Thank you, fellow American Heirs and Heiresses, for subscribing to Squandering Our American Inheritance!
So, I’ve reached my first milestone – 100 subscribers! Woo-hoo! Thank you all so much for your support and I’m so happy you wanted to subscribe to Squandering Our American Inheritance. I’d love to hear new ideas to continue the discussion about how we can stop Squandering Our American Inheritance!
When I posted my first clunky [pdf] article in February, I was reluctant to jump into the cyber mob. I elected not to participate in social media before because jumping into the cyber mob does not sound like a good idea. Joe Rogan described the twitter mob, saying, “The time you spend hating on someone robs you of your own time. You are literally hating on yourself, and you don't even realize it.” Furthermore, any discussion involving the sleezy world of politics is well, you know, talking about slimy, slithering snakelike people who want power and money. Yikes!
But I love the idea of freedom and political philosophy is so interesting. If only we can understand the history of mankind making too many mistakes so we can avoid making those same mistakes again, yes?
So, is the Love of Freedom worth jumping into the substack world of Big Fish, Little Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish when the motive is not to make this into a side hustle, let alone a living?
What I’ve discovered so far is that there are the Big Fish (100K+ subscribers): journalists/authors, like Matt Taibbi & Twitter Files comrades, et. al., who b/c of free speech and censorship issues, started on substack several years ago and are exposing the underbelly of complete corruption in our supposedly sublime government since we no longer follow America’s unique Constitution. They are the Big Fish, and as professionals, they dish out their articles several times a week, sometimes more. The Big Fish won’t allow you to comment unless you pay. Ok, this is their living, fair enough.
Then there are the medium fish (10K+ subscribers), some who will let you comment without paying, and some won’t let you comment unless you pay – it’s their living. C’est la vie.
And then there are the little fish, who are building a following (people send out thanks for reaching 1,000K+ subscribers) and of course, they are growing and some let anyone comment, some charge for that honor – again, if it’s a living, it’s understandable.
And then there are the “nobody writers from substack” – the little, tiny baby fish who are barely registering, new baby fish like me. Dive in and start swimming! Sink or Swim? How does one swim in the substack cyber world? Make comments on various articles & market oneself…ah, ok. Write a note to sink somewhere down the bottomless cyber pit of other ignored, substack notes? And, how much does that cost in money and time?
So, when the Big Fish and the medium fish dish out their articles, you see the same little fishes and little baby fishes who paid, getting their comments in asap. (Forget trying to get noticed after 300+ comments.) And then the social media “Likes” phenomena “thing” takes over. When going back to look at comments, the little fishes and baby fishes are still there (several making multiple comments throughout the day). Here we are, all clamoring to get noticed…pick my comment out from the big crowd of little fish and little baby fish. The thought seems to be, “Need to get the most ‘likes” so I stay on top! It’s quite comical from that perspective.
But, what about “grounding” time – spending time in the natural world of Life? How long will we spend our days in front of a computer/laptop to morph from a baby fish into a little fish? What if making $$ is not the motive?
Regardless of classes of fish, I do believe that We the People all want the same things, basically. Freedom to pursue our own version of happiness, to live our best life by our own definition, to be free from crime, have equal opportunity to earn a living with a good job, and avoid the horrible life examples that 3rd world countries create (aka banana republics) to subsist with survival instincts only, rather than living our best life, every day.
Will We the People unite and stop allowing the media to divide us? (The recent Olympic opening ceremony controversy is a perfect example of the media creating “divide and conquer” from outrage. ‘Oh, those stupid Christians get so offended by their silly beliefs and they missed the whole point!’ Well, that’s not how everyone saw it, in fact, that’s not how a Lot of people, religious or not, saw it. Where is the mutual respect for the Other?) This madness does add a little credibility to the soul level theory.
The social media experiment defines living in the crazy times that we live in. The idea of connecting us is disconnecting us further, by allowing everyone to have TMI so those judgments that did not necessarily register out loud in earlier days are now squarely in our face, if we allow it.
Although ad hominem attacks do happen on substack, they appear to be directed to those slinging name calling too, so it feels like natural consequences of not playing nice with the Other. We do have to live with the Other, so it makes sense that we should try and practice the Golden Rule.
It sure does feel like we are on a rollercoaster ride and are living in Juvenal's circus which proves that times change but human nature doesn’t change.
Who will be the next snakelike ring master who “survives” the snake pit of politics? Is it, in fact, an actor playing a role in the play of Life? Is one snake really better than the Other? Or perhaps, we can ask ourselves if we need a ring master at all?
But, all that said, the discussions are interesting, and the ideas are plentiful, so why not dabble in this crazy place we call substack?
Will We the People find a way to cease Squandering our American Inheritance?
Recent subscriber and future aspiring SS writer
CONGRATULATIONS!