Confession + informal poll
Those of you who follow me on Twitter already know this, but I’ve been watching the Rittenhouse trial all week (or listening to it while doing other things). My interest in the case has derailed my productivity. In general, I don’t want to opine on current events like this, but:
Do you want to hear my thoughts on the Kyle Rittenhouse trial?
I’ll count the votes when I wake up in the morning, and if the yea’s have it, I’ll have an episode for you tomorrow (Friday) evening. Either way, I’ll be busting my ass all weekend to get the next Human Forever episode out by Sunday night.
I’m obviously in the minority here, apparently significantly, but my vote is no. I’ve been a huge fan and patron of your podcast for a long time l, and I think you do truly incredible work. From the brief time I followed you on Twitter, it’s also clear that you and I have very different politics. That’s fine, I don’t need to live in a bubble where I never hear anything I disagree with. But I really appreciate the firewall you’ve maintained between your martyrmade work and your personal politics and commentary on current events, and I’m not a fan of seeing that line disappear. There are vanishingly few places left, online and off, where you can take a break from all culture war all the time.
No. Here is why: its not because we have different politics, as far as I can tell, they are fairly similar. But your long term brand will be better off if you not talk about current day politics. 5 years from now, 10 years from now, people will be digging up stuff you've said about then current stuff to discredit your views about history on the next Israel-Palestine series (or whatever). The reason that series worked so well, partly, is that you weren't a known quantity, and people from all points of view listened in. This is more along the principle that has kept Michael Jordan so well-liked, he knew that "Republicans buy sneakers too."