!) and improving their internal metrics rather than creating art and “shifting culture.”
Who benefits from creators being encouraged to obsess over placements in the new ranking system? Is it creators—who will stratify into a rich subset getting richer—or the platform that benefits from gamifying jealousy and feelings of inadequacy through comparison?
You must be one of the few who can think his own thoughts and see it for what it really is! You would have made a great doctor. You can distinguish symptoms from causes.
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
You have made a valuable insight. But where do you find your dinner menu?
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
Uniting as writers as a collective voice not demanding change but creating it one post at a time is the wonderful glue that holds each of here on Substack. It's become a place that we can safely share perspectives, examine our truths, and consider our behaviors. Our collective voice is a space for others to wonder what they may be missing and the change they would like to bring about in their lives as well as the world! Grateful to be a stacker - Jennifer Ellen Parker (Read Me! hahahahah)
I keep reminding myself that change is chaos and if we're not changing we're simply standing still. I'm looking forward to more of your ramblings. Thank you for showing up for all of us.
I was strolling through the mainstream media yesterday and came across a press briefing by Marjorie Taylor Green (MTG). It was both horrifying and illuminating. A person in the press asked the question and MTG stopped and turned to her and said “are you an American“ the woman tried to respond by stating her name and saying “I’m in the UK“ an MTG tour into her And began her diatribe by saying “I don’t give a crap where you’re from“ basically MTG was saying I will only take questions from Americans. The wonderful thing about this is that somebody in the press asked a question and MTG turned to him and said “are you an American ?”and he said yes and she said go headland he said “I’d like to hear the answer to her question” it was brilliant! But it actually made me physically ill to see the hatred and the disgusting vitriol spewed by MTG. I really don’t understand how anyone could watch that and not be absolutely disgusted.
what a lovely hopeful post. I really appreciated the historical perspective and reminder about the processes of change and evolution. And it's still so hard to see the unecessary suffering of so many during the chaos time.
Really great piece and thoughts on how we are on the cusp of chaos and change. Gives me hope and a well timed reminder that this has happened before and it will happen again.
This is incredible. I no longer think it matters if the revolution will be televised or not because the TV’s will be off and we’ll be in the garden.
The Revolution Will Be Substacked! (I’m actually writing an article with that title 😉)
Edit: It is live! https://maxmurphy.xyz/p/the-revolution-will-be-substacked
Yes!! This is a beautiful space. I look forward to reading it
I will look for it. Sounds like something that would inspire me.
Thank you! There’s such an inspirational community here—it’s amazing!
love it!
Go for it Max!! Can’t wait!!
Me, too
Thank you Kate! :)
I think the author’s view is quite naive.
I concur. The idea that organic change will disrupt the current state elides the question of why major information aggregators exist in the first place. In order to get a handle on what’s out there you need something to assist you in sorting at all. I’m in the dark walking through the forest at night. I have no idea what’s out there and what I would be interested in. Word-of-mouth does help, but it still leaves a large lacuna of connection.
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
The 21st century Hopium Wars have begun.
https://theh.substack.com/p/indexing-thoughts
Think positively. By reading posts from somebody unknown to you from somewhere only "they know" might give you some insight you are happy to gain; it will surprise you; sometimes you may even become a bit disturbed by how much in unsison two different hearts are beating 😅.
You can and will be able to build trust.
And with that "personal" trust, you may be(come) able to recognize what might be/is true & close to your heart, again.
I think if enough people believe in it, we can make it happen. Perhaps your view is quite jaded? 🤷♂️ Only time will tell.
You may be the only guy here who can think. May your path be clear always.
https://theh.substack.com/p/indexing-thoughts
Why?
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
The 21st century Hopium Wars have begun.
https://theh.substack.com/p/indexing-thoughts
I dare to differ, Sir.
As INDEPENDENT universities, which never apply for the financial assistance of the state or try to stay as autark from the political landscape they might be positioned in, any media can only be true if it is able to depict the "absolute" truth, for however relative that "truth" may turn out to have been.
This is my dream, every striving, and hope for the future.
No Gil said the revolution will *not* be televised
As a gardener I enjoyed that metaphor for this piece. I worry the chaos will persist in the absence of a fact checking component- the oligarchs are removing fact checking and FB is censoring- major no-no for healthy soil.
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
The 21st century Hopium Wars have begun.
https://theh.substack.com/p/indexing-thoughts
https://theplotagainstamerica.com/
Misnamed. Should be theplotagainstusa.com
Decentralization is the future.
