The Limits of Compassion

So you've opened your heart to radical empathy and recognized the deep, sacred humanity in every living being you connect with online...but what about THAT fucking guy?

One of the things I want to do with the paid tier of this Substack is essays like this one. Essays I could put up openly, full of thoughts I completely and fervently stand by and would have no issue proudly attaching my name to. Essays that, were they to go viral or achieve any sort of popularity, would attract whining, shrieking nonsense from every fucking moldy gutter of the internet, taking up my time and energy and VERY CONSTANTLY TESTED PATIENCE to wade through with a normal, healthy blood pressure.

Things I want to say and find important, but honestly? I just don’t want to fucking hear it from the real and actual people I’m talking about, who’ve developed the nasty narcissist’s habit of actually responding to low-traffic commentary about their cultural malfeasance because it’s all a fun game to them and the prize is feeling talked about. That, or sending their drooling shitbat-horde to harass anyone who dares to breathe maybe you are being a bit of an asshole right now what with your hating everyone and calling for a lot of groups’ deaths could you possibly not we are all very tired and busy thank you.

I just don’t always want to play goalie against the shitbat team.

But if you’ve paid to be part of this little “newsletter,” (and oh my god, thank you, hi, I remain amazed anyone did) I figure you’re more or less okay, and probably at least 30-40% on my team, so you’re probably not going to tell Ben Shapiro I’m about to call him a shitbat (which I am). Possibly more importantly, I’m willing to take the bet that you’re really unlikely to start frothing at the comment section about how I myself am the shitbat, and also glue, such that foul calumny bounces off them and sticks to me and also vaccines are made of billions of tiny demons which can mysteriously be defeated with the power of refreshing peppermint essential oil.

So I’m going to get into something that troubles me pretty often, and I’m trusting you all to come along for the ride.