Welcome to my Substack
Why longform writing was always my next step.
I used to blog a lot, primarily from 2006-2013. As a photographer, I initially discovered photoblogs that were comprised of a single image each day, a comments section and ‘next’ and ‘back’ links to jump to the previous day’s images, then I later joined the masses with a text blog. I firmly etched myself into that community; went to events and awards ceremonies, created and joined ‘photowalks’ and met with many people.
In the hierarchy of “an online person” I was a creator and contributor, not simply a passive consumer.
Jump forward 10yrs and things are very different. The internet has changed, and so politics has changed along with it — in my eyes, this is not for the better. Today there is a new religion in town and it takes no prisoners: ‘gender’ is making headlines and to disagree is considered bigotry. There are screams of human rights abuses, free speech is considered a far-right dogwhistle, and the rights of same-sex attracted people are aligned with racism. Oh and homosexual is a dogwhistle.
In the year of our lord 2023 there are new doctrines, mantras, prayers and dogmas — asking questions is the enemy. Inner spirits and feelings hold more weight than facts and evidence.
As a non-believer in religion from my early teens, I remain sceptical of all creeds and articles of faith. I ask questions until I understand and if I still don’t understand I will ask more questions. It is the very act of asking questions that is considered a terrible thing, it will be met with criticism and and harsh judgement; derision even. Friends will be lost to this new faith; I’ve been there, as have many others.
The levels of censorship and authoritarianism creeping into society are extremely worrying. The ability to speak out without fear of retribution should not be contested, but that’s what we are seeing today with these new polarising ideas that have taken ahold of many people’s thoughts.
Political participation is a civic duty for all of us, and the ability to hold political views should be respected — including views that oppose the perceived narrative of the day. No one has the right to not be offended or not to hear views they disagree with, in fact disagreement should be seen as a positive thing. I disagree with many people on many issues and this allows me to refine my viewpoints, understanding, and arguments. If we only live in a world where everyone agrees with us we will never be challenged. This is wholly dangerous.
As a society, unless we can combat this sense of totalitarianism, where our thoughts and speech is policed, the ability for others to speak out and have their own voice will be lost.
Over the past year I’ve spent time assessing my own thoughts through asking questions, reading, and listening to those much smarter than me — most of all I am not afraid to have conversations with others and I do not judge people based on the ideas dictated by others. 2022 was a pivotal year for me in terms of the conversations I had and people I met. I have no fear of speaking to others. This fear is dangerous. This comes from a fear of hearing ideas you don’t agree with: this in itself is dangerous.
It’s easy to see how there is more homophobia and misogyny today than at many points in history. These are genuine concerns, that affect all of us. The media portrays a certain view and all due to the silos in which we live, we rarely see the opposing view. Language is changing right in front of us to the extent that anyone who disagrees with supposed far-left ideas are referred to as “far-right Nazi bigots” for simply believing the thing we all believed up until 10 minutes ago. This is used as a way to shut down the argument and frighten people out of daring to disagree. Welcome to extreme authoritarianism.
Over the coming months I will to lay out my ideas around politics and philosophy, how I see society today, and the problems therein, through regularly published essays, as well as recapping current events. I do this for primarily for myself, but also because I value the longform written word. These are not memes and quippy remarks but this is necessary additional words and context to the discussion is important. In fact, memes and political comics are vital, but without the understanding and language to go with them, many people can find them to be aggressive and combative without good reason. It is for that reason that I use them sparingly.
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