I’ve been around this disparate online movement since 2013. Not under the same handle of course, but that’s part of my longevity perhaps. An old head in a newer guise. It means I’ve seen it all before, not only that but I’ve listened to my peers and betters who have been around even longer talk about the same splits. The same in-fighting, the same disagreements. If there is one thing that unites us still is that you have to be disagreeable to even be exploring any of the ideas that are being discussed.
Wordpress blogs were big when I started out. Think the early NRx types - this was pre Social Matter before they established enough commonality to make that place. The old school manosphere was all the rage and Roosh V was still heavily bought into his Bang phase. Twitter was a smaller place, nascent accounts like Bronze Age Pervert were new and interesting. Of course there were divisive figures and arguments everywhere. The comments sections on jims blog or on Twitter.
Twitter and now X has remained the perennial battleground of course - it had the most fights and it still does. Yet there is a curious side effect of new realms and technologies popping up - in that there is a period of harmony and then all of a sudden conflict follows. People seem to establish themselves first and then begin to attack, these spaces become more crowded which brings in other people who engage and so on and so forth. The energy flows from one system to another. Again I’ve been part of it and seen it. When Telegram was newer certain channels just were known to be fight clubs, with channels launching attacks back and forth. Think Academic Agent vs Joel/Keith.
We haven’t even got to mentioning the height of all this - the YouTube and then DLive or whatever other streaming platform performative cat-fights. Kill-stream or what have you. Those had your figureheads bickering with each other - yes there was some engagement from across the great divide from a few leftists but mainly it devolved into a form of in-fighting. Substack is just the latest new arena that needs to now have these fights.
Whatever the fight is I assure you it has been fought before. Whatever the disagreement is I assure I and others have seen it argued multiple times already. This isn’t an exhortation to even stop such infighting and arguing. They are part and parcel of things. It is however to understand that in a contained world that a new space - Substack is a new space with new functionality - means a new battle ground. A new place to fight and engage. Some people who were never big anywhere else might be big here and boom the gloves come off.
Our enemies know this. They sit contently by and continue with their plans. Whether the fight is a form or purity spiraling or genuine disagreement I assure you that you still probably have more in common with each other than you do with the enemy. It’s going to happen, the energy will bleed out. Monty Python captured this best in The Life of Brian - such behavior was once a hallmark of the extreme left. The jokes about Judean Peoples Front or the Peoples Front of Judea were funny because they are true. They are still funny to me now even if the online community I’m part of is now yet another example of art imitating life, imitating art.
No doubt this moment will pass. The internet is fundamentally a passive-aggressive place. The medium is well suited to that. The handbags will be put down as people establish boundaries, set blocklists and add people to their mute motels. All until a new space becomes available and everyone encounters one another all over again.