Embrace the Mess of Democracy

Making decisions with other people will always be chaotic and complicated. Lean into it.

Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash

(Copied over from my brief attempt at blogging on Substack instead)

The first time I heard about Substack was when Glenn Greenwald left The Intercept. It was one of those news stories that gave me messy feelings. For anyone who didn’t follow along, the gist of the story was this: Greenwald wrote a piece that was critical of Joe Biden. The Intercept’s editors refused to publish it, allegedly on the grounds that it might help Trump win the election. Greenwald, morally outraged by his team’s allegiance to the Democratic establishment, quit his own publication and came to Substack where he could self-publish without editorial censorship. The Intercept certainly had their own strongly-worded reply in turn.

The “Glenn Greenwald versus The Intercept” debate is such a common one these days. The enduring question of idealism versus realism in political strategy. The debate about priorities, public voice, censorship and responsibility. Greenwald is an interesting symbol to me, the way he casts himself, rightly or not, as a last bulwark against political factionalism in favor of dedication to specific ideals. I find his perspective at once admirable and important, and also irresponsible and narcissistic. I’m…