It feels deBoer's rebuttal is a long and contrarian way to say "Ugh, capitalism". Yes, different products and industries have different norms as to what's acceptable. Does that mean there's no ethical consumption under capitalism (to use a phrase I absolutely hate)?
It mistakes doing something with not doing everything. A person like Casey Newton probably doesn't have significant leverage over a coal mining company. He does have the ability to move the needle on a blog+email-publishing social network and make the internet a slightly less hostile place.
More importantly, "I'm leaving this platform but I'm still gonna do my thing" is an important signal that there is a market for a similar product to Substack. The people who are very public about quitting Substack are functionally encouraging investment in competition, which means the quitters are more likely to get a better product that they can use. It's a classic example from Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. To which I say (seriously and unironically, 'cause internet), yay capitalism and markets!
Okay, I also have to give all of us credit because I'm hopeful that other people are doing the same thing I do which is every time person in my social circle casually throws out something about a terrible economy or how bad a job the government is doing at managing the economy, I empathize with how they feel and then calmly share some data with them to help them see that actually we're doing pretty great. And it's not a fight about who's right, it's just about sharing some numbers that I found interesting. 😃🤘
Right on cue, to prove Stancil's original point, here's a headline in the NY Times today: "The U.S. Seems to Be Dodging a Recession. What Could Go Wrong?"
Strongly recommend clicking the 'eepy' link at the end
It feels deBoer's rebuttal is a long and contrarian way to say "Ugh, capitalism". Yes, different products and industries have different norms as to what's acceptable. Does that mean there's no ethical consumption under capitalism (to use a phrase I absolutely hate)?
It mistakes doing something with not doing everything. A person like Casey Newton probably doesn't have significant leverage over a coal mining company. He does have the ability to move the needle on a blog+email-publishing social network and make the internet a slightly less hostile place.
More importantly, "I'm leaving this platform but I'm still gonna do my thing" is an important signal that there is a market for a similar product to Substack. The people who are very public about quitting Substack are functionally encouraging investment in competition, which means the quitters are more likely to get a better product that they can use. It's a classic example from Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. To which I say (seriously and unironically, 'cause internet), yay capitalism and markets!
Okay, I also have to give all of us credit because I'm hopeful that other people are doing the same thing I do which is every time person in my social circle casually throws out something about a terrible economy or how bad a job the government is doing at managing the economy, I empathize with how they feel and then calmly share some data with them to help them see that actually we're doing pretty great. And it's not a fight about who's right, it's just about sharing some numbers that I found interesting. 😃🤘
Right on cue, to prove Stancil's original point, here's a headline in the NY Times today: "The U.S. Seems to Be Dodging a Recession. What Could Go Wrong?"