» HADOUKEN « self publishing in a time of covid
Before I get started, a note: I will be sending a small prize (yet to be determined) to the first person who correctly guesses which work of art the subject line references. Fun!
Regarding the subject line, if the irony didn't cause you to projectile spew your morning brew, either you're not picking up the caustic vibes I'm putting down or I'm living in a world that's all my own. (I'm very aware there's a good chance it's the latter.) As I bang away on the surface of this modern engineering miracle, I can't help but think of another miracle: that a couple hundred of you actually read these musings. And for that, I am forever thankful.
Back to the matter at hand: self publishing. The Internet's greatest gift is, of course, its greatest curse. As a fervent defender of free speech (I believe the First Amendment is, quite simply, mankind's greatest societal achievement), I indulge in all of its delights: from the catharsis I feel when hitting send on one of these Tiny Letters to the rush I get when offering an unpopular yet entirely reasonable opinion to a crowd of East Coast Elites. On the other end of the spectrum, at least for me, is disappointment and in many cases, disbelief.
Somewhere in the middle is the embarrassment you feel -- in my case, for the interrogating party, for others, I imagine, themselves -- when asked "why did you stop following me on Twitter?" Gross.
For the purpose of this newsletter, I'd like to focus on the disappointing end of the spectrum. At a time when the totality of the world's knowledge is literally at our fingertips, the amount of people who take as true 100% of the information that ends up in their feeds is just...kind of...sad. And the people who feel the need to continuously contribute to this daily cycle is even worse; I don't know, very sad? What's most sad is the direction this sort of behavior has taken society: whereas, we used to celebrate those who achieved greatness, produced artistic works and shared unique ideas, today, we applaud those who espouse consensus views that have been pre-packaged by a group of elite who are looking to influence your every thought.
My apologies if you are only now just realizing that you don't actually have an opinion on the democratic primaries or the coronavirus, but that you instead simply agree with everything you heard on Last Week Tonight or The Ben Shapiro Show. I didn't want to be the one to tell you Santa's not real.
But I think the whole system is starting to crack from the pressure it placed upon itself -- a pressure to constantly "be on." At a time where we are being encouraged to "be off," we can really see what's been going on this whole time. It's like visiting your favorite nightclub during the day, before the cleaning crew gets there: if you knew the couch actually looked like that, you wouldn't have sat in it, nevertheless told your friends how dope the place is. And the music? You know are starting to realize that maybe you "like it" because all your friends claim they do. And it snowballs from there.
Years from now, we may look back on this time as The Greatest Reset, whereby even mainstream types begin to question their faith and reliance on gated institutional narratives and social constructs. I think this is likely no matter how long the global pandemic lasts: if it ends in short order, we will wonder why our experts got us so riled up, and if it rages on for a year, destroying financial markets and global commerce, we will wonder why we praised golden calves in the first place. Maybe we'll even ask more questions, formulate more original thought and even produce more -- who knows?!
In the meantime, I'm sure there will be many memes and canned one liners ready for deployment on Twitter.
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For long time readers, you may notice that there is a lack of embedded links in this week's letter (which is kind of my calling card). That's because I want to try something different: a list! In recent weeks, I've seen a spike in subscribers, and I've been playing around with the idea of reformatting this letter to be more structured (for lack of a better word). Less rambled musings, more short, punchy quips. I don't know, we'll see.
That said, some links (a few that relate back to the content above) to help get you through what looks to be an impending corona-quarantine (at least in major cities, like New York).
Federalist No. 10, on the nuance of factions and a citizenry with broad, differentiated opinions (and in many ways, logic that acted as precursor to the First Amendment)
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, a First Amendment case that held no public official may recover "damages for a defamatory falsehood relating to his official conduct unless he proves that the statement was made with 'actual malice'..."
If you really want to nerd out, here's a list of the notable First Amendment case law as per the American Bar Association
Even if you don't like anime, never heard of the original video game and don't really gravitate toward fantasy (specifically, vampire stuff), Castlevania season 3 is absurdly good
The story of the Golden Calf!
Dreams, where the limits on p2p video game creation have been shattered
Maybe get yourself a Peloton during this time of gymlessness
Chess.com has really upped their catalogue of lessons in recent months
While stockpiling on non-perishables, check out Kurosawa's masterpiece The Hidden Fortress on Amazon Prime Video
* I promised my wife these newsletters would be shorter in 2020. After some progress in Q1, I produced this fat turd. Apologies to her for taking up this much space in your inbox ;)