Why Not Substack?

Lately I’ve been circling around a question: why not Substack instead of chasing publications and legacy organizations?

I’m not sure I have the answer. I’ve spent years writing for newspapers, think tanks, and academic journals. That path gave me an audience, the illusion of legitimacy, the sense of being part of a larger conversation. But sometimes I wonder: what if the more honest work — the more urgent work — belongs here, in this space, free from the filters of gatekeepers and editorial calendars?

Seeing colleagues, friends, and others write because they love writing here on Substack encouraged me. Maybe we are back to that era of blogging again — of unpolished but alive, immediate writing — and I’m here for it.

I think back to 2008, when I first started blogging. Those years just before 2011, before Tahrir Square filled with voices against Mubarak. I wrote quickly then, recklessly even, posting half-formed thoughts into the void. There was a kind of freedom in it. Not everything was polished, not everything was finished, but it felt alive.

Here, on Substack, I’ve been inconsistent. A few pieces here and there — sometimes on grand strategy for The Liberal Patriot, sometimes reposting work published elsewhere — but always irregular, both in timelines and subjects. Perhaps that’s fine. Maybe the subjects will always be diverse, but the rhythm can grow steadier. Let’s see.

Now, I look at the endless notes scattered across my phone, my laptop, scraps of ideas that never made it past the draft stage. They haunt me. Maybe Substack could be the place for them to breathe. Not polished essays, not every time, but fragments of the questions I’m carrying.

Maybe the discipline isn’t about consistency, but about honesty — showing up when the thought is real, when the idea in my head refuses to stay private.

So I’m posing this question to myself here, in public: Why not Substack?