I’m in bed, violently ill with a flu-pneumonia double whammy that took 2 weeks to overtake me fully. I’m vaccinated against both illnesses, so I can only imagine how absolutely awful this all would have been without preemptive immunity. Anyway, jacked up on steroids, feeling like shit, and having deleted my Meta accounts, I’m on Substack exclusively. This is my place of reprieve. My light in the darkness. A lovely reinvention of the blogs that were my first foray into public writing back in the early 2000’s and a fantastically streamlined way for me to supplement the shit income that is teaching public education (which I love).
But something terrible has happened.
My feed is flooded with a bunch of hot-take attention seekers who aren’t writers but are a bunch of social media addicts with no place to expel their unsought opinions. Seemingly overnight, my feed has been inundated with the argumentative stupidity of the likes of BoredAtLaundromat69.
As someone who’s worked for decades to make creativity accessible to all, regardless of financial or physical ability, I’d like to be clear:
Not every space is for everybody.
YOU AREN’T WELCOME EVERYWHERE, and just because you can show up doesn’t mean you should.
Is this burning in your chest? Good. Then I’m talking to you. Take it in.
The same is true for me. I don’t belong everywhere. There are plenty of environments where I can be of the most service by sitting down and shutting the fuck up so I can learn something and disseminate it back amongst the people’s whose attention I have. (And to be clear, this isn’t meant to attack confidence. If your confidence is feeling kicked right now, rather than your intentions examined, you’re missing the point. Turn off your ego.)
Believe me, I know this is hard to hear but someone needs to say it. Some spaces are for certain segments of people, and Substack isn’t for social media fiends who want to scream into the void.
Furthermore, there’s an onslaught of wealthy jackwagons who needn’t squeeze another dollar out of the people pretending like they need your money to continue providing all the accoutrements to which their empires have become accustomed.
To ALL of this nonsense I say, fuck them and fuck that.
And I hope you will too.
If you’re here, it’s to support working writers by reading, sharing, and paying for their work, not to support another batch of poor-me, wealthy whites with their publishing deals and top-tier privileges and endless self-pity disguised as self-reflection.
GO CRY INTO YOUR INVESTMENT ACCOUNTS. WE’RE TIRED OF READING YOUR NAVEL GAZING DISGUISED AS MEMOIR.
If you have a multi-million dollar mortgage, we’re not paying for your posts.
If you have a husband (likely in Finance, paying your bills) we’re not paying for your posts.
If you have a brick-and-mortar location that’s in the black bc it is subfinanced by someone else’s wealth, we’re not paying for your posts.
If you’re not redistributing wealth, we’re not paying for your posts.
If you can leave the country and call yourself an expat rather than an immigrant, we’re not paying for your posts.
If you haven’t worked a minimum wage job, we’re not paying for your posts.
If you’re not on the target list of the current Fascist administration, we’re not paying for your posts.
If you’re not fighting for the rights of others, we’re not paying for your posts.
If you are gifted with the privileges of financial freedom and international travel and you don’t highlight the lives and humanity of others, who are inevitably all the same feeling creatures, we’re not paying for your posts.
If you’re not offering creativity as entertainment, skill-building, or reprieve, we’re not paying for your posts.
If THIS, joining Substack, is your solution to “building a community” rather than stepping out your own front door and fixing what’s within reach, we’re not paying for your posts.
If you or someone you love and support isn’t affected by the current governmental downfall / Elon coup, we’re not paying for your posts.
If you think I’m attacking you, we’re not paying for your posts.
If you’re here, it’s to learn something - like how to help yourself and your communities, great, SUBSCRIBE.
If you’re here, it’s to gain visibility as a writer because that’s your biggest dream. Great, launch that paid subscription button, babe.
But to anyone who's just on here following a rallying cry to abandon Meta but you haven’t yet done/aren’t doing jack shit locally to help anyone but yourself - please, GO AWAY. This space isn’t for you.
To those of you doing the work, raising children, teaching, feeding bodies, minds, souls, caring for the sick, supporting others with your wealth, privilege, and access, working for a better world, not turning down the volume against Fascism, THANK YOU. SPEAK UP. KEEP SPEAKING UP. WE NEED YOU.
Viva la résistance!
Frances
Every word! Fuck those guys. 🖕🏻
Brilliant. simply Brilliant. and. FUCK EM ALL