10 years ago, I started writing on Quora, a platform that aspired to attract writers of a higher intellectual caliber than could be found in most places online. But it was more than that. It was also, strangely enough, a community, a place where one went to engage not just with intellectual content but also with personalities. It wasn’t like writing to a journalist or columnist; these were people you could and often did connect with, befriend, dine with, and host.
But over time, the platform I joined slowly transformed into something altogether more prosaic, the tone of the conversation and the caliber of comments sections becoming indistinguishable from those of other social media platforms. In a sense, this constituted a triumph of democracy over elitism: fewer perspectives were excluded, and the voices became more representative of those of the general population.
Yet for those of us who had enjoyed the first iteration of the platform, its latter incarnation was decidedly less enjoyable. Many people left. And in my case, I slowly lost my habit of writing. The annoyances were no longer worth the rewards.
But we are living through some exciting times, and I find that once again I have things to say.
There is an election year in which an unpopular incumbent has finally decided to step aside.
There is an ongoing war in Gaza with no end in sight.
There is the prospect of a man returning to high office who has shown scant regard for the rule of law.
On both the left and the right, there is the ongoing slow transformation of the neoliberal order into a populist one. Right-wing populist parties have done particularly well since the Great Recession.
Latino voters, and larger numbers of Black voters, are migrating away from the Democratic Party.
Early in my writing career, I decided that I would apply a healthy dose of skepticism towards my own biases and inclinations. All too often, I had noticed, people found themselves conveniently adopting positions that happened to reinforce what they already wanted to believe. As much as I could, I resolved, I would anchor my opinions and expectations to the most reliable empirical evidence I could find. It is this same lens, and this same willingness to change my mind in the face of new evidence that I intend to bring here.
Welcome. I hope you enjoy it here and decide to stay. I will be writing not only about the aforementioned political topics but also about historical episodes near and dear to my heart, such as the lead-up to the American Civil War.
Most of my content will be free, but I will eventually have some content available only to paid subscribers.
Quora will miss you, but I look forward to reading your posts here.
I didn’t even know this platform existed, but you’re well worth following, so here I am. Quora was really important for me between 2017 and 2019 as a place of sanity and intellectual engagement when I was going through insanely difficult times. It has certainly deteriorated beyond repair since, but I have a weird emotional connection with it that’s hard to break. Anyway, looking forward to seeing you on the move.