A haven for thinkers

Gavin Newsom, his face too close to the camera, leans in to announce he is following the thundering herd of the frustrated, the disgraced, and the failed media personality to the latest place to be—Substack. “There’s so much mis and disinformation out there,” he complains, as though being one of the most powerful governors in the Western world doesn’t afford him sufficient influence over culture and politics. “There’s so much noise. I don’t need to tell you that. So, the question is, how do we break through all of that noise and engage in real conversations? And that’s why I’m launching on Substack. I hope you’ll follow me so we can continue to engage in a two-way conversation at this critical moment in our history.”

In internet terms, Substack is now old, founded in 2017 by Hamish McKenzie, Chris Best, and Jairaj Sethi as an answer to the stranglehold of social media and legacy media on public discourse on the one hand, and the plight of writers on the other. “We’re attempting, to build an alternative media economy that gives journalists autonomy,” explained McKenzie on Substack in 2020. He believes we are “living through the most significant media disruption since the printing press,” and Substack has played and is playing an enormous part in that disruption.

McKenzie is an arms wide open sort of person. Washington Post writers? Come one come all. ABC’s disgraced Terry Moran? “The water’s warm,” wrote Jim Acosta in welcoming him. Everyone wants in on the fun—New York Magazine, BBC History, Nike, McDonalds, Pepsi, Tulsi Gabbard, the U.S. State Department, Margaret Atwood, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Don Lemon, Chuck Todd, as well as an enormous number of Christians—Peter Leithart, N.T. Wright, Karen Swallow Prior, Rod Dreher, and on down the line. In fact, my own Notes Feed, the Substack answer to X, is replete with thoughtful Christians posting long-form content on culture, faith, and life.

To go from being viewed with suspicion to the only place to be in under a decade, though certainly encouraging for Substack’s bottom line, makes smalltime Substackers like me nervous. From holding the line on free speech through times of immense pressure, the refusal to sell out to Elon Musk, the creation of a generous legal defense fund for writers, to continual rejections of the algorithmic model, Substack has been a haven for thinkers. The platform has certainly changed my life. With almost two decades of writing at my back, I am suddenly earning a living wage doing something I’m good at. Many nights I wake up anxious, wondering if Substack will really be able to carry forward its mission.

Forbes, four years ago, pointed out that “Trust in the media has declined steadily over the years. In 2019, one estimate pegged the percentage of people who had a great deal of confidence in the press at only 6%. Substack offers a practical and immediate way for writers to communicate with readers, unhindered by the vagaries of algorithms that can be manipulated and altered by moguls like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, who don’t feel the financial consequence of a loss of income. This connection, in real terms, means financial freedom to writers of every kind. And, Forbes rightly points out, this freedom “fosters trust.” Trust, in turn, “leads to loyalty.” 

As long as dubious actors aren’t permitted to squander this trust. “If they want to play in this new sandbox,” warns Ted Gioia, “they will need to fight for readers like the rest of us.” “Do I really want to see McDonald’s and Pepsi and Nike on Substack?” he asks, voicing everyone’s anxiety, “I’m not so chuffed about this, but I don’t think they will have much luck here. They know how to pay for advertising and buy endorsements, but in the free-flowing world of Substack, they will struggle for influence. And that’s how it should be.” This will be good, for it will force them to “loosen up, and develop new skills,” and for “Upstart Substackers,” we will “act less like the circus in town, and more like serious professionals.”

For Christians, the call is to make hay while the sun is shining. As long as there is room to speak and write about what really matters, we should keep our laptops updated and the iPhone camera free of fingerprints. It won’t last because no platform under the sun ever does. Much reading, after all, is a weariness to the flesh. When it comes to Gov. Newsom, just hope he reads a lot more than he writes.