Finding Out Your Uncle Is A Nazi

Or how Substack let me down and what to do about it.

I’ve been hearing about Substack’s nazi problem for a while now. But I was ignoring it because, frankly, Substack works. A lot of fellow RPG bloggers are on here, I’ve had some bumps in viewership from the algorithm, the app provides a nice reading experience. Also, I never saw those nazi posts. A few days ago, though, a line has been crossed. Substack placed a heinous, racist far-right post on my feed.

I won’t link to the post because I have no interest in promoting it further. I will only say this: it was a very US-specific anti-Black post from a self professed “far right Christian.”¹ I can’t think of a single reason why Substack should think I would be interested in this. I live in Europe, have only a passing interest in US politics, and am definitely not right-leaning. I mostly interact with the TTRPG space and the occasional psychological post.

I felt safe clicking on the article when it appeared on my feed because I had made the reasonable assumption that Substack would surface content related to my previous reads. As I read and discovered the post’s premise, I grew increasingly uncomfortable. Reading it made me feel icky, like listening to a drunk uncle loudly proclaiming inappropriate comments with unearned confidence.

To be completely honest, I felt violated. Substack defends its stance on allowing far right content as a defense of free speech. And I guess I kinda bought into their explanation – if only because it was convenient for me to do so. After this interaction, I am no longer so certain. Should we prioritize the freedom to be loudly hateful? In the West, we bought into the sacred cow that is individual expression – but what about kindness, community, togetherness? I’d rather live in a world that promoted empathy over callousness. I am attracted to roleplaying games exactly because they are a shared experience and promote these things.

I grew up partly behind the Iron Curtain and I know what it is like to live under censorship. I don’t want to promote authoritarianism that tells people what they can or cannot think or do. Increasingly, though, it feels like people are bending the meaning of freedom of expression to excuse their right to oppress others. I stand for trying to understand the other person: everybody has a reason for what they do, however misguided it may be. Nobody is the villain in their own eyes. In a globalized world, we are exposed to more “others” than we ever have. It is easy to get defensive. If you can make that effort, however, learning from people radically different from you is one of the best ways to become a better person. Perhaps there’s some value in seeing that disturbing content. It is a window to somebody else’s soul.

The problem is that this other soul has no interest in learning about others. They want to defend their own limited lifestyle and point of view. The bigger problem is: bigotry is contagious. It calls to our base instincts. It exaggerates the danger so we band together and strike back. We should find a way to walk the fine line between voicing our opinions and concerns without promoting isolation and violence.

So where does that leave me? Thinking about continuing to write on Substack makes my skin crawl. I don’t want to inadvertently promote the fear of the other, tribalism or bigotry, and at this point it is hard to pretend like I am not doing that by adding to this platform’s content. I wouldn’t be alone in this but thoughts about moving to another platform also leave me cold and discouraged: I would be losing the algorithm’s help, and the ability to interact with like-minded people on here. For sure, I would lose some readers in the transition. I would have to choose and learn a new tool – which takes time and energy. Both options feel bad.

At this juncture, I am just as likely to abandon the blog completely rather than having to choose. Which would be a pity because writing gives me so much joy, and hearing back from you, kind reader, is the best feeling in the world.

I don’t know where I’ll go from here. Let the lack of a “subscribe” button on this post serve as a small sign of my current exasperation and confusion. If you have any thoughts on the matter, I’d love to hear from you.

You would probably like to understand what my plan is. Believe me, so would I. For now, I am voicing my frustration, and my need to change the status quo somehow. I hope for some feedback from you that will help me make up my mind on what to do. Perhaps there are other options I haven’t considered?

1. How you can be far-right as a Christian is beyond me but that’s beside the point.