We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Samizdata quote of the day

I saw this via Instapundit and have to share:

“Tweedy party-at-the-Verso-loft n+1 leftists aren’t making money. 33 year olds who follow Tik Tok trends for a living and communicate in slang that’s fifteen years too young for them aren’t making money. Arrogant white nerdoliberals with Warby Parkers and Moleskine collections aren’t making money. Sports bloggers who provide sports news and commentary but with attitude aren’t making money. Softening khaki dads struggling to understand Bitcoin and intersectionality in an effort to survive their next inevitable layoff aren’t making money. Talented and unfulfilled women writers who have learned too late that women’s media is a ghetto they will struggle to escape for the rest of their careers aren’t making money. Aspiring young data scientists who labor over their spreadsheets for hours only to see others copy and past[e] their R graphs without attribution and receive 40x the pageviews aren’t making money. And you won’t either.”

Freddie deBoer (who has a Substack account; thanks also to Anne Althouse for putting this up.)

8 comments to Samizdata quote of the day

  • lucklucky

    I think they are and with our money…
    Seems the Queen now want a political commissar, oops sorry a “diversity” czar. From whom they will get that person, secretaries, assistants, social diversity operators?

    Here is the Political Commissar chief in Pentagon getting in apparent trouble.
    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2021/03/31/oh-so-thats-why-the-pentagons-woke-czar-was-reassigned-n2587175

    How soon the ships of Royal Navy and US Navy will have Political Commissar?

  • bobby b

    I’ve not been a deBoer fan in the past, but he’s come up with some good stuff recently. Substack is becoming a must-read site, what with Taibbi, Greenwald, DeBoer, Sullivan, et al. moving in.

  • Stonyground

    Isn’t it simply that non of the activities described here meet the definition of productive work?

  • Paul Marks

    I strongly suspect that people who support Bitcoin are not supportive of (Frankfurt School Marxist) “intersectionality”.

    I am not really “into” either thing – but I believe this is two very different groups of young (and not so young) people.

  • Bitcoin? I’m not about to invest in it. Never buy until you can understand what you’re getting — and blockchains are math I will not touch. Besides, there are the nasty scents of Ponzi schemes upon it.

  • Paul Marks

    They have done very well so far Ellen.

    I do not understand Bitcoin either and so would not buy it – but good luck to them. They are certainly not Marxist “Woke” types.

  • Bloke on M4

    “you’re in a market, so sell something other people aren’t”

    I would go one step further than this: write as a by-product of what you do. If you’re a bouncer for a strip club, write about being a bouncer for a strip club. You have a deeper understanding of things and you get your content for free. Maybe something funny happened, just go home and brain dump it onto a keyboard.

    This stuff is always the best stuff. Like someone reviewing a laptop after a month of use, that they actually paid for. They notice the irritations and also the things that work nice. They’re always better than some magazine that has one for a day.

    “Then, pitch. Look on the websites and find the pitching instructions. If you can’t find them they don’t want you. Give the editor the link and invite them to look at your work. ”

    I’m sceptical of this, because OK, editors might make it more readable, but by how much? And how much of a cut do they get for doing it? If you have a personal website, you can put ads on there, share it around social media and if it’s good enough, people will tell their friends and read it.

  • Paul Marks

    Bloke on M4

    So the post was about “write what you know” – now I understand! Thank you.

    I had read the post several times and it was still very unclear to me what it was about – but you have cleared that up.