This character, Pyotr, makes my guts twist. I struggle to keep reading and not throw my tablet against the wall. Would Dostoyevsky be surprised that his writing hits me this way, a 74 year old female in Memphis, in this year of Our Lord 2026? I should light a candle in front of a Mother of God icon and make a donation.
Hello Matt, seems your Substack channel isn’t functioning properly. First, the links aren’t working like they should: while I was able to watch the July 13th episode of Get Lit on YouTube (where you again had tech problems, as you did for your Twitter Files conversation with Matt B—and that’s not a complaint), the Substack link spits me out into another, almost unrelated feed. Second, where are all the comments?? There’s only one other for this ‘post.’ What’s more, engagement in your comments section is almost non-existent. Even if there are fewer people tuning in than for your previous current events-focused shows, this is strange.
His political red-meat posts garner plenty of comments from the conservative, Republican partisan portion of his audience. Any time he needs engagement he can write another piece complaining that Mamdani is turning America into the Soviet Union and he gets showered with hundreds of likes, reposts, and comments.
His more intellectual work, like his book discussions or interviews with journalists, don't have the same partisan punch and allure. The results are clear. The more interesting segments lack engagement and the predictable stuff gets pumped through the roof.
During the "weapons of mass destruction" Gulf War I was focused on my job and little else. I know Matt over the years has spoken critically of that war. For instance, how the NY Times ran cover for it. My reaction at the time and after was, more or less, "Whatever, maybe it's time to give it a rest, man? We had to do something after 9/11."
But now we have this war with Iran that even detached observers like me are finding impossible to justify -- and that a clear majority of Americans oppose. And it's crickets and tumbleweeds. Trump's meme coin scam. AIPAC spending $20-30 million on a podunk congressional district in a podunk state. (Forgive me, Kentucky, I personally don't think of KY as podunk.) Lots of seedy things going on.
People have all kinds of reasons for doing the various things they do. I'm not judging. Megyn Kelly goes hard against the war. Feuds with Mark Levin. Then, in the blink of an eye, her podcast turns into People Magazine Daily.
Anyway, it's not surprising comments have grown sparse when people's attention is focused elsewhere. Again, I'm not complaining. We all must move forward and focus on the future. But, yeah, I've noticed the drop in comments, too.
"Pyotr Stepanovich Verkhovensky, the deathly serious, scheming, ambitious son of a never-was pseudo-activist, delivers almost a sermon on the goals and methods of his movement. He is going to “stir up trouble,” but on a grand scale, achieving equality through force. “Only one thing is lacking in the world: obedience,” he says."
LOL!
Achieve "equality" by using force and imposing "obedience". Achieve equality using inequality.
This guy sounds like an arrogant narcissist activist in one of blue enclaves/emerging shatholes of today.
Not even a "benevolent despot" but a tyrannical despot who decides what is "equality".
Real equality in a forced "democracy"? If you are obedient, do you live in "equality"?
Does Pyotr think other people are lower life forms that must be taught "obedience"?
"“We’ll extinguish desire: we’ll get drinking, gossip, denunciation going; we’ll get unheard-of depravity going; we’ll stifle every genius in infancy. Everything reduced to a common denominator, complete equality.”"
As long as I'm in power and I decide who is "nomenklatura". A true Communist, i.e. an American Bolshevik operating as a 21st Century Democrat Socialist.
He actual also sounds like a Federal Reserve Bank Governor!
This character, Pyotr, makes my guts twist. I struggle to keep reading and not throw my tablet against the wall. Would Dostoyevsky be surprised that his writing hits me this way, a 74 year old female in Memphis, in this year of Our Lord 2026? I should light a candle in front of a Mother of God icon and make a donation.
Bad Decision Alert:
Put your tablet back on your coffee table and read the paperback book version instead!
Hello Matt, seems your Substack channel isn’t functioning properly. First, the links aren’t working like they should: while I was able to watch the July 13th episode of Get Lit on YouTube (where you again had tech problems, as you did for your Twitter Files conversation with Matt B—and that’s not a complaint), the Substack link spits me out into another, almost unrelated feed. Second, where are all the comments?? There’s only one other for this ‘post.’ What’s more, engagement in your comments section is almost non-existent. Even if there are fewer people tuning in than for your previous current events-focused shows, this is strange.
His political red-meat posts garner plenty of comments from the conservative, Republican partisan portion of his audience. Any time he needs engagement he can write another piece complaining that Mamdani is turning America into the Soviet Union and he gets showered with hundreds of likes, reposts, and comments.
His more intellectual work, like his book discussions or interviews with journalists, don't have the same partisan punch and allure. The results are clear. The more interesting segments lack engagement and the predictable stuff gets pumped through the roof.
Same observations. Thanks, Heather, for spelling it out.
This is not a complaint, but an observation.
During the "weapons of mass destruction" Gulf War I was focused on my job and little else. I know Matt over the years has spoken critically of that war. For instance, how the NY Times ran cover for it. My reaction at the time and after was, more or less, "Whatever, maybe it's time to give it a rest, man? We had to do something after 9/11."
But now we have this war with Iran that even detached observers like me are finding impossible to justify -- and that a clear majority of Americans oppose. And it's crickets and tumbleweeds. Trump's meme coin scam. AIPAC spending $20-30 million on a podunk congressional district in a podunk state. (Forgive me, Kentucky, I personally don't think of KY as podunk.) Lots of seedy things going on.
People have all kinds of reasons for doing the various things they do. I'm not judging. Megyn Kelly goes hard against the war. Feuds with Mark Levin. Then, in the blink of an eye, her podcast turns into People Magazine Daily.
Anyway, it's not surprising comments have grown sparse when people's attention is focused elsewhere. Again, I'm not complaining. We all must move forward and focus on the future. But, yeah, I've noticed the drop in comments, too.
"Pyotr Stepanovich Verkhovensky, the deathly serious, scheming, ambitious son of a never-was pseudo-activist, delivers almost a sermon on the goals and methods of his movement. He is going to “stir up trouble,” but on a grand scale, achieving equality through force. “Only one thing is lacking in the world: obedience,” he says."
LOL!
Achieve "equality" by using force and imposing "obedience". Achieve equality using inequality.
This guy sounds like an arrogant narcissist activist in one of blue enclaves/emerging shatholes of today.
Not even a "benevolent despot" but a tyrannical despot who decides what is "equality".
Real equality in a forced "democracy"? If you are obedient, do you live in "equality"?
Does Pyotr think other people are lower life forms that must be taught "obedience"?
"“We’ll extinguish desire: we’ll get drinking, gossip, denunciation going; we’ll get unheard-of depravity going; we’ll stifle every genius in infancy. Everything reduced to a common denominator, complete equality.”"
As long as I'm in power and I decide who is "nomenklatura". A true Communist, i.e. an American Bolshevik operating as a 21st Century Democrat Socialist.
He actual also sounds like a Federal Reserve Bank Governor!