It is, I can even feel it with the rise of alternative social medias.
Please forgive my intrusion. I don't even know if what I am asking is pertinente or not, seriously. ¿how can you have "decentralization" if the main internet plattforms are just google... youtube... ?
For anyone with gardens on the mind - thank you to everyone who gives it a read
https://substack.com/@leadgracefully/note/p-160383142?r=4m9f71&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
What a beautiful, articulate essay ! ❤️
Thanks for giving me a ray of Hope and allow me to breath a little deeper and easier about our collective future ! 🎯⛵
Amen 🙏
Substack is the zen garden. MSM is the chaotic jungle. Maximize signal, minimize noise.
What happens when members of the jungle flock to the garden?
Weed identification is important: is it useful (ground cover to assist in slope stabilization as one example, or is it.... kudzu... poison ivy?) Education matters - what are we looking at (or hearing) and where's the reasoning and analysis on the part of the viewer/consumer/gardener.
There's a lot out there designed just to promote or provoke responses.
Just like "real gardeners" we must tend the garden religiously lest those undesirable plants root and take hold. It takes work...
Even as our “leaders” raze education to cultivate yet more ignorance.
That process has been going on for a few decades now. The uneducated, the ignorant are easier to control. Education matters - which is one reason they’re continuing in their attempts to destroy it.
I agree; the question becomes how to educate and reeducate to produce critical thinkers who value civic engagement. The battlefield is the school house.
How about learning to live with the weeds? All of them produce some kind of benefit every once in awhile, and that can be encouraged.
(Any hint of the hegemony of HOA trying to control weeds reminds me of the cancel culture.)
I worry less about “cancel cultures” (I loathe HOA’s having suffered through one) and more about promoting spaces where people (and animals and plants and other things) can be healthy and nourished. There’s a lot of provocative behaviors on social media and elsewhere that feeds “sensation seeking” (neurologically) and it’s not healthy, particularly when rage is fed. Certain 'weed-like' behaviors (examples include misogyny, assault of various kinds, racism, hatred, as a short list) really do NOT have to be ‘lived with’, encouraged, given room to flourish, etc as these things in the form of both plants and some human behaviors are destructive, toxic, often fatal with long term exposure.
Jumping back into gardening analogies, I’ve been at war with poison ivy here in my personal yard for a few years now. We seem to be winning, but we’ll see.
I think that choosing one's own environment is preferable than having someone else control it from "above". I've been cancelled for not toeing the line on the erroneous health fads of the day, only to be later vindicated.
Yaaaa, I'm allergic to HOAs.
I don't spray the weeds (and I eat a lot of them). It's about competition and natural selection. Certain ones will get shaded out naturally. We keep clipping the poison ivy from the places where we walk. But wildlife feed on this weed, even though most humans can't, so we don't want to totally nuke it. Plus, this weed and its relatives are being studied for medicinal utility, and people like to eat from the related plants that produce mangos and cashews.
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
The 21st century Hopium Wars have begun.
https://theh.substack.com/p/indexing-thoughts
You have a big point about the alternate reality where some people are very much clinging to false and unsustainable promises.
I do understand your points. Re personal gardening issues (here) we reseed native plants, etc, don’t spray our dandelions, etc. We have very different attitudes toward poison ivy (yes, it’s personal). The local wildlife is flourishing. More to the point, in terms of environmental and, dare I suggest, social “controls” - what I see in the social environments is a lack of civility, increasing dishonesty with correlating levels of disrespect (while simultaneously demanding respect), dismissing of others with some insane levels of (battles for?) social one-up-manship - which may be competition or not - among other things. Those are the social/civil weeds I’m working to eliminate or if I can’t eliminate them to avoid (not reinforce the behaviors). Choosing one’s environment is great if that’s possible. I know that my selected social interaction environments have shifted dramatically in the past decade plus. I’m also retired from the health care system (as a provider) and have lived in enough places and over enough decades to have seen lots of health fads come and go - but some good information managing to stick.
Some are so allergic to poison ivy that they can't eat the related mangos at all, so I get the personal aspect. I do a lot of teaching about how urushiol works, which can help most people avoid the need for medical care and steroids. Jewelweed is great.
Social media has been crazy in the last 15-20 years. Most of it is worthless. I won't invest any time on certain other platforms where people have gotten eliminated for their opinions. So far I've seen no need to personally block anyone on this platform. I like a good argument, but don't have time for obnoxious behavior.
