I am becoming irrationally, or maybe perfectly rationally, angry at the shit that's flying around the last oh, idk, 20 years that the last 2 weeks seem like but I am so appreciative of how you are managing to herd these-- forgive me-- cats. And I know it's going to get worse but I'm proud to be in the trenches with you, Jon. Thank you.
Hey there!! Paid TFN subscriber here! @Jonathan Larsen, I love your funny and serious work. Just checking to make sure I am a VIP on your serious substack and I can’t tell on the phone app 🥹 Please advise🙏🏼 many thanks
Lisa! Thank you! TFN readers have all of this week to upgrade to paid status. Only at the END of the week will I then add all those upgraded subscribers as paid comps to the Very Serious substack. Make sense? I hope so. Foolproof? Doubtful…
You provided me with quite a revelation. I have always interpreted the "nothing to fear..." quote as referring to our own fears. In the context in which you used it, I am now thinking that possibly the correct interpretation is that we should all be afraid of the results of reactivity to collective fear. 🤯
Sometimes I get confused reading your posts. Are you saying both Dems & Repubs are equally guilty of violence inducing speech?
Saying thump is a threat to democracy isn’t inciting violence. It’s a wake up call.
Making up stories like Haitians are eating your pets isn’t necessarily violent in & of itself, but it for sure is a dog whistle saying “you won’t be safe anymore until you get these black people out of your neighborhood”
Also, when Dems want change we don’t take to lynchings, guns, swatting etc, we vote, or march (yes sometimes bad apples use a protest to break things and/or steal stuff)
Thanks for asking, and, yes, I believe you're reading me wrong. That's my fault, of course, not yours, as it's the writer's job to ensure that they're being clear. I'm definitely not saying anything's equal! I wouldn't know how to quantify it, for one thing, and for another, even if you could, what're the odds of them being exactly equal? We've seen Trump call for his crowds to beat people up, so, yeah, I think it's pretty clear who gets the violence-inducing trophy here. And, yes, the dog whistles come through loud and clear.
They've set a low bar, but I think it's important that everyone else clear it with plenty of room. So, I've got no beef with private individuals calling Trump a threat to democracy, since people can ask them what they mean and drill down. But leaders, with platforms, I believe have an obligation to be more careful or at least more precise. The accumulation of executive power might be Trump's goal, but it's something Democrats have actively partnered in for decades. NOT equal to the Republican efforts (when Republicans control the White House), of course!
Thanks for the reply, but to me saying “thump is a threat to democracy” is definitely something I want to hear from a leader if it’s true, which in this case it is.
Republicans don’t just want “an accumulation of power”, they want to dismantle our checks & balances & create an authoritarian government. Sometimes you have to call a spade a spade.
On the subject of slinging insults I think JoJo from Jerz said it perfectly:
https://jojofromjerz.substack.com/p/the-arsonist-blames-the-wind-the?utm_campaign=posts-open-in-app&triedRedirect=true
I am becoming irrationally, or maybe perfectly rationally, angry at the shit that's flying around the last oh, idk, 20 years that the last 2 weeks seem like but I am so appreciative of how you are managing to herd these-- forgive me-- cats. And I know it's going to get worse but I'm proud to be in the trenches with you, Jon. Thank you.
Hey there!! Paid TFN subscriber here! @Jonathan Larsen, I love your funny and serious work. Just checking to make sure I am a VIP on your serious substack and I can’t tell on the phone app 🥹 Please advise🙏🏼 many thanks
Yes it makes sense and I appreciate the guidance😀
Lisa! Thank you! TFN readers have all of this week to upgrade to paid status. Only at the END of the week will I then add all those upgraded subscribers as paid comps to the Very Serious substack. Make sense? I hope so. Foolproof? Doubtful…
Great stuff. Particularly like what you say about fear speech
Thanks so much, human being.
You provided me with quite a revelation. I have always interpreted the "nothing to fear..." quote as referring to our own fears. In the context in which you used it, I am now thinking that possibly the correct interpretation is that we should all be afraid of the results of reactivity to collective fear. 🤯
That’s a nuance I hadn’t thought about so explicitly so thanks for articulating it!
Sometimes I get confused reading your posts. Are you saying both Dems & Repubs are equally guilty of violence inducing speech?
Saying thump is a threat to democracy isn’t inciting violence. It’s a wake up call.
Making up stories like Haitians are eating your pets isn’t necessarily violent in & of itself, but it for sure is a dog whistle saying “you won’t be safe anymore until you get these black people out of your neighborhood”
Also, when Dems want change we don’t take to lynchings, guns, swatting etc, we vote, or march (yes sometimes bad apples use a protest to break things and/or steal stuff)
Am I reading you wrong?
The way I read it, is that "we" don't mean violence, but you have to consider how "they" understand what was said.
Fearful people assume worse.
Fearful people see threats even if there's none.
People who think violence is a reasonable way to settle a disagreement, can assume you mean violence when you don't.
Thanks for asking, and, yes, I believe you're reading me wrong. That's my fault, of course, not yours, as it's the writer's job to ensure that they're being clear. I'm definitely not saying anything's equal! I wouldn't know how to quantify it, for one thing, and for another, even if you could, what're the odds of them being exactly equal? We've seen Trump call for his crowds to beat people up, so, yeah, I think it's pretty clear who gets the violence-inducing trophy here. And, yes, the dog whistles come through loud and clear.
They've set a low bar, but I think it's important that everyone else clear it with plenty of room. So, I've got no beef with private individuals calling Trump a threat to democracy, since people can ask them what they mean and drill down. But leaders, with platforms, I believe have an obligation to be more careful or at least more precise. The accumulation of executive power might be Trump's goal, but it's something Democrats have actively partnered in for decades. NOT equal to the Republican efforts (when Republicans control the White House), of course!
Thanks for the reply, but to me saying “thump is a threat to democracy” is definitely something I want to hear from a leader if it’s true, which in this case it is.
Republicans don’t just want “an accumulation of power”, they want to dismantle our checks & balances & create an authoritarian government. Sometimes you have to call a spade a spade.
Thanks! It's okay for us to want different things...tactical unanimity is not a requirement!
Okay, here’s Seth Meyers showing thump saying Democrats are a threat to democracy:
https://youtu.be/VGgghqAFHJI?si=9hGUJ1BaukqmYuG
So it’s ok for thump but not Harris?
Definitely not! (Thanks for the clip, that was great!)