That a great post about how to run a Substack newsletter. Do over think it and don’t spend too much time with it. And enable comments and read them. I think a lot of people on the left are these social justice activists who can have this pedantic and humorless way of interacting. At least on line! And right wing ideology attracts people who are driven by resentment and so fall for conspiracy theories and populist rhetoric . I’m going to be start posting regularly so this is good advice!
OMG, YOU MISSED A COMMA BETWEEN THE 2 AND 3 FOR YOUR FOOTNOTES IN YOUR RESPONSE TO CONSERVATIVES!!!11!111!!!!!
Kidding! But, yeah...I'm definitely on the leftward side of things, but I agree with many of your criticisms, especially liberal tendency to take things too seriously. While I'd say that's a tendency of both sides, the liberal side of it does get more screentime at the moment.
This is informative, thanks. I study online behavior, in particular the way people respond to content they find objectionable. This list of tendencies gives me good food for thought.
Surprised that whataboutism is limited like that. Would have thought that one was basically universal. Seems like anytime I hear someone point out the excesses of (say) feminism or anti-racism, the go-to response is to bring up patriarchy or Jim Crow
ETA: the irony that I respond to a note about whataboutism with whataboutism is not lost on me
I like reading what you write. I agree more often than I don’t but even when I don’t, you are coming from a thoughtful place. What you write about your comments from the left/right seems to just reinforce on a microscale what has gone wrong with our politics. Just two ways of looking at the world that can’t be reconciled but also neither of which seem grounded in the real world that most of us average people living our lives in the real world experience. Most of us aren’t humorless scolds or batshit racists. And most of us have complex views on the world that neither party captures. But these two groups have all the political power.
Good synopsis of the political commenting landscape. I was never on social media. It looked too much like middle school. Facebook struck me as being back in a small town where people didn't have enough to think about so they made mountains out of molehills. One of the things you learn to do in a small town is draw firm lines or people will just decide they are part of your life choices and decision-making. So, I stayed off FB to avoid giving people a target-rich environment. I'll never forget the time a total stranger gave me a bowling lesson because she could not stand watching my ineptitude. LOL She just walked up and said "why are you holding your arm like that?"
Cut some of these commenters some slack. Everyone has their quirks. I started commenting on WaPo back when it was trying to keep democracy alive. I saw all of the liberal commenting quirks listed above. I learned to discern the difference between the merely annoying, but writing in good faith, and the time-wasters. The merely annoying many times presented a teachable moment. If I put on my teacher hat and met them where they were, i.e. assumed there was something they didn't know or understand, good conversations sometimes developed. Anyway.
What I really like about Substack is the diverse and therefore useful viewpoints. I admit to falling into the manifesto category though. Oh well. Maybe no one will read this, but I enjoyed pontificating.
Commenting from my phone helps. Sometimes I write something that seems concise on my desktop browser then load it up on my phone and realize I wrote a novel.
Also, despite usually voting right, I apparently post like a lefty.
*****People think that conservatives are the doom and gloom types, but most of what I receive are liberal apocalyptic visions. “If this event happens, its FASCISM!” “If this other thing happens, ITS THE END OF DEMOCRACY!” “HITLER WALKS AMONG US!!!!” This kind of rhetoric was popular during the Tea Party era on the right, and it’s shifted to the left with many of the never Trumpers (former Tea Partiers, like Joe Walsh) who understand it’s motivating impact. It wasn’t true then, it’s not true now (but that doesn’t mean to stop being vigilant about many things Trump does that are flat out wrong). 7
7. To be sure, a lot of this is just because Republicans are in charge and Democrats, without any levers of power, are powerless. The Tea Party sprang up in the exact opposite situation, with Democrats holding all the levers (including 60 seats in the Senate) and Republicans in the political wilderness.*****
.
This is a disappointingly glib take.
The phrase "a lot of this" in Note 7 is doing a lot of work. Perhaps PurpleAmerica recognizes that serious people Like Judge Luttig (to name just one, of course) ought not be dismissed as manipulative firebrands. See his May 14 essay in The Atlantic, "The End of Rule of Law in America" at the following link: https://archive.li/qJPUd. See also my own May 1 piece, "To a Candid World" at the following link: https://decencyandsense.substack.com/p/to-a-candid-world.
The dismissive explanation of this putatively hyperbolic expression of concern as having arisen simply on account of a change in partisan control of the federal government is belied by clarion warnings that went out while the Democrats held power. To take just one example, consider Heather Digby Parton's May 2023 piece in Salon titled "The ambitious Republican plot to take it all down." She foretold then the assault on our institutions and on our democracy that is unfolding now. Here is the link to it: https://www.salon.com/2023/05/22/the-ambitious-plot-to-take-it-all-down/
OK. Let's see. Citations in the comment. Check. Pedantry. Check. "So are you saying...". Check. Finding the one thing you disagree with and extrapolating until eyes glaze over. Check. Rank condescension in the response. Check. Thank you so much for demonstrating the typical liberal response I was commenting about! I mean, if you weren't so damn serious I'd think you did this as a complete joke but man, you really showed to the world what I was talking about!
