No voice for the voiceless
I like Substack, but they've dropped the ball on this one.
So I got this e-mail yesterday from Substack, and it brought me the news:
The U.S. election tab brings together a true diversity of perspectives from expert and original voices, and will allow more readers to discover publishers big and small. With this tab, all followers of U.S. politics can keep up with the day’s hottest topics. Catch up on the latest election forecast, courtesy of Nate Silver; listen to a podcast from The Bulwark; watch Mehdi Hasan and Zeteo debunk mistruths; analyze democracy with Heather Cox Richardson; debate the impact of crime with Bari Weiss; access Sean Spicer’s conversation with former President Donald Trump about the upcoming debate; read Judd Legum’s latest breaking investigation. There are an abundance of incisive political voices publishing on Substack, but rest assured: you’ll find all of their latest work, and maybe even your own, in the election tab. (Emphasis mine.)
Now I don’t want to contribute to the On Substack information silo here, but in looking at that list - well, that sucker tilts to the left like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
I will grant I am a rather small operator in the grand scheme of Substack - right now I’m just hoping this weekend will bring my 200th subscriber - and a lot of my focus is on Delaware, one of the smallest states in the Union. For the most part, this Delmarva peninsula is considered flyover country - or fly through, which is what the D.C. elites do on their way to their Ocean City, Rehoboth Beach, and Bethany Beach condos. (And that doesn’t count the Joe Jams.)
This is why my comment was: “Yeah, I was a little disappointed at both the lean of the featured articles and the use of already established names. Little states like mine elect people, too.” It was also funny how many people bitched about the America-centric focus of the tab - folks, it IS a tab. Ignore if you wish. You can put one up about the Premier League for all I care, I just won’t read it.
Anyway, I’m sure I subscribe to people and Substacks much larger than my own that have a more Constitutional, conservative, or libertarian bent, and I’m not seeing them under that tab. I’m sure most of them post daily. Moreover, I would contend that the United States is a center-right country but is saddled with a center-left media and government. (And “center” is being charitable in the latter cases.)
Now I’m sure they would say, “But, Michael, these Substacks have thousands of subscribers.” Indeed they do - many of them came from other parts of the media where they built up their audience over years. No doubt they are talented at what they do, but I see great writing from a lot of my far lesser-known friends like
, , , and just to name a few. They should be in that featured list as well. Why not help them build up a following? Doesn’t a rising tide lift all boats?It’s not to say that there are good authors of Substacks on the Left - one thing I found in researching my book a few years ago is that there are honest brokers who happen to be my political opposite.
But when you get a Democrat stenographer like
and her rabid case of TDS, well, unfortunately people believe that and she’s made herself rich from paying subscribers. (Which I note for the sake of the argument and not class envy - she’s done well to find a captive audience out of the childless cat ladies of America.) I make no bones about my political leanings, but I’ve been critical of Republicans as well. HCR’s daily dose and veneer of history (which is shared on a local social media page) reminds me a lot of Howard Zinn’s - yes, back in college I had to read A People’s History of the United States.Regardless, those of us on the smaller side are just have to lift each other up. And that reminds me: in a couple weeks I’m going to start Tuesday Evening Reading - a digest of good Substack posts worth looking into that will come out maybe twice a month. After the reaction I got from my recent odds and ends post I think I can make this work.
Until next time, remember you can Buy Me a Coffee since I have a page there.
Here's another example: if you get the Substack Reads, this is the blurb for the latest featured Substack:
"This week’s edition of Substack Reads was curated by Kareem Rahma, who writes Another New Thing with Kareem Rahma on Substack. Kareem is the creator and host of the web series Keep the Meter Running and SubwayTakes. He is also a musician and filmmaker, and his book of poetry, We Were Promised Flying Cars, was published in 2020. His most popular posts include “I always forget that I’m old,” “I hate the long hello,” and “Normalize spending a long weekend in Africa.” If you enjoy Kareem’s edition today, be sure to subscribe to his Substack."
Then he picks out a few of his reads, none of which I have a great deal of interest in. And his linked Substacks are a batch of orange checks and various ones with 4,000 to 50,000 subscribers. Even a couple of the "recently launched" Substacks have 6,000 or 9,000 subscribers.
I'm sure Kareem is a fine person, and in looking up his Substack he has 2,000 subscribers himself. But why not help out a brother who has 800 or 400? They have interesting stories as well.
Thank you again Michael. I think your incitefullness needs to be included on the "big" list also. It is certainly deeper than a lot I've seen that are fawned over but actually just a yawn.