I’m Taking a Minute to Say Thanks

Readers are what make all this worth it

I’m not going to stretch this out, but this morning I received a few comments thanking me for my perspective and I thought, writing is meaningless without readers. It’s a dialogue about life, good, bad, and weird.

After publishing for several years here and a little over a year on my writing Substack newsletter, my appreciation for you, readers, could not be greater. The ability to publish without a filter, other than limits on hate speech and incitements to violence, is something powerful in a world where autocratic governments arrest and torture those who speak out.

There is a powerful and growing movement here in the US to limit and censor our ability to freely express ourselves on almost any topic. Its proponents pretend they are protecting children and truth when in fact they are doing the opposite.

This censorship of books, speech, and education is all about the pursuit of power and greed. It horrifies me and it is a great motivation to write the political opinion pieces I publish here. And the fact that they get read tells me I am not alone.

This week a comedian in China made an innocuous joke about their military during a performance. He is popular and non-political but now he has disappeared. Those Americans who ban books and ideas they don’t understand are pushing us towards the same culture of fear and distrust.

When you hear words like ‘woke’ being bandied around by right wing politicians, understand that this is about a strategy of division created for political purposes, not because these people actually care about these made-up issues.

The reality is they don’t want us talking to each other.

Writing and reading are about sharing ideas and differing viewpoints. So, thank you for reading and try to get out there and talk with others. Agree to disagree if you must, but most of the time you’ll find common ground.

And that is not a small thing; it is vital to the health of our democracy.

Hey writers, you might find my newsletter, The Grasshopper, interesting. It’s all about writing- technique, lifestyle, inspiration, creativity, and frustration! I’m having a great time writing it weekly. To learn where the name came from, read the first issue (don’t worry, there are many more issues!). Oh yeah, it’s free…

Find me on Mastodon: @martinedic@me.dm