That a great post about how to run a Substack newsletter. Do over think it and don’t spend too much time with it. And enable comments and read them. I think a lot of people on the left are these social justice activists who can have this pedantic and humorless way of interacting. At least on line! And right wing ideology attracts people who are driven by resentment and so fall for conspiracy theories and populist rhetoric . I’m going to be start posting regularly so this is good advice!
OMG, YOU MISSED A COMMA BETWEEN THE 2 AND 3 FOR YOUR FOOTNOTES IN YOUR RESPONSE TO CONSERVATIVES!!!11!111!!!!!
Kidding! But, yeah...I'm definitely on the leftward side of things, but I agree with many of your criticisms, especially liberal tendency to take things too seriously. While I'd say that's a tendency of both sides, the liberal side of it does get more screentime at the moment.
This is informative, thanks. I study online behavior, in particular the way people respond to content they find objectionable. This list of tendencies gives me good food for thought.
Surprised that whataboutism is limited like that. Would have thought that one was basically universal. Seems like anytime I hear someone point out the excesses of (say) feminism or anti-racism, the go-to response is to bring up patriarchy or Jim Crow
ETA: the irony that I respond to a note about whataboutism with whataboutism is not lost on me
I like reading what you write. I agree more often than I don’t but even when I don’t, you are coming from a thoughtful place. What you write about your comments from the left/right seems to just reinforce on a microscale what has gone wrong with our politics. Just two ways of looking at the world that can’t be reconciled but also neither of which seem grounded in the real world that most of us average people living our lives in the real world experience. Most of us aren’t humorless scolds or batshit racists. And most of us have complex views on the world that neither party captures. But these two groups have all the political power.
Good synopsis of the political commenting landscape. I was never on social media. It looked too much like middle school. Facebook struck me as being back in a small town where people didn't have enough to think about so they made mountains out of molehills. One of the things you learn to do in a small town is draw firm lines or people will just decide they are part of your life choices and decision-making. So, I stayed off FB to avoid giving people a target-rich environment. I'll never forget the time a total stranger gave me a bowling lesson because she could not stand watching my ineptitude. LOL She just walked up and said "why are you holding your arm like that?"
Cut some of these commenters some slack. Everyone has their quirks. I started commenting on WaPo back when it was trying to keep democracy alive. I saw all of the liberal commenting quirks listed above. I learned to discern the difference between the merely annoying, but writing in good faith, and the time-wasters. The merely annoying many times presented a teachable moment. If I put on my teacher hat and met them where they were, i.e. assumed there was something they didn't know or understand, good conversations sometimes developed. Anyway.
What I really like about Substack is the diverse and therefore useful viewpoints. I admit to falling into the manifesto category though. Oh well. Maybe no one will read this, but I enjoyed pontificating.
Keep on truckin!
Solid observations.
My experiences match everything you are saying.
Commenting from my phone helps. Sometimes I write something that seems concise on my desktop browser then load it up on my phone and realize I wrote a novel.
Also, despite usually voting right, I apparently post like a lefty.
PurpleAmerica wrote (and noted):
*****People think that conservatives are the doom and gloom types, but most of what I receive are liberal apocalyptic visions. “If this event happens, its FASCISM!” “If this other thing happens, ITS THE END OF DEMOCRACY!” “HITLER WALKS AMONG US!!!!” This kind of rhetoric was popular during the Tea Party era on the right, and it’s shifted to the left with many of the never Trumpers (former Tea Partiers, like Joe Walsh) who understand it’s motivating impact. It wasn’t true then, it’s not true now (but that doesn’t mean to stop being vigilant about many things Trump does that are flat out wrong). 7
7. To be sure, a lot of this is just because Republicans are in charge and Democrats, without any levers of power, are powerless. The Tea Party sprang up in the exact opposite situation, with Democrats holding all the levers (including 60 seats in the Senate) and Republicans in the political wilderness.*****
.
This is a disappointingly glib take.
The phrase "a lot of this" in Note 7 is doing a lot of work. Perhaps PurpleAmerica recognizes that serious people Like Judge Luttig (to name just one, of course) ought not be dismissed as manipulative firebrands. See his May 14 essay in The Atlantic, "The End of Rule of Law in America" at the following link: https://archive.li/qJPUd. See also my own May 1 piece, "To a Candid World" at the following link: https://decencyandsense.substack.com/p/to-a-candid-world.
The dismissive explanation of this putatively hyperbolic expression of concern as having arisen simply on account of a change in partisan control of the federal government is belied by clarion warnings that went out while the Democrats held power. To take just one example, consider Heather Digby Parton's May 2023 piece in Salon titled "The ambitious Republican plot to take it all down." She foretold then the assault on our institutions and on our democracy that is unfolding now. Here is the link to it: https://www.salon.com/2023/05/22/the-ambitious-plot-to-take-it-all-down/
OK. Let's see. Citations in the comment. Check. Pedantry. Check. "So are you saying...". Check. Finding the one thing you disagree with and extrapolating until eyes glaze over. Check. Rank condescension in the response. Check. Thank you so much for demonstrating the typical liberal response I was commenting about! I mean, if you weren't so damn serious I'd think you did this as a complete joke but man, you really showed to the world what I was talking about!
Dude! Look in the mirror. This whole piece was about people EXACTLY like you! Don't try and defend it.....amend it!
Hi MLisa!
I make observations and arguments about things that are important and I support them with evidence.
I do not begrudge you your preferences.