Yes, if only there had existed some sort of platform prior to Substack where people could write at whatever length they desired, where conversations rather than snarky one-liners predominated. Something along the lines of a “web journal,” or “bjournal” for short. Hmm, maybe that wouldn’t have caught on. Oh, well, this is why I’m not a inventor.

In this, I’m a determinist. I agree with Alan Jacobs that Twitter was the logical endpoint of the sorts of blogs that existed to argue about politics and current events. Let’s skip all the verbose preamble and get straight to being enraged by the mere sight of our tribal enemies. Substack will probably end up being the preserve of dissident journalists, while old-fashioned blogs will continue to be the rocking chairs on the front porch where the old-timers get together to reminisce about everything under the sun.