I’m writing an essay about the problem raised by a November Atlantic magazine article indicating that there were some Nazis writing on Substack. It spurred alarm among many Substack writers, who responded with letters such as this one, which was reposted by many writers, and was answered in part by an open letter signed by quite a few writers who are opposed to any kind of limitations on the platform. A number of writers decided to leave the platform over the issue, including a publication that specializes in observing social media, and got started with a lot of support from Substack. They complained to the owners, and recently wrote a post announcing that Substack had decided to remove some Nazi publications, but yesterday decided that wasn’t enough. One writer wrote an open letter about how serious the problem is and yet why she is not leaving for the moment.
Outside of all this back-and-forth are a couple of posts by a Jewish writer who feels the word “Nazi” simply does not mean what it used to mean, and argues that humor is historically a far better approach than panic or boycott. He points out that we may be talking about a handful of writers, compared with a total of well over 100,000 on the platform.
A lot of this has happened in the past week or two, so I had difficulty writing my own thoughts because the landscape kept changing.
I have thoughts on how to keep this serious issue in proper perspective, and what actions might be appropriate — for now, my leaving Substack is not one of them.
One reason I’m spending time on this essay is that the issue resonates with much that is happening in America today. I’ll continue working on it and post it for you when it’s ready!
Thanks as ever for your thoughtfulness! I am looking forward to reading your considered opinions about this important issue. My position is -- more speech is always best.
I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts, Ed.