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Immortan Prole's avatar

She also leaves out that the lofty Times poached McWhorter FROM SUBSTACK, LOL!

The whole argument against Substack is embarrassing when it's lodged by professionals from cushier outlets. Their self-interest is so glaring here, and the comparisons to pyramid schemes and the like are probably as much about too many college grads having NO IDEA HOW ECONOMICS WORK as they are about blurring the lines between tough markets and outright scams. (If Substack is a pyramid scheme, then Wordpress and Livejournal were, too--and that means we need to upgrade Herbalife to actual death cult.)

Also, if The Times wants to see a cesspool of indefensible speech, WHY ARE THEY NOT AFTER GAB? I don't think it should be taken down, I still think it's just words, but fricking Gab.com very often embodies the right-wing psychoscape people keep trying to convince me Substack is. Very much a cry wolf situation.

P.S. Jesse, you and Katie should take a look at Gab, it's worth reporting on because, unlike Substack, it represents a genuinely challenging place to hold onto one's principles of free speech. I don't peek often, but when I do, I hear a version of me standing over my shoulder with horns and a cape going, "YOU LIKE HETERODOXY NOW?!"

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Can's avatar

The part I don't understand about all of this is why this doesn't get pointed out by editors? It's not even about the author or the NYT org (potentially) disliking Substack and choosing to portray them in a certain light but the quality of the argument and writing is just very bad. I don't understand how this doesn't reflect poorly on the NYT, especially since this one isn't in the Opinion section.

Maybe it's just a coincidence (based on my knowledge of various things) but I find that the quality of NYT reporting is often significantly lower than in e.g. The Economist. In the latter I might still find myself disagreeing or finding factual problems but at least they're generally coherently argued and at least somewhat nuanced.

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