Dear Reader,
Pardon the extra inbox contribution this weekend, but after a rather sleepless evening, I felt compelled to write. It being Saturday, you may not feel nearly as compelled to read (and that’s okay), but if you have a spare moment this weekend, take a gander.
Yesterday, I made a mistake with the newsletter. Maybe it was because I had been sick earlier in the week and my faculties (and sinuses) hadn’t fully recovered; maybe I was too caught up basking in nostalgia that I wasn’t thinking well in reality.
Regardless, rather than choose reasoned speech, I settled for juvenile snark instead.
And I hate when I do that.
I regret including the (one) Hot Take yesterday concerning Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. For those who missed it, here’s what I wrote:
“U.S. Senate Confirmed the First Black Woman to the Supreme Court” - Since not enough Senators care about logic or reality, we will now have a Supreme Court Justice who can’t define what a woman is. Historic, indeed.
Not too soon after the email went out yesterday morning, I received notice from Substack that someone had unsubscribed. I get notifying emails like this periodically (as I also do when someone new subscribes), but this one had been a close friend from my past. We’ve had some political run-ins before, but we’ve always been able to work through our differences, affirm our friendship, and move forward together.
While I rarely respond to unsubscribes (readers should have the freedom to do that without being hassled), I knew I needed to reach out on this one. I texted my friend, telling him I noticed he had unsubscribed and joking that he “had a good run” with the newsletter (he’s been on the receiving end for the past 15 months). He responded:
“It was finally too much when the teaser copy for Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historical confirmation to the Supreme Court article was sarcastic semantic whining. Conservative ideology has become neither. It’s now automatic game-saying the opposite of any liberal position, regardless of any merits, facts or expert analysis.
I really wish I had the time and energy to be a foil in the Second Drafts conversations. There seem to be some smart, well-intentioned folks there, who might even have the maturity to hear a flaming liberal with thoughtful and nuanced points of view. I am worn down, however, by this kind of easy pot-shot bullshit.”
Ugh. I texted back:
“I wouldn’t call her answer (or lack thereof) semantics, but rather pretty interesting (and ironic) ideology that has really never been addressed. But I understand your decision and it sounds like a good call if it upset you as much as it did. Truth told, I had to limit the content to three lines because I was over the break of the email limit. Glad to engage in more detail if you want, but I doubt that’s what you want (and that’s okay).”
I then added:
“Regardless, I’ll grant you the ‘pot-shot’-ness of it. If I wasn’t going to expound, I probably should have just let it go. For what it’s worth…”
No response. I tried calling but it went straight to voicemail.
Ugh again.
Even now (as in my text response then), I want to explain myself, but that’s not what is needed; rather, I need to acknowledge that I blew it when I took the easy way out with my drive-by comment on Friday. As Justice Jackson is confirmed, I’ll save my breath to cool my coffee and pray for her as one soon to be in authority on the Court.
As I hope to do with my friend (regardless of whether he re-subscribes, which is the least of my concerns), I want to apologize to you, my readers, and ask forgiveness for not living up to my own standards of charitable engagement in what I wrote. I don’t want to be “that guy,” but I was yesterday, and I regret doing so. As my offended friend rightfully observed in his text, you are indeed “smart, well-intentioned folks,” and the last thing you need from me is to be an idiot spewing “pot-shot bullshit.”
Message heard, message received. As always, thanks for reading Second Drafts.
Humbly,
Craig
“The words of a wise man’s mouth win him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him.” Ecclesiastes 10:12