Thank you Carole. We will defeated technoauthoritarianism. My civil service colleagues and I have caught the muskrat and his minions committing crimes. We will gather evidence to throw the broligarchs in jail where they belong. That is how we will save our sacred democracy! https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/no-one-elected-elon
Thank you for this. My admiration for you is bottomless, Carole. But please can I give you some advice as someone who was edited many newspaper sections and several magazines - write shorter pieces and keep them very tight. It's so important that people absorb the information you are sharing and as most of us read this on our phones, concentration tires pretty quickly scrolling down and down and down. So more, shorter posts are the way to get your information across. THANK YOU
I second the suggestion to shorten essays, state the object of the idea, and then provide concrete examples. I’m a former defense attorney. Over the decades, everyone’s attention span has shortened bc of internet communication. Juries used to sit still for at least 30 minutes. These days, they disconnect and show boredom after 10 minutes. You’re doing great stuff. Thanks a million for giving us the benefit of your fraught experience.
Haha!! Yes, every week I mean to make them shorter. In fairness, this time, I wanted to package up the column with the new podcast because it explains the concept and the conceit behind it...but I hear you. On the other hand, there are some newsletters I've subscribed to where I'm getting bombarded and they feel pretty insubstantial. But you are both so right about attention spans, my own included...
Some of us have still got the attention spans, so you're OK with a core group of us, Carole. But I know others who could be assisted with tight, shorter burst pieces. Highlight summaries of the longer stuff as well. Me? You'll never lose me to other dis... ooh a dangly thing...
They may be correct considering common wisdom. Normally I would agree, but people like me are hungry for content/community that takes a thorough look at all of this. Because they are coming at us with such rapid fire intensity, the short form counter, while usually a winner due to conciseness, doesn’t always apply. And I can only speak for myself, but if it is a more complete compendium of this grand and novel threat —and every bit of it is relevant—, at least in this case, the flagship, if you will, landing page of the fight against the Broligarchy has been done well. And well received. (Disclaimer: I am no writer, and I should take a course on eliminating such run-on sentences)
Yep. Personally I love long-form articles. But ... their very nature means I am absolutely ruthless about which I have time for. (BTW Tortoise has been a 'fail' for me from the start, due in no small part to the length of their articles... yes I realise that was a selling point, but not for me...the topics and what was 'revealed' often didn't justify the length and time... sorry!)
Ditto. I can’t see how most of Carole’s ‘columns’ here could be – and wouldn’t want them to be made – any shorter. I actually visit Substack for such longer reads (having vetoed most other forms of journalism) that impart interesting, useful and important knowledge; and see it as the antidote to the short, often meaningless, compressed stuff published on most other social media (which I have never really used).
My fear is that all such social media tend towards the same end: adding features, adding users, etc. until they collapse under their own weight like a dying star. I would hope that quality long-form journalism would be be the one thing that at least slows down that process on here… – but don’t hold out much hope.
This. Most of us just don't have time - even when we are actively (especially?) focused on media in our jobs . Yes, it's harder work to write and edit it 'tight' ... but often worth it.
I'm so glad you're doing this work, Carole. It's so important that more and more of us understand what is at stake now. Thank you for your courage and tenacity. Big love from the Canadalands.
Whew, that was a lot to get through,Carole, and your essay was absolutely Amazing. Thank You for being here on Substack, and sharing your wealth of knowledge with us, I appreciate you, and will reStack ASAP 🙏💯👍
This here Yank just wants to let you know how strangely comforting is to hear British voices from across the pond sending us hope, solidarity and insight as we sit here under the occupation of Sieg Heiling fascists in open alliance with Russia’s thug-in-chief. While the reverse of a Normandy invasion to rescue us would be nice, this will more than do for now, thank you!
Thank You Carole. I’m a long-time admirer of yours since you brought Cambridge Analytica out. Seeing -and living thorough - the repercussions from that has been disheartening. I am looking forward to your views and suggestions on a way forward. Thanks again!
