Yes, You SHOULD Deplatform White Supremacists
So, I’m leaving Substack. And yes, it’s because of the Nazis. If you haven’t heard about this particular episode of moral skulduggery, the founders of Substack have declared that they have no plans to deplatform Nazis and other species of white supremacists.
Because banning them makes their message stronger? That seems to be the rationale on the part of the Substack ruling class. I’m wildly skeptical, but that’s beside the point. Honestly it feels more like they’re hiding behind the First Amendment than respecting it.
These harbingers of hate are making money spouting their racist vitriol on this platform. And they’re making money for those same founders, who take a nice percentage of a writer’s earnings. That makes them more or less Nazi sympathizers in my book. And in spite of all the things I love about Substack I’m not hanging my hat on that particular peg.
We live in complicated times. That is never more apparent than when, as consumers, we try to do the right thing. Was this shirt made by children in Cambodia? Does it contain microplastics that are killing marine life? If it’s 100% cotton, did the growers use dangerous pesticides, putting workers at risk along with all the wildlife in a ten-mile radius?
It’s hard. Very hard. And we are imperfect, in both our knowledge of the details and our ability to make each choice based on the needs of the earth and its inhabitants vs. the needs of one single very tired and overwhelmed human.
I do use Facebook on occasion, even though I believe their tolerance for lies and mischief were responsible for the outcome of the 2016 election. And I order from Amazon sometimes even though it makes me sick to give Jeff Bezos another penny. Because I live in the world and it’s hard to live by all your values all the time.
But there are other, obvious situations that are all downside, no silver lining. And for me, willingly offering a platform to Nazis is just a bridge too far. So I will be moving this newsletter to another platform. I will port your email address over there unless you ask me not to.
And of course you can unsubscribe at any time because you have free will. Still and always!
Even when it’s hard not to believe that our every choice is dictated by our corporate overlords, we can still elect to disengage. I appreciate the choice you’ve made to subscribe to this collection of my musings and outbursts, and I hope you’ll stick with me.