Rebranding for 2025
And yes, we still need more parties
Happy New Gregorian Year, dear reader!
I hope you have been able to rest and get some perspective as we passed through the dark solstice1 and Festivus, Christmas, Hanukkah, “Chrismukkah” and whatever other holidays you may enjoy.
I took a break from Substack over the holidays, and it led me to think I should rebrand what I’m doing here. If you received this by email, you joined up while this was called “Get This Party Started” and was focused on US electoral politics. While I still like the idea of viable new political parties, and still feel that the two legacy parties are letting us down, it’s painfully obvious that I don’t have the wherewithal to “be the change” in that regard. And I’m fine with that. I also find myself drawn to many conversations that are unrelated to that focus, so it felt increasingly misaligned to have that as the brand of my Substack newsletter.
If that was what you found most exciting about my writing, feel free to unsubscribe. The number of Substack newsletters in one’s inbox can get unwieldy and your time is worth more than being cluttered with discussions you’re less interested in. Moving forward, this newsletter will be more like my personal soapbox to discuss topics of cultural or political importance or just plain curiosity that interest me. Over many decades, I’ve learned that I need to process ideas verbally, and having a place to write about my thoughts and get feedback from smart, like-minded people is extremely useful. I hope that Substack can serve as a sort of digital Republic of Letters for those of us who are inclined toward reasoning in search of wisdom.
So what should you expect to see here? These are topics that I might write about in coming days, some of which you may have received hints of from my notes:
Contemporary Zionism
All manner of Jewish stuff, mostly bookish
Present and future threats from the Red-Green Alliance2
Social Justice Ideology/Wokeism/Critical Theory as a metareligion
Detransitioner/Desister perspectives on our cultural moment regarding sex and gender, and what to make of non-conformity if one doesn’t buy the trans narrative hook, line, and sinker
What the left misunderstands about conservatives
The state of publishing, particularly in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres
The clash of civilizations that I really hoped wasn’t real, but here we are
Religion without faith
Basically, these are the sorts of topics I am following on here and likely to rant about if I ever find an interested audience. What are my qualifications? I read more than average, I’ve burned more bridges than most people have crossed, and I’ve spent months-to-years in non-western countries.
I’ll try to keep things interesting.
at least in the northern hemisphere
Red as in leftist, Green as in Islamist