👍🏼
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
The 21st century Hopium Wars have begun.
https://theh.substack.com/p/indexing-thoughts
Substack still feels like a jungle to me when I find a random flower like 'Yuri' in the comments section. If I get list of random substack posts it usually isn't what I'm looking for. If I want cucumbers it would be nice to know what section of the garden its in. At $5 a month it would be better to get a basket of 20 for $50. Maybe some advertising would help to offset some of the cost?
A basket of “x” for the sum of “y” is a great idea, but please, no advertising advertising advertising!
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
The 21st century Hopium Wars have begun.
https://theh.substack.com/p/indexing-thoughts
I think Frank Zappa called it 'The Slime, oozing out from your T.V. set' / laptop.
We teach them how to live with us, in the garden, respectfully calm and in peace, loving and respecting our neighbors as ourselves. We teach them how to care for, plant, water, tend the weeds, in this Garden of Hope, until the harvest time is come. Then we gardeners reap and preserve to store for the good of all!
I’ve given birth to gardens, ideas, stories, and a child. Also, mold in the back of my fridge, but nobody’s perfect. I’m here to write, find writing I wouldn’t otherwise, and trust in the natural order of the word and voice compost heap.
I laughed. I smiled. I identified with gratitude that someone may have dust bunnies too if they have ‘fridge mold!
As George Carlin once said of the back of the fridge, it’s “meat cake”. is it meat or is it cake?
I miss George's amazing insights, don't you? Our neighbors are clearing out their house getting ready to put it on the market in order to move and I just showed them George's monologue on "stuff".
OMG, that’s my favorite one! ‘Stuff’!
Mackenzie: That was so well said! Ha: And the "voice compost heap." I, too, am here to "write and find writing." (and keep up with my substack and my book manuscript)Thank you.
What much of this new media needs to learn is the art of brevity. No one can keep up with the firehose.
Although one could argue that part of the chaos is the continuing short attention span created by text limitation. We are making big decisions with increasingly depleted content so it's nice to see a piece, albeit a long one, so well articulated
I’m all for “well articulated”. Many people don’t have the time to read multiple long essays daily. The videos coming out daily are often an hour long. That’s too much for me.
I think Heather Cox Richardson does a great job in terms of content and brevity. I particularly appreciate the links to sources provided in each newsletter.
Thank you, new here, so I'll check her out
Her stance is that her content is free. “If Substack asks for a credit card, bypass the prompt and support someone else who needs the funding.”
Please continue. I'm concerned about credit cards but understand the need, as I have always been an independent contractor. Hoping for a solution.
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
The 21st century Hopium Wars have begun.
https://theh.substack.com/p/indexing-thoughts
When I don’t have time to read, I listen at a faster speed. I’m a boomer, too, and appreciate the vast content available. But I’m still employed and have limited time. So, I use the audio if my hands are full with other tasks and listen at anywhere from 1.2 - 2x speed, depending on the speakers rate of speech.
Good suggestion. Thanks!
Has this old Boomer, a reader of books in print, periodicals in print, both of which are often long, has, for digital media found it a) tough to read and b) absorb content in the length and depth and included links, become someone with a Gen Y attention span? Is there a book, the length and style of “On Tyranny” that explains how to get through the volume of substacks and their voluminous content? And still work and breathe?
Tho many substacks are in response to “news flashes”, I wish there were an option to choose the day on which each are delivered. Certainly there must be a program for that!
I'm another boomer (though on the 'younger side of that grouping, which I find too big - but that's a different topic) who has lots of things, physically and digitally, in my "to read" piles - I've found it helpful on this platform to go the the "home" icon (L side of the screen) and click the box (usually more than one) of those that I am "following". I also feel a bit over-subscribed but doing weeding (to continue the garden analogy). While there are writers who respond to news flashes, I'm finding others who respond in greater and usually thoughtful depth. I don't know that there's a program for that or if it's all algorithm driven. I've gone to keeping a list of those I find useful to read on a regular (daily) basis.
And my attention span has been challenged in the past several months - which I don't think is generationally linked (just self-reporting).
"On Tyranny" is an excellent example, however, of delivering succinct points (as does Heather Cox Richardson) - and then I find myself re-reading many things.
Add to your reading Anne Applebaum's book, "Autocracy Inc"
I agree, such a good book. I had to go back and check on some things because I didn't believe them (They sounded fictional). When I read the articles that the book referred to, it was eye-opening and truthful.
