Small Stands Tall
Why I'm Signing This Open Letter
There was a Note recently that questioned the folks leaving Substack because of the Nazis.
Specifically, because Substack seems perfectly fine monetizing the vileness they broadcast. Which is gross, ethically bankrupt and indirectly complicit in the harm it causes.
That is, however, Substack’s right. Just as much as it’s every Substack writer’s right to choose not to associate themselves with such an enterprise and take their publication elsewhere.
But where will you go? And when the Nazis come there, where will you go after that? And after that? And after that?
Unlike most people who are content to keep to themselves and their communities, Nazis are programmed to infect and spread their ideology and hatefulness. Whether a space is welcoming to them or not, they will go there. In fact, the more openly hostile the more likely they are to appear. At the least it upsets the very people they are opposed to, which gives them some validation. It’s even better when the people they are opposed to broadcast their message for them by means of outrage and horror. And then there are the few converts they win simply by appealing to their base fears, desires, rage and selfishness.
We can’t keep running. We can’t keep ceding ground.
But we can stand our ground here on Substack while also calling out its ownership for its fiscal alliance with people who don’t see us as people. We can build and maintain community here. We can share, rally, support and engage with that community and anyone else who has the basic decency to recognize our humanity.
I have more expansive thoughts on the current and future circumstances before us. In the meantime, until I have my thoughts together, I think
speaks eloquently to the moment in his post calling folks to sign on to the open letter I’ve added below.“I, , sign this open letter in solidarity with other small publications seeking to build community and embody our shared values. We are all publishing this letter on our individual Substacks for visibility. Thank you for reading.”
Small Stands Tall
Dear Substack Community -
When you came to Substack to write or create or read, you probably thought this would be a cool place to grow and explore. And it is. But Substack leadership has put a lot of mechanisms in place to promote and platform voices that are large, hateful, and intent on harming others through disinformation.
We—the collective, small voices of creators and community members on Substack—believe that this is wrong, it is hurtful, and it has the potential to stifle growth for many of us. Worse, it further marginalizes many of us who are actively targeted by the increasing wave of local and global laws, policies, and social stigmas being promoted around us.
Small voices have big power when we stand together in solidarity, and most of the publications on Substack are small, just like us. This means we get to decide how and where we spend our time, money, and attention.
Signers of this letter believe in the following:
We help our neighbors by calling out hate-speech, racism, misogyny, intolerance, bigotry, xenomisia, homomisia, transmisia, ableism, genocide, and violence when and where we see it by reporting and blocking such content and sharing the collective knowledge about harmful accounts.
We endeavor to build community by caring for one another. Caring means showing up for one another even (especially) when it is hard or scary to do.
We reject the intentional platforming of voices that spread hatred and disinformation.
We stand proudly for kindness and inclusivity, and we invite you to stand with us. Small voices can achieve huge change when we unite.
Signed,
Small Voices against Big Hatred