2025 is quite possibly the best time for news, let's enjoy it while we can.
it is the worst of times but somehow also the best of times.
Good day, spectators,
Firstly, happy new year to you!
Now…let’s get straight into it: the mainstream news is dead. I’m calling it. It’s over.
2024 was the year that legacy media took its final wretched breath. For me, the tipping point was the coverage of the genocide in Palestine and events like the Maccabee attack on Amsterdam. These weren’t isolated failures but glaring examples of a broken system built on pre-prepared narratives and deliberate misinformation.
It’s not just about Palestine, though that’s where the cracks are most visible. Many of you will have your own moments of disillusionment—times when the reporting didn’t just fall short but felt outright deceitful. Remember the 2024 U.S. election? Millions of people, primed by the media to believe Trump was failing miserably, were stunned when he won decisively. Kamala Harris didn’t even make a statement for two days afterward. That’s because the media had opted for wishful storytelling over reality.
Today’s mainstream news either serves as a mouthpiece for government propaganda or simply panders to public fantasies, untethered from the world we actually inhabit. It’s no good, I tell you. No good at all.
This frustration is what drove me to launch the spectacle six months ago in the first place. I was done watching the truth be chewed up and regurgitated, and I wanted to write about the world from my perspective. And now, looking ahead, I’m genuinely optimistic about 2025—but only if we stay focused.
the dawn of decentralised news
What gives me hope is the rise of independent journalism. I’m not the only person doing this. There’s an entire ecosystem of writers reporting truth, cutting through the crap. And just as importantly, there’s a growing audience (you) turning away from the mainstream and embracing better alternatives.
We’re entering an era of decentralised news. No longer must we rely on a single, central source of ‘truth’ i.e. ‘news channels’. Instead, we can curate our own newsfeeds, subscribing to independent journalists who’ve earned our trust.
Think about it: rather than reading one agenda-driven newspaper, you can follow ten different writers, each a specialist in their field, each motivated by honesty rather than influence. This shift is set to build a better-informed, more critical population—if we push for it together.
it really is a time of monsters
Of course, we mustn’t forget the dangers of this moment. Antonio Gramsci called it a ‘time of monsters’—the turbulent interlude between the fall of old empires and the rise of new ones. Power is shifting, and with it will