There are no small number of books that could be added here.
Anne Applebaum's is excellent, as are Ruth Ben-Ghiat's works.
There's opportunity to create a recommended reading and video list here.
Also watch "The Zone of Interest" for a riveting and chilling look at homelife in Nazi-town Auschwitz! Then I dove into the perpetrators, found "Make Germany Great Again" in numerous speakers, Hitler for starters - any pattern here?
I couldn’t finish “Zone of Interest” - I was just horrified. Yes: chillling. We had a friend visiting who was attempting to watch it with us - she and her family got out of Chile shortly after Pinochet came to power. There are too many patterns. And several things are hitting very close to home for various individuals’ and families experiences and histories. We’ve seen much of this before (oh, but let us not use the word ‘fascism’) - and I’ll stop here. To call our current timeline stressful is probably the understatement of the decade.
Ah! Yes. Why Boomers at my end could, if “early bloomers” _almost_ be parents of the other end puzzles me.
Thank you for the tip. I often save the graphic ones and a few others (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has a lovely, interesting mix) for later. His is broken into chunks on different areas and, with links to explore, pretty timeless.
I also love reading comments and find the communities as engaging as the writers’ essays.
Somewhere there’s a PhD student or 25 analyzing usage. We’ll wait for the book, won’t we?
Full confession: I had to come up with some system because we are information junkies here (have been for decades) and it can overwhelming pretty quickly. We also have good friends and family members who are writers and actual journalists (some active, others retired)
As several (yes, WaPo and NYT specifically) just have 'failed' in being actual outlets for journalists - we've felt like we've been weed-whacking (to continue garden analogies).
Sher: I agree. The new media's essays are comprehensive and on thoughtful topics, but they need to be more concise. Speaking as a former writing instructor...
I think you make a great point, Chico. I’m paraphrasing one of my in-laws (a journalist who has written a few books) - “it would be nice if we all had editors “ - usually followed by “… or maybe not”. For a platform like this (and others) unless there’s some ‘editorial oversight’ or requirement that all contributors go through some writing training and education, new media may start to look like “old media” and voices lost and content potentially throttled.
I agree that many can ramble on (((waves here from my office))).
I struggle to be concise, outside of writing clinical notes.
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
The 21st century Hopium Wars have begun.
https://theh.substack.com/p/indexing-thoughts
less is always more
Ah, Ms Parker, you accessed my bank info. How?
we must have been separated at birth, or something like that
Amen to that! Exhausting to have to plow through so much vanity speech these days. We need a new rule: KIBP (keep it brief please)
The Toll Garden
Substack would have us believe we’ve left behind the cold, stony temple of legacy media—its solemn priests, rigid doctrines, and smoke of sanctioned truths—for something kinder: a garden. A place of earthy abundance, pluralism, and fragrant divergence. But wander into this new Eden and you may notice something odd: every rose has a lock. Each petal costs $5.99/month.
This is no garden. It’s a gated arboretum where every gardener sells tickets to their own little plot, and one cannot smell the lilac without first offering up a credit card. A true garden, one imagines, invites the stroller to pause, to wander, to stumble upon something unexpected in a thicket of green. Substack’s world is less flâneur, more tollbooth.
Ironically, their own editorial sings the praises of the printing press for breaking elite monopolies of thought. But Substack reintroduces the toll: not via ecclesiastical hierarchy but a thousand monetized micro-silos. Subscription as salvation. And should your curiosity range wide? You’ll pay for that too.
In a world already fractured by chaos media—where noise trumps dialogue and trust is diluted—this micro-balkanization of thought, gated behind individual paywalls, only fragments further. A garden? Perhaps. But not one of mutual flourishing. More like an allotment garden in late-stage capitalism, where every cabbage is invoiced and the bees are freelance.
If Substack wants to be the future’s public square, let it build not more fences, but commons. Otherwise, we are just kneeling in new pews, paying tithe flower by flower.
This rephrases one of my 2 questions much appreciated better than 1. Kudos!
Yes, I sent Hamish a reply along the same lines.
I like Substack, and post on it. But it's no nirvana.
Good comments
Steve
fearlessarts.substack.com
Thank you!
Excellent points!
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
The 21st century Hopium Wars have begun.
https://theh.substack.com/p/indexing-thoughts
A garden requires cultivation, weeding, watering and nutrients as well as its beginnings such as plowing, tilling, seeding and planting. Most of the garden care begins at the beginning. Even prior to planting a garden, the gardener contemplates what to plant, when and where including shady, partial shade or full sunshine, seasons and attention to the weather rain forecasts. I choose to plant hope, Liberty, equity and truth, all difficult crops but worthy of my efforts.
Worthy of all of our efforts, I believe, Carmen. But I, for one, will join you, despite how difficult they are to cultivate.
I Love Substack! My only complaint is that I would appreciate some kind of subscription method that would "pay" by the click OR a subscription that would allow me to choose multiple independent contributors. I can't afford to subscribe to everyone I appreciate and the subscription rate per person is steep when you consider I subscribe to the NYT (and all of it's contributors) for a set monthly rate.
agreed.
Social media’s promise of choice was always a lie—subtly subverted by algorithms that hacked our free will. Substack provides actual autonomy over our media diets.
Autonomy in your feed? Maybe. Unless you don’t want content that attempts to persuade you to make more and more short form and long form content for substack. Constant obsession, an endless conveyor of words, is what the algorithm here rewards with reach.
Take a look at what gets promoted on Notes. “Turn your instinct into a hobby into a side hustle into a full time job in these 10 bullshit steps!” Steps that always involve playing with Substack’s features (comment more! follow everyone! write more notes!) and improving their internal metrics rather than creating art and “shifting culture.”
Who benefits from creators being encouraged to obsess over placements in the new ranking system? Is it creators—who will stratify into a rich subset getting richer—or the platform that benefits from gamifying jealousy and feelings of inadequacy through comparison?
Substack IS Social Media
https://creekmasons.com/p/substack-is-social-media
LOL!
Excellent!
You must be one of the few who can think his own thoughts and see it for what it really is! You would have made a great doctor. You can distinguish symptoms from causes.
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
The 21st century Hopium Wars have begun.
https://theh.substack.com/p/indexing-thoughts
You have made a valuable insight. But where do you find your dinner menu?
The key is the invention of the magic lantern itself. It is addictive.
Several people have told me that they noticed that after COVID the problem became much worse. The addicts were forced to stay home and use their magic lanterns. Then they decided they did not want to return to the old normal. Like heroin users they prefer the fake e-reality to the physical one.
The 21st century Hopium Wars have begun.
https://theh.substack.com/p/indexing-thoughts
Uniting as writers as a collective voice not demanding change but creating it one post at a time is the wonderful glue that holds each of here on Substack. It's become a place that we can safely share perspectives, examine our truths, and consider our behaviors. Our collective voice is a space for others to wonder what they may be missing and the change they would like to bring about in their lives as well as the world! Grateful to be a stacker - Jennifer Ellen Parker (Read Me! hahahahah)
100% agree! I’ve been learning to embrace my position as part of a slow transition to a more peaceful and loving world. 💜
I keep reminding myself that change is chaos and if we're not changing we're simply standing still. I'm looking forward to more of your ramblings. Thank you for showing up for all of us.
in the here & now,
In the here and now ❤️
Standing still leads to stagnation, and I refuse to stagnate! Beauty lives in the chaotic changes. Thank you for being here!
Illustration credit?
Artwork by our supremely talented in-house designer, Joro! https://substack.com/@joro
Really nice 😀
I’m glad you asked! I too really love the illustration.
I was strolling through the mainstream media yesterday and came across a press briefing by Marjorie Taylor Green (MTG). It was both horrifying and illuminating. A person in the press asked the question and MTG stopped and turned to her and said “are you an American“ the woman tried to respond by stating her name and saying “I’m in the UK“ an MTG tour into her And began her diatribe by saying “I don’t give a crap where you’re from“ basically MTG was saying I will only take questions from Americans. The wonderful thing about this is that somebody in the press asked a question and MTG turned to him and said “are you an American ?”and he said yes and she said go headland he said “I’d like to hear the answer to her question” it was brilliant! But it actually made me physically ill to see the hatred and the disgusting vitriol spewed by MTG. I really don’t understand how anyone could watch that and not be absolutely disgusted.
You don't address the most important question. Why? Why have we adopted and promoted a culture that conflicts so strongly with our primate biology?
Until we figure that out, our deep unhappiness will continue
what a lovely hopeful post. I really appreciated the historical perspective and reminder about the processes of change and evolution. And it's still so hard to see the unecessary suffering of so many during the chaos time.
Very interesting and thought-provoking. Thx.
Really great piece and thoughts on how we are on the cusp of chaos and change. Gives me hope and a well timed reminder that this has happened before and it will happen again.