The news on Substack is that there is news on Substack.
Can we bear to tolerate this onslaught of abject misery and suffering? Or can we really afford to look away?
We have had the builders in this week. Our shower was leaking and water pouring through the hall light fitting. Hardly a warm welcome home. It has been a costly job to fix. The plumber has a side gig as a brain surgeon, but he says his plumbing jobs are more lucrative.
I hate the mess, the noise, the dirt, the whole disturbance. The hammer smashing tiles, the clouds of erupting dust, the constant drone of ‘Magic FM’. Unbearable. I will be glad when it’s all over.
I am a homebody. This is my sacred space. No matter what is happening in the external world or my own internal one, this house is my refuge. My children’s footprints are magically embedded on its floors. The way the light shines through my bedroom window always warms me and takes me back to all the happy times we have spent here. The garden I have spent years planting is at last blooming. I waste an inordinate time of ‘Zoopla’ but I don’t really want to move. I am happy at home.
Few spaces exist like this. I believe Substack is one of them. I am a relative newcomer to the ‘stack’ (I have been here just over a year). In housing parlance, I ‘viewed’ many other social media platforms before I set down roots in this special part of the internet. Instagram was too, well grabby, Facebook too confusing (why can you sell your kitchen table there?), Twitter too mean, LinkedIn too corporate. Substack felt like coming home.
Recently there has been some changes to Substack (when has there not?). News feeds have appearing. Unprompted. Trump, war, genocide, you get the picture. A safe space invaded for some. An unwelcome house guest for others. Many people are unhappy, and I can see why.
There is an abundance of places to find news if you want it. If you follow the news (which I do) you will be aware that news changes constantly and there is no shortage of media to keep you updated. Twenty-four hours a day. TV, radio, social media, apps – all following in real time, spewing out a constant supply of (mostly bad) news. Substack was not that place. This was not what people came to Substack for.
Like the homes we live in, to many readers Substack is a virtual home. A treasured online retreat. A place to share our internal and external realities. Not a place to dodge the bullets of psychopaths, bombings, murder and rape. For some its just too much. Everyone deserves a safe home, even if it’s just a virtual one.
This time last year there were people living in America feeling safe. Anxious about the upcoming elections but safe. They are no longer safe. Dragged from their homes. Grabbed from the street. Deportation looms. Illegal deportation. In the space of less than a year.
So, while I totally sympathise with those who do not want to be subjected to the top horrors of the day (and thankfully there is a way to negate it but I’m not techy enough to know how), there is still an argument for recognition of what is happening in the world and the impact of switching off.
Over 90 million people did not vote in the American election of 2024, that’s more than the number who voted for Trump or Harris. Inaction is an action. Inaction gave Trump the keys to the Kingdom. We are all paying for that.
Fascism will not give your home a miss because you are not politically engaged. And no, not everyone has the time, energy or ability to march in the streets, banging the drum for a better world but is it fair to leave the fate of humanity to those who feel compelled not to look away? We get tired too you know.
I am an activist. What is happening in the world is my business. Its everyone’s business. Not because I have a super resilient nervous system and have never known trauma. It’s because I have known so much trauma that I campaign so hard. I don’t wish anyone to suffer as I have.
And yes, at times I want to run away. To tend to my garden, snuggle up with a good book, take an extra long bath. And at times I do. I often turn off the news if its too much for me (the past year has been horrendous) and I don’t agree with the constant news feed that Substack is providing.
But abstaining from the realities of the world around us will not make a better world or stop the forces of fascism, hate, racism, misogyny, homophobia and disharmony from invading your home, schools, workplaces. Virtual or otherwise. None of us will be immune.
Save yourselves for sure. We all must get through each day. There is a limit to what we can tolerate and to what end we achieve by frying our nervous systems by a constant barrage of misery.
But the old saying is true – all that evil needs to succeed is for good people to do nothing. Turning off the news can be a much-needed mental health saving option. But if we want to remain safe in our spaces, I really believe, doing nothing, isn’t.
you go girl! love it.
As the saying goes "The night is always darkest before the dawn".
I agree with you about change. But change is meant to be uncomfortable, so when it is over, we appreciate the new. That saying, I do not like the changes to Substack any more than you do, Rebecca. I miss being able to find new Stacks and reading the arts, science, history and even cooking. So many of the people I now follow come from a deep dive down the Substack rabbit hole. There are SO many good writers and content producers out there and they can easily be missed.
I am, as you know, a political animal. I operate at a barely managed level of anger daily at the injustices in the world. We cannot stay silent. But surely we can have a cup of coffee and a read of a good post every now and again that has nothing to do with politics? Its starting to become a bit 'Twitter bubble-ish'. An echo chamber. I hate that. I want to read the dissenting voices and competing ideas. Without the trolls of course.
Maybe, we (and by that, I mean me) should try harder. Its all to easy to do a restack and just walk away. But I do have to say, it does feel like change is coming. Mike Johnson just admitted Trump is 'unwell'. Starmer's party conference has gone down like a lead balloon; Ukraine is winning against Russia; and the atrocities in Gaza are being acknowleged finally. All it takes is for good men to stand by and do nothing indeed - I do think Substack is having a very real impact on these issues. For the better :o)