Just a reminder: We've moved to Ghost!

Hello all y’all — a mono-ravaged Mike from Bystander here. We are keeping this platform open and functional, because people do still find their way to this blog.

But as of April 1, we moved operations to online.americanbystander.org. There you can find new cartoons and shorties, plus 1000+ pieces of material from the magazine. Go check it out.

Why did we move off Substack? Lots of reasons:
1) Substack platforms white nationalists and other neo-Nazis, and their excuses for doing so are typical techbro nonsense. I’d have more respect for Substack if they simply admitted, “There’s no dollar too bloody for us.”
2) Substack claims to be warriors for free speech, but deplatforms anything it deems salacious or erotic. Obviously porn is all over the internet, and there should be spaces without it. But if Nazis have a sacred right to communicate, build community, and make money on Substack, pervs should too. Banning smut while allowing Nazis reveals all this as fundamentally political action on the part of Substack.
3) So, if the dudes who control the service are making politically motivated decisions that benefit the far right, the rest of us can’t really trust them to be allies when things get censor-y. If the American political climate surrounding Substack gets repressive enough, Substack will join in. (After all, there will be dollars to be made for doing this, the censors will make sure of that.)
4) So we can’t trust Substack not to shut us off; and more to the point, our subscribers’ information could potentially be handed over. We might choose to take the risk for ourselves, but we have to protect our subscribers’ right to read what they wish without fear. Because, y’know, free speech.

I’ll check in periodically to encourage everybody to come on over to the new site. Be well.

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MICHAEL GERBER is the Editor & Publisher of The American Bystander. He promises not to lick anyone until the mononucleosis passes.