I see your point, but I am going to push back a bit...in my industry reaching people outside Washington DC is extremely important. The business owners, policymakers, and community leaders who are impacted BY public policy and have the power to change it live in...Nebraska, Oklahoma, rural Missouri, etc.
It would be unfortunate to return to the sad days of sad DC networking breakfasts.
I get your point and agree. I enjoy online events that are well facilitated and have enough opportunities for attendees to talk to one another. My comment was more about the banal webinars or one way online courses with 534 hours of video learning content
Oh yeah! Hard agree. I run a monthly marketing meet up and it’s 45 minutes to an hour. We dive right in and it’s a fun coffee chat. No endless webinars here.
“Putting in real effort to create beautiful durable things that exhibit taste and craftsmanship, with zero tolerance for slop. As Thomas Paine wrote during the American Revolution: “What we obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.””
Bingo. I wrote about this last (!) year: “[W]riting is an act of respect. You sweat the small stuff so your reader doesn’t drown in it. You spend the hours and the blood and the rewrites and the self-loathing and the tears so your reader can glide—effortlessly—over a surface that took you months to sand smooth. A good sentence is a sheet of ice slowly, secretly melted down from years of someone else’s hard labor. The reader skates; the writer bleeds.
And slop is what happens when nobody bleeds.
Slop breaks the sacred compact between writer and reader, artist and appreciator, beauty and beholder.
It says: you do the work. You decipher my half-thoughts. You wade through my sludge. It’s contempt disguised as content and connection. And it’s the inevitable byproduct of the Outreach Industrial Complex, whose chief export is pure, unadulterated spam.”
The bombardment of fake seems to be a perpetual tsunami that I can't find a high enough floor to run too - at least I can read your pov and continue my startup as humanly-authentic as possible.
Thank you for your insight, thoughtful prose and perspective.
It’s 2026. Peak Bullshit Is Near. Bad acronyms like AI, AGI, ASI, overused, overhyped, overheard, jargon devoid of any real meaning. A general fatigue, a lack of imagination, a self-serving, monolithic culture that has been captured. Fear. That’s why everything seems fake. There are many explanations and theories for why this is, but, indeed, a more interesting question is: what can you do about it?
I cannot believe I just found this Substack! I have a policy marketing and comms shop, and I always my clients to focus on impact, outcomes, and building trust.
"Showing real evidence for real outcomes, not flashy claims or vagueposts
Designing real world events and artifacts, leaving people with memories that far outlast the cheap “impressions” generated by brainrot content troughs"
Rarely do brands need another social media platform, more platforms, or, wait for it, yet another op-ed (at least the op-ed lives on the internet forever, or almost). They need a plan for sustained, growth.
By way of example, I have two clients and we've built a small but very high-value email list. We hit the list *maybe* once per month. But the people opening it, reading it, and replying are respected in this industry.
One thing I’m noticing that falls somewhere between fake and real—asking a lot of questions but no point of view. I’m hoping a return to real includes people who give us their origin stories and fresh points of view.
I like everything you said but this is my favorite part:
Second downer: doing something once isn’t enough. Real narratives take 6, 12, 18 months to build. They require sustained effort and consistency - and patience! There are no shortcuts, but it’s worth it.
People expect to build brands and change reputations in 5 minutes. Takes a clear objective, plan and patience.
I can’t wait for real events where you meet real people to make a comeback. Goodbye online courses and webinars
I see your point, but I am going to push back a bit...in my industry reaching people outside Washington DC is extremely important. The business owners, policymakers, and community leaders who are impacted BY public policy and have the power to change it live in...Nebraska, Oklahoma, rural Missouri, etc.
It would be unfortunate to return to the sad days of sad DC networking breakfasts.
I get your point and agree. I enjoy online events that are well facilitated and have enough opportunities for attendees to talk to one another. My comment was more about the banal webinars or one way online courses with 534 hours of video learning content
Oh yeah! Hard agree. I run a monthly marketing meet up and it’s 45 minutes to an hour. We dive right in and it’s a fun coffee chat. No endless webinars here.
“Putting in real effort to create beautiful durable things that exhibit taste and craftsmanship, with zero tolerance for slop. As Thomas Paine wrote during the American Revolution: “What we obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.””
Bingo. I wrote about this last (!) year: “[W]riting is an act of respect. You sweat the small stuff so your reader doesn’t drown in it. You spend the hours and the blood and the rewrites and the self-loathing and the tears so your reader can glide—effortlessly—over a surface that took you months to sand smooth. A good sentence is a sheet of ice slowly, secretly melted down from years of someone else’s hard labor. The reader skates; the writer bleeds.
And slop is what happens when nobody bleeds.
Slop breaks the sacred compact between writer and reader, artist and appreciator, beauty and beholder.
It says: you do the work. You decipher my half-thoughts. You wade through my sludge. It’s contempt disguised as content and connection. And it’s the inevitable byproduct of the Outreach Industrial Complex, whose chief export is pure, unadulterated spam.”
More: https://www.whitenoise.email/p/slop-is-contempt
Patience and persistence! and Lulu's advice is all I need!
I just read Philip K Dick’s “How to build a universe that doesn’t fall apart two days later”… I feel man was waaaay ahead of the game 🤯🤯🤯
I loved this and echo the sentiment. A return to presence, in real life moments and endurance. Let’s build real things. Happy new year everyone!
Bravo!
The bombardment of fake seems to be a perpetual tsunami that I can't find a high enough floor to run too - at least I can read your pov and continue my startup as humanly-authentic as possible.
Thank you for your insight, thoughtful prose and perspective.
No free subscription… is there a sample of the writing? ✍️
most people are not comfortable in their own skin so when people see someone who is they naturally gravitate to them
You being you is a distinct competitive advantage because no one else can
It’s 2026. Peak Bullshit Is Near. Bad acronyms like AI, AGI, ASI, overused, overhyped, overheard, jargon devoid of any real meaning. A general fatigue, a lack of imagination, a self-serving, monolithic culture that has been captured. Fear. That’s why everything seems fake. There are many explanations and theories for why this is, but, indeed, a more interesting question is: what can you do about it?
Greetings from Lincoln, Nebraska.
I cannot believe I just found this Substack! I have a policy marketing and comms shop, and I always my clients to focus on impact, outcomes, and building trust.
"Showing real evidence for real outcomes, not flashy claims or vagueposts
Designing real world events and artifacts, leaving people with memories that far outlast the cheap “impressions” generated by brainrot content troughs"
Rarely do brands need another social media platform, more platforms, or, wait for it, yet another op-ed (at least the op-ed lives on the internet forever, or almost). They need a plan for sustained, growth.
By way of example, I have two clients and we've built a small but very high-value email list. We hit the list *maybe* once per month. But the people opening it, reading it, and replying are respected in this industry.
what a BANGER. 2026 is for realmaxxing
One thing I’m noticing that falls somewhere between fake and real—asking a lot of questions but no point of view. I’m hoping a return to real includes people who give us their origin stories and fresh points of view.
I like everything you said but this is my favorite part:
Second downer: doing something once isn’t enough. Real narratives take 6, 12, 18 months to build. They require sustained effort and consistency - and patience! There are no shortcuts, but it’s worth it.
People expect to build brands and change reputations in 5 minutes. Takes a clear objective, plan and patience.
Great article. Sent it to the whole team.
Love it! There is no short cut.