4 More Years?!

Morning Comrades.

Admittedly, the title is a little and purposely misleading. For once we are not going to start this week with our usual program but a little introspection, analysis and review. Upon opening the backend here today a notification popped up informing me that it now has been 4 full years of writing on substack, with 731 dispatches having been published, each averaging around 1000 words - I know, some of the paid for dispatches do occasionally pop off and triple that but let*s ignore those - and that means this while project now is larger than my PhD thesis - ironically, one of the reasons I started this project.

Before I elaborate, there is some free stuff at the end of this so feel free to either keep reading, or skip as you wish. Aside from the semi-comical personal reason for starting this substack all that time ago, and most awful events become comical in retrospect, the point was to switch from IG and social media to this. That has worked, in a way that works for me. There is no need to get into what Meta etc is, etc- but looking back to first post I made on here:

Instagram, and thus Facebook, makes a tonne of cash based on my content and the interactions they create. On average this little page generates around 350K impressions a week and this means that not only I, but all of you that interact with my content get blasted with advertising. Now, advertising is brain cancer at the best of times but in this particular case that money generated is being used by a person and a company whose core interests do not, even at the very slightest, align with my world view. 

The fact that my work, radicalizing and teaching you lovely people, finances entities who I am fighting against is no longer acceptable to me. I have never believed in being able to change a system from within and this is just another logical conclusion in that regard.  

First Post is Here

The only aspect of this that has changed is number of interactions and my opinion of it. For one, that number is significantly lower, and we all know why, and more importantly, it no longer plays a part in my understanding of reality. These metrics and our response to them are at heart of capitalism and these days capitalism is not so much about selling what has been produced, but about making what has not yet been produced accountable. Capitalism is the universal extension of measurement and in cohort with the idea of property, both materially and metaphysically, a cancer on the human spirit.

Obviously, the content here since 2020 has changed, refined if I am being honest and whilst the reality of juggling a full time job and this work is occasionally difficult I am still hugely enjoying it.

Now to you though.

Considering a vast majority of you have been along for the ride for the better part of 10 years, some of you as early as 2005 when Black Lodges as an idea first materialized, ironically, as a blog, it is time for me to ask for your feedback and input.

As an idea, platform, project, whatever, Black Lodges and thus me in a way, has always been the about creating spaces for revolution. Sometimes badly, sometimes even in good ways but I would ask for everyone that reads this today to reply, either in the comments or per ( just hit reply on this dispatch, it ends up in my inbox ) email of what you want out of this.

What do you want talk about? See? Consume? Where should this go? Are you happy, informed with what’s on offer and what are you missing? Considering that we heading towards 20 years of Black Lodges you are as much part of this than I am. As a writer & provider of ideas I balance mirroring my own thoughts with those that I encounter and because of this you are equally as much Black Lodges as I am.

So let’s hear it.

For what it is worth, and I don’t say this enough, thank you, everyone, for being here, being interested and having made my life fuller and better. It’s hard to understand this has now nearly been 20 years let alone 4 years of consistent writing outside of an algorithm that is more destructive than that of a high school popularity contest but here we are. Unless they lock me up, I’ll be here and I hope you will be too.

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On that note, here is a new playlist for you lovelies. Same deal as always, just random tunes that have made me happy these last few weeks and have been thrown together for your enjoyment. No reason or rhyme, listen to it from beginning or end, shuffle or not, it’s got everything. Maybe join me for a dirty martini one of these days and until then,

We serve the revolution.

Yours, warmly,

Steven