Have listened to the new podcast, read everything you've posted here about it, and want to say a huge thanks to you, Carole, plus Claire Wardle, Mark Little, and Roger McNamee. Yes, the newness of what you are doing comes across, and I sense a feeling of liberation - almost euphoria as you dive straight into new, thrilling unknowns, with unending sets of possibilities. Scary, sure, but you get to do this your way.
For me, it's all about content, so what I'll do is absorb it all and come back here to comment more thoroughly, aiming to be objective in a way which might be helpful? Maybe? I'll try, anyway.
But you want the first... er... hit right now, so my initial reaction is: this is it. Precisely what we need. How the crucial news of what's going on as it unfolds needs to be unbesmirched in an accessible way, somehow and somewhere we can count on. Like we need secret codes and codenames to keep this going when they come to shut us all down. Or send their silent, invisible, flying Ai monkeys. Or whatever.
Through your guidance and the input of others, we collectively find a way to stay One Step Ahead.
Hello Carol. As a German living in the UK during the Brexit, I can fully understand the anxiety and helplessness, being subject to changes to a life you've built in a foreign land that others decided for you, and you can't understand how that has happened because it wasn't logic. Then I stumbled over your piece about Cambridge Analytica at the time when it was published in the Observer. It left me openmouthed and speechless and I shared it with everyone, because suddenly it all made sense to me. What I couldn't understand at the time is, why not every leftleaning, europefriendly Newspaper like The Independent was sharing your discoveries. Hearing about the things you went through, I understand now. But the times didn't get any better - on the contrary - and we need investigative journalists like yourself right now, more than ever, who tell people the truth and fight against the rising tide of autocratism that's popping up all over the western democraties. Thank you for your work.
Not trying to be pedantic or police language choices, but since facts vs propaganda is a large part of the fight against authoritarianism, “drinking the Kool Aid” is really problematic. It’s become an expression to talk about people blindly obeying, when in reality many of those who died were forced at gunpoint to drink the poison, many were injected against their will, and nearly a third of the deaths were children.
So it’s an excellent example of the common interpretation of something losing connection with truth as time goes by, and it’s an expression I’ve tried to stop using in any context.
Carole, am not sure if you’re aware of the petition to parliament in Canada to revoke Musk’s Canadian citizenship — more than 169,000 signatures in the last couple of days and growing.
Thank you Carole. You were and are a brave journalist. I read all your words, sometimes they scare me, like today.
I’m an immigrant, a US citizen and honestly I wonder if they’re going to come after me at age 77… lol… but still, chaos for everyone. I’m going to follow your points 8, 10, 11, 14 and then some. You’re the expert on how to survive‼️
I call bs— Musk gets subsidies and tax breaks for his enterprises(Tesla, SpaceX) He gets millions in contracts for Starlink and is superseding NASA for our tax dollars and is now authorized w/o election or supervision to delve into and destroy functional government programs and services and access or most private personal information and data, uncontrolled. Our representatives need to take back their Constitutional power of the purse of our government.
Note: Putin invaded Ukraine and bombed private citizens, hospitals, schools, Chernobyl’s nuclear grid containment and winter access to power to heat their homes as well as as destroying agriculture that feeds much of the world—these are war crimes against humanity!
Thank you Carole. We will defeated technoauthoritarianism. My civil service colleagues and I have caught the muskrat and his minions committing crimes. We will gather evidence to throw the broligarchs in jail where they belong. That is how we will save our sacred democracy! https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/no-one-elected-elon
Thank you for your work. Conserving of evidence always so critical...
Thank you for this. My admiration for you is bottomless, Carole. But please can I give you some advice as someone who was edited many newspaper sections and several magazines - write shorter pieces and keep them very tight. It's so important that people absorb the information you are sharing and as most of us read this on our phones, concentration tires pretty quickly scrolling down and down and down. So more, shorter posts are the way to get your information across. THANK YOU
I second the suggestion to shorten essays, state the object of the idea, and then provide concrete examples. I’m a former defense attorney. Over the decades, everyone’s attention span has shortened bc of internet communication. Juries used to sit still for at least 30 minutes. These days, they disconnect and show boredom after 10 minutes. You’re doing great stuff. Thanks a million for giving us the benefit of your fraught experience.
Haha!! Yes, every week I mean to make them shorter. In fairness, this time, I wanted to package up the column with the new podcast because it explains the concept and the conceit behind it...but I hear you. On the other hand, there are some newsletters I've subscribed to where I'm getting bombarded and they feel pretty insubstantial. But you are both so right about attention spans, my own included...
Some of us have still got the attention spans, so you're OK with a core group of us, Carole. But I know others who could be assisted with tight, shorter burst pieces. Highlight summaries of the longer stuff as well. Me? You'll never lose me to other dis... ooh a dangly thing...
I imagine the Churchill thing is part of it - ‘apologies for the length, if I’d had more time it would have been shorter…’…
They may be correct considering common wisdom. Normally I would agree, but people like me are hungry for content/community that takes a thorough look at all of this. Because they are coming at us with such rapid fire intensity, the short form counter, while usually a winner due to conciseness, doesn’t always apply. And I can only speak for myself, but if it is a more complete compendium of this grand and novel threat —and every bit of it is relevant—, at least in this case, the flagship, if you will, landing page of the fight against the Broligarchy has been done well. And well received. (Disclaimer: I am no writer, and I should take a course on eliminating such run-on sentences)
Yep. Personally I love long-form articles. But ... their very nature means I am absolutely ruthless about which I have time for. (BTW Tortoise has been a 'fail' for me from the start, due in no small part to the length of their articles... yes I realise that was a selling point, but not for me...the topics and what was 'revealed' often didn't justify the length and time... sorry!)
I like the longer form of these - feels like more of whats needed
Ditto. I can’t see how most of Carole’s ‘columns’ here could be – and wouldn’t want them to be made – any shorter. I actually visit Substack for such longer reads (having vetoed most other forms of journalism) that impart interesting, useful and important knowledge; and see it as the antidote to the short, often meaningless, compressed stuff published on most other social media (which I have never really used).
My fear is that all such social media tend towards the same end: adding features, adding users, etc. until they collapse under their own weight like a dying star. I would hope that quality long-form journalism would be be the one thing that at least slows down that process on here… – but don’t hold out much hope.
Yep, Maggie's right. Longer pieces as and when required, but short bursts of tight need to be in the mix as well.
This is what I meant to say but wrote a tome about it. I fully support this sentiment.
This. Most of us just don't have time - even when we are actively (especially?) focused on media in our jobs . Yes, it's harder work to write and edit it 'tight' ... but often worth it.
I'm so glad you're doing this work, Carole. It's so important that more and more of us understand what is at stake now. Thank you for your courage and tenacity. Big love from the Canadalands.
Whew, that was a lot to get through,Carole, and your essay was absolutely Amazing. Thank You for being here on Substack, and sharing your wealth of knowledge with us, I appreciate you, and will reStack ASAP 🙏💯👍
Thank you so much, Karen. Appreciate it.
This here Yank just wants to let you know how strangely comforting is to hear British voices from across the pond sending us hope, solidarity and insight as we sit here under the occupation of Sieg Heiling fascists in open alliance with Russia’s thug-in-chief. While the reverse of a Normandy invasion to rescue us would be nice, this will more than do for now, thank you!
Love that. It’s going to be fine. We’re sending the Atlantic convoys and we’ll keep the light on for you…
Sending hope across the pond 💪🏼
Thank You Carole. I’m a long-time admirer of yours since you brought Cambridge Analytica out. Seeing -and living thorough - the repercussions from that has been disheartening. I am looking forward to your views and suggestions on a way forward. Thanks again!
Have listened to the new podcast, read everything you've posted here about it, and want to say a huge thanks to you, Carole, plus Claire Wardle, Mark Little, and Roger McNamee. Yes, the newness of what you are doing comes across, and I sense a feeling of liberation - almost euphoria as you dive straight into new, thrilling unknowns, with unending sets of possibilities. Scary, sure, but you get to do this your way.
For me, it's all about content, so what I'll do is absorb it all and come back here to comment more thoroughly, aiming to be objective in a way which might be helpful? Maybe? I'll try, anyway.
But you want the first... er... hit right now, so my initial reaction is: this is it. Precisely what we need. How the crucial news of what's going on as it unfolds needs to be unbesmirched in an accessible way, somehow and somewhere we can count on. Like we need secret codes and codenames to keep this going when they come to shut us all down. Or send their silent, invisible, flying Ai monkeys. Or whatever.
Through your guidance and the input of others, we collectively find a way to stay One Step Ahead.
Awesome! Can’t wait to check out the pilot. You’re a hero, and hopefully more and more heroes will rise up in your wake.
They're not broligarchs, though, they're f'ing gangsters.
Careful. A gangster is an actual thing, and thus this is arguably defamation.
They are both, but I'll say that Trump really brings the gangster vibe, and it starts trickling down to his minions. For example, trying to shake down Ukraine. We already knew this in 2016. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-mob-organized-crime-213910/
Excellent, thanks.
I'm so glad I found you on Substack! Thanks so much for the work you are doing!
Thank you, Jude. I don't really know what I'm doing but am trying to figure it out as I go...hence why feedback so helpful!!
Hello Carol. As a German living in the UK during the Brexit, I can fully understand the anxiety and helplessness, being subject to changes to a life you've built in a foreign land that others decided for you, and you can't understand how that has happened because it wasn't logic. Then I stumbled over your piece about Cambridge Analytica at the time when it was published in the Observer. It left me openmouthed and speechless and I shared it with everyone, because suddenly it all made sense to me. What I couldn't understand at the time is, why not every leftleaning, europefriendly Newspaper like The Independent was sharing your discoveries. Hearing about the things you went through, I understand now. But the times didn't get any better - on the contrary - and we need investigative journalists like yourself right now, more than ever, who tell people the truth and fight against the rising tide of autocratism that's popping up all over the western democraties. Thank you for your work.
Not trying to be pedantic or police language choices, but since facts vs propaganda is a large part of the fight against authoritarianism, “drinking the Kool Aid” is really problematic. It’s become an expression to talk about people blindly obeying, when in reality many of those who died were forced at gunpoint to drink the poison, many were injected against their will, and nearly a third of the deaths were children.
So it’s an excellent example of the common interpretation of something losing connection with truth as time goes by, and it’s an expression I’ve tried to stop using in any context.
Carole, am not sure if you’re aware of the petition to parliament in Canada to revoke Musk’s Canadian citizenship — more than 169,000 signatures in the last couple of days and growing.
https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-5353
Meantime, please keep up the fight and helping us all to actively resist.
Thank you Carole. You were and are a brave journalist. I read all your words, sometimes they scare me, like today.
I’m an immigrant, a US citizen and honestly I wonder if they’re going to come after me at age 77… lol… but still, chaos for everyone. I’m going to follow your points 8, 10, 11, 14 and then some. You’re the expert on how to survive‼️
I call bs— Musk gets subsidies and tax breaks for his enterprises(Tesla, SpaceX) He gets millions in contracts for Starlink and is superseding NASA for our tax dollars and is now authorized w/o election or supervision to delve into and destroy functional government programs and services and access or most private personal information and data, uncontrolled. Our representatives need to take back their Constitutional power of the purse of our government.
Note: Putin invaded Ukraine and bombed private citizens, hospitals, schools, Chernobyl’s nuclear grid containment and winter access to power to heat their homes as well as as destroying agriculture that feeds much of the world—these are war crimes against humanity!