Should I Comment?

On Freedom of Expression, moderation, inappropriateness, shunning, banning, exile, and group-think.

The Substack Debate Club

Welcome to The Broken New World! One of conflict, chaos, and quarrels. Of differences, divisions, and dichotomies. And ultimately, of hearing, healing, and hope. As future leader-in-waiting of this movement, this will be an official-in-waiting forum for all commentary on the said apocalyptic future. I stand ready.

Only by being heard are we understood. Only by active curiosity about the other, and the other’s stories, can we heal. And only by knowing the other, as opposed to loathing them, is it possible to overcome the artificial obstacles placed between us to keep us perpetually partitioned. Hope is knowing America has a mission.

But there’s an uncurious and ignorant trend happening not only at Substack, but on almost all other platforms for newsletters. No Comments or Comments for paying readers only is just another nail in the coffin of civilization. I practically live for the argument. Bring it and your A-game. Convince me of your point. Don’t bludgeon me into submission. Get me on board.

Please join me in dissent, discussion, and discernment. All leading ultimately to entente cordiale. You are 50% of this project, and I need you to make it all work.

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Can I speak to the manager, please?

I relate most situations in life to my restaurant career. Being a foodie before the term was coined, I’ve spent many a meal on either side of the counter. As Worker-Bee, I’m never amazed but always amused! As Patron, I’m dazed and bemused.

As Host or Server, one’s fortunes are dependent on many sub-contracted duties focused on getting the plate in front of the diner on time and perfectly executed. As Chef or Line Cook, a million challenges confront each plate and every expectation. As Manager, all bets are off! The struggle is real and the battles are won in the moment. It’s a Love-Hate Relationship that drives and dements everyone in the biz.

Listen to any Hospitality Industry veteran’s war stories after a free trade-show beer (or 2-3) and you’ll hear a tale of never-ending demands, requests, and complaints. Not from them, but from the customer. Patronage at its apex.

Yet, and this is the Paradox of the Service Pyramid, even great is not good enough anymore. Today’s perfection is tomorrow’s expectation. Guest perception is guest reality. As a service provider, the customer comments never stop and can never be turned off. Oddly, the angry consumer is the best source of honest feedback.

When I’m a Customer, it’s firmly my belief that I have every right to comment on the service I’m paying for. As any food biz pro will say with utmost conviction, it’s hard to turn off the switch when we are on the other side of the table.

The running joke in my family was for me to vow NOT to ask for the manager when we ate out. Broke that vow more than a few times. I unapologetically demand great service because I fully deliver it to my customers.

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Food for Thought?

So it is when I read a post. The written word’s intent, in my mind, is to provoke thought. From thought comes expression. From expression comes persuasion, then to understanding, and on to compromise, cooperation, and comradery.

As chef, my food provides nourishment, flavor, and experience to my patrons. As wordsmith, my words are literally food for thought, providing the same sense of nourishment, flavor, and experience to my readers.

As writer, my readers payment of choice is not only legal tender. The most valuable currency is their time. The time they spend consuming my words is so precious and so personal, it’s priceless. They’ll have money again in their pocket.

But they’ll never have that time back. All they’ll ever have are the thoughts and reactions formulated during the time spent with my words and the memory of the experience. Commenting on that experience is as old as cave drawings. And as modern as tagging crews spraying over a rival crew’s art.

University Heights in LA.

In the same vein that I would never force a diner to consume my food without compliment or complaint allowed, I would never force a reader to consume my words without extending the same privilege.

But not for some writers. They prefer to block comments, or restrict them. They fuss and fret over moderation guidelines, labeling commenters as trolls, morons ~ and my personal favorite ~ argumentative idiots with verbal diarrhea! Guilty as charged, with an explanation!

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I am your King. You must respect me!

I love the god-like authority that seems to be a common characteristic with these writers. I decide who you are and what you say, and the quality of your opinions and the veracity of your statements will be judged by me. Your motives are suspect, your intellect deficient, and your morality sinful. I find you guilty!

For it is I, Writer-Supreme producing proclamations and pontifications for the poor-minded peasants. You shall consume my words and issue no commentary. Let it be said. Let it be done.

I mean, I’ve brought annoying, tedious, and deliberately obtuse to new heights. It’s a collection of criticisms that should have some kind of reward or trophy for. The Troublesome Trifecta?

On to the main event. I love the smug self-satisfaction of his retort. And the commentariats cheerleading him on made my coffee and croissant this morning extra delicious. Keep’em coming, they’re like super-beet chews for me.

Notes on Substack have pretty much opened the flood gates for commentary. As you can see from my recent interaction with a fellow Stacker, when one cannot cut off comments, readers will make comments about your post. Whether you like it or not.

It’s not the first time this guy got pissed off with me in a pissing war. Before Notes, I had to pay to comment on his writing. Now I can do it for free. But I still subscribe to him because I believe in free speech. Please click to read some of the slap-backs at me.

I got to be honest, it’s very enjoyable to read all the comments. Hating on me is the overwhelming response, and there is a common theme running through the entire thread, from Beschloss on down the line of his community of readers.

Savior. Trump is “our” savior. Critics dismiss Trump supporters en masse with this delusional critique. Worshipers of the Orange God are cult members drinking the Kool-Aid. Monolithically, they compartmentalize about half of the voting population into the same bucket.

Orange Jesus: The second coming of Donald Trump?

That theme is eloquently and artfully expressed by Kip Morgan thusly

And even more simple and to the point here, proclaims Mick McJesus. Irony noted. Is that a pseudonym?

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Exploring the myth of monolithic voting blocs

Remember when evil white racists were admonished to stop treating communities of color as a monolithic block of voters? When Grandma used to mention the “Orientals” we’d inform - Orientals are rugs. Asians are people. Similarly, when Grandma would describe a friend as colored, we’d ask which color?

Yeah, another memory-holed topic when applied to Trump. Who’s the monolithic block now? Evil cultists. Not even white anymore, which is really freaking them out. Anyone of any color, any creed, any gender, age, race, orientation that supports Trump is now a cultist. An evil one at that. Or an Uncle Tom, an Oreo, a Coconut, a Banana.

Latinos are expected to make up 13% of the national electorate this year. But Latinos are not a monolith, and they’re not the only group that gets treated like one.

In September, the group Living United for Change in Arizona, or LUCHA, launched a sweeping get-out-the-vote campaign to reach more than 1 million Black, Indigenous and Latino voters across the state. The political action group is focused on immigration and workers’ rights.

Alejandra Gomez, LUCHA’s co-executive director, said that’s a pool of potential voters who have been historically pushed to the wayside.

Oh really? Except Trump voters. They’re all one thing. And that one thing is evil.

A simple search shows the devastating situation currently confronting those opposed to Trump. Naturally, the common descriptor of a Trump supporter is racist white supremacist. That label is increasingly becoming complete bullshit.

From the CNN piece, that attempts in almost every sentence, including the headline, to distort the actual sea-change occurring. Black and Hispanics love Trump despite racial messages is dripping with coded language. A dog-whistle, if I may.

If I’m a Black or Hispanic reading this, I might feel offended as this could be interpreted as an insult of my intellect. Why would I support a racist like Trump if I were a POC? He’s a racist. That makes me a race traitor. An outcast. Exiled.

A major talking point often heard about The Trump Voter is that they “worship” Trump as a member of his “cult”. This is exemplified by Lori’s hurtful comment - oh my! The orange god I worship. Can’t be for any other reason I disagree with the verdict - it has to be because I’m a cult-member.

The complete cognitive dissonance displayed here is literally astounding to me. As if there is no other reason to base support for a candidate than to be an unthinking fool. That is what Lori believes of nearly 80 million of her fellow American citizens. Trump voters are combination of horrible attributes, but the push now is to call them pure evil.

“And those polls are going to turn, I’m confident of it, because as time goes on, as people start to focus a little bit more about what’s at stake and start to become educated on the issues and the differences between them — the two men — I believe that Americans are going to choose good over evil.”

Jill Biden

Evil is a big step up from deplorable. What happens to evil people? If misfortune happens to an evil person, that’s ok. I mean, no fewer than 42 assassination plots against Hitler have been uncovered by historians. Historically comparing one of the world’s most devastating dictators to an average American voter is reprehensible coming from anyone.

Anyone not supporting Biden has to “become educated . . . to choose good over evil.” Wow! That’s a bit dystopian, fully smacking of 1984 and every other mind-control the government dreams of employing. So, who does the educating? Is it mandatory? Like HR making everyone take harassment training? Hmmm . . .

Uttered from the lips of the First Lady piles disgust upon reprehension. Eighty million voters in America are labeled as evil people for voting their conscience. They are denigrated as rubes, stupid, uneducated, and every ‘ist imaginable. Black and Hispanic voters are routinely dismissed as “low-attention” or “ill-informed”. Even worse, as “gullible” and “tokens”. That’s full-on racism. Not soft-bigotry.

Especially poor-working-class POCs, they are just too busy with work and life to notice all of the great things Uncle Joe has done for them. Or they’re too concerned with “passing” as white. That’s so fucking insulting as a father of three mixed-race children. What Ana Navarro says is revolting, and as racist as any shit I’ve ever heard come out of a white person. “pass as whatever.” What the hell is that?

'There are some Latino immigrants who forget they came here as immigrants and who want to shut the door behind them, and who think being anti-immigrant somehow is going to make them pass as more American, pass as whatever. And that's a very stupid attitude to have.' 

Ana Navarro

A senior Biden campaign official said the campaign is not blind to the frustration from Black leaders or the importance of bringing back this voting bloc into the fold. The official acknowledged there was a lack of awareness of Biden’s accomplishments among Black voters but argued that the campaign was sanguine in confronting the challenge.

Asian support for Trump is on the rise as well, with inflation and immigration as their top two concerns. Again, the appeal to not lump all Asians into a monolithic block is prominently featured in reporting on their voting trends.

Vote loss for Democrats?

According to a Pew Research Center survey of Asian adults conducted from July 2022 to January 2023, 62 per cent of Asian American registered voters identify as Democrats or lean to the Democratic Party. Another 34 per cent are Republicans or GOP leaners.

However, reports suggest that in the past couple of elections, Asian Americans have moved towards Republicans, narrowing the wide gap between the two in this regard a bit. The winds of change in voting patterns in the community means that both sides will have to battle hard to pull fence-sitters to their side.

Here’s another piece advocating for looking at demographic groups holistically, as opposed being “pigeonholed as a demographic”. What other demographic has been “pigeonholed”? Sounds like a euphemism to me.

Wrapping up with a few videos of “orange god cult followers”. Listen to these passionate people talk about their lived experiences. About how their journey has brought them here, to this point in time and space.

This lady lost both her sons in the last three years - one murdered and the other fentanyl-poisoned. This woman - a lifelong Democrat voter - oh and she’s Black - is voting for Trump.

Steven Beschloss

- is she worshipping an orange god too? Is she worthy of your scorn? Can you even comment on why on Earth a woman like this would vote for Trump? Too deplorable for you to write about? Searching for a savior?

We’re at the end of our first installment of The Substack Debate Club. Welcome and thank you. You, all of you, are amazing. Please clap. Oh wait, Jeb and Joe said that. Please comment. It’s all about you, and what you think.

I don’t care who you vote for when I’m having a beer with you. I just care that we’re having a beer.

Cheers,

Ric