December 20, 2024

K006: How is this going?

Emily!

We’ve each done three updates apiece now for our newsletter, and it begs the question: how is this going?

You asked me this question via text (which we’ve preserved amidst semi-regular newsletters; this is not Vlogbrothers 2.0).

You also asked an unrelated question - unrelated to the newsletter, but tangentially related to Vlogbrothers 2.0: Have I listened to this week’s episode of Dear Hank & John?¹

And yes, I have. Hank and John answered questions on steeping tea, starlings, and whether one should buy a “This Machine Kills Fascists” sticker for their laptop in the year 2024.

Here’s an abridged excerpt from the podcast for reference:

John: Does the machine kill or, by which I mean, discourage fascism? I am not convinced the machine discourages fascism. In fact, I think the machine can be a tool of fascism and that is why I don't have the sticker on my laptop anymore... I used to believe so much that an open internet would solve totalitarianism... I was so fascinatingly, completely wrong and it's so weird.   

We are by no means broadcasting on the level of influencing American decline into fascism, one way or the other. But in writing anything - especially something that has the potential to reach a larger audience - I want to reflect on what this newsletter can mean. Who are we trying to talk to? Are there limits to what topics we discuss? Can we endorse political candidates? Is there an end goal to this correspondence?

There’s a few ways we could approach this. A set of rules is one (Word limits, frequency, DFTBA). We could provide checks and balances, but we’ve seen how that works for American democracy. We could agree on vague themes, or give the newsletter a cohesive description, the way Paul Musgrave has one for his newsletter, Systemic Hatreds.²

Curious for your thoughts,

Kate