I don't give a rat's ass about what The Atlantic says about Substack

I’m growing weary of platform snark. Folks who self righteously post snarky takes and comments about where and how other people still post their stuff. Moving platforms and starting over is hard. You lose people every time. Everyone’s social media goals and needs vary. Writers and journalists in particular have lost platforms that previously made their entire careers possible.

Last week I saw some variation of “Why would anyone make a social media account private, just go hang out at your friend’s house.” Well, some people are separated by oceans from their friends and family, and don’t want to constantly deal with random commenters, many of whom are hostile. “If you deleted FB, know Insta, Threads, Whatsapp are all Meta.” Yep, we know buddy. We’re doing the best we can. Over on Blue Sky, which I hate, it’s so sanctimonious it’s like that South Park episode where everyone is so smug they smell their own farts, two people were having a lil convo about how they can’t understand why anyone would write on Substack given there are other subscription service options, and I shit you not, in the same post one of these people said ‘I’m on Facebook because I need XYZ and Instagram because I need XYZ, but I’d never use Substack!’

Fuck off.

The world is founded by patriarchal, capitalistic jerkoffs who create companies that do terrible things but provide a service many people need. Johnson and Johnson knowingly gave women cancer.

People are writing about this much more coherently and thoughtfully than I am, and I’ll refer you to this excellent piece by Jeanna Kadlec, called substack f***'d up and now we have to talk about it. I love this piece — it’s smart, well written, nuanced, and informed. It helped me think critically about this platform, which I was already doing, but it gave me more information and I goddamn appreciate it.

I’ll also add, that as the former managing editor of The Atlantic, who left because of my abusive boss who did something unethical and retaliated against me after I reported his behavior, and is still run by the dudes who protect themselves and each other to maintain the status quo, that I don’t give a rat’s ass about what The Atlantic says about Substack. They hate it for the same reasons they hated old Twitter — because it provides a democratic platform for people to call out bullshit that goes on in institutions that hold power. Also, The Atlantic was founded in 1857 as an abolitionist newspaper and yet has never had a Black, POC, or woman editor in chief.

Also, and gird your loins here, folks, you aren’t going to like this: I don’t give another rat’s ass about what Stephen King has to say about it. Look, I was raised by Stephen King (and John Irving). Stephen King wrote for freaky outsiders who didn’t fit in or feel safe in this world and we found comfort in his world of monsters. But he also spent a lot of time describing how women’s tits looked in tight t-shirts and one of his characters got gang raped when she was a child, and he made a fortune selling his books back when people could sell books in a robust publishing world that did not rely on endless goddamn self-promotion on the ever-shifting sands of social media, controlled by horrible dudes. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Steve-O.

Anyway, I’m running out now to meet a friend for lunch where I will bitch about this in person, the good old fashioned way. Like most Gen Xr’s I’m about ready to fuck off into the sea and move to Scotland and get a big dog and never log on again, but I’m still here, writing my little words, and I love my community and that’s all I have to say about it at this time.

xoxo

(P.S. I wrote this in 5 minutes and I don’t care if it’s half baked. So am I.)

Look at these assholes, in charge of everything.