The Election Vindicates JoeWrote's Mission (And Shows Why You Should Support It).
Neither legacy nor independent media is giving us what we need.
By all accounts, the media did a terrible job in 2024. Between covering up Biden’s cognitive decline, downplaying Trump’s fascist tendencies, and congratulating Harris’ landslide loss as a “flawless” effort, there’s no mystery why people no longer trust mainstream institutions. The Washington Post’s billionaire owner killed an editorial endorsement he didn’t like, and The New York Times debased itself by hiring a food critic to manufacture consent for Israel’s genocide, which they printed on the front page. The television networks, which have always been less journalistic and more sensational than their print colleagues, didn’t even attempt to improve. CNN is currently helping Democratic strategists blame trans people for Harris’ loss in between ads for Applebees’ 5-for-the-price-of-4 milkshakes.
And while I’m no fan of legacy media, I firmly believe that independent media is not inherently better. Bari Weiss’ The Free Press, Substack’s top earner, has spent the last two years claiming the candidate who wants flag burners to go to jail and encouraged the police to beat Black Lives Matter protestors is pro “free speech.” (She’s not the only one. You can probably guess the others.) Last month, I wrote about Ana Kasparian’s pivot to the right here on Substack and how it was the disingenuous ploy she had spent years condemning others for doing. Unfortunately, her recent behavior has validated this claim.
This two-pronged failure is why I began JoeWrote. On one side of the coin, I saw a defunct legacy media apparatus too close to the government, corporate, and party establishments to provide honest analysis. On the flip side, independent media and podcasts often identified problems but led their audiences (usually young men) to dark places. Joe Rogan used to rally against the folly of foreign wars. Now he’s endorsed Trump, who wants to re-invade Afghanistan to stage bombing runs against China. Many independent creators have lost the plot or spent so much time online that they think a college freshman politely asking to be called “they/them” is the biggest problem in the world. Neither of these media options is what we need, in my opinion.
JoeWrote exists to provide realistic but aspirational solutions to our problems. If you’ve read my work, you know I’m a socialist. My analysis and diagnosis are the furthest things from an unbiased point of view. But in a world where political decisions cause our problems, why should our solutions be apolitical? Americans are immiserated because most of the value they create at work goes to their boss. A significant portion of the rest is taxed and given to defense contractors to make bombs dropped on innocents. There’s no “unbiased” or “apolitical” answer to that problem, and I won’t pretend there is.
That’s why I’m asking you to support JoeWrote with a premium subscription. The fact of the matter is I need financial support to continue creating content that fills this media gap. As in the past, my writing will be left-leaning, anti-imperialist, Marxist/socialist/labor analysis of history and current events to provide solutions to the world’s problems. As evident by JoeWrote’s massive growth this year (+160% subscriber growth and counting), there’s a desire for this media diet. And I intend to fill it.
If you’d like to join me, please upgrade to a premium subscription below. It’s only $5 a month or $50 a year. So, if you get at least one cup of coffee worth of enjoyment, appreciation, or knowledge from JoeWrote a month, please become a premium subscriber. I thank you for your support and attention. There is no shortage of political content out there, so it means the world that so many of you listen to my voice. Believe me when I say I couldn’t do this without you.
In Solidarity — Joe