JA Westenberg

The modern internet argument cycle: someone posts an opinion. Someone else screenshots it. A third person quote-tweets the screenshot with "this is wild." A fourth person writes a thread about the thread. Nobody has changed their mind. Everyone has lost 40 minutes. The sun sets on another day of human progress.

I've been a professional writer for over a decade and it still amazes me how many folks are CONVINCED they can just do this shit. Nobody walks up to a surgeon and says "I reckon I could have a crack at that." But writing? Everyone's got a world-changing essay in them apparently. It's in there. Somewhere. Behind the spleen.

The word “community,” a timeline: 1950: The people who live near you and help when your house floods 1990: A group of people with shared interests who meet regularly 2010: An email list you can’t unsubscribe from 2015: Anyone who follows a brand on Instagram 2020: A Discord server with 40,000 strangers and one moderator 2024: A Slack workspace your company forces you to call a community because it’s cheaper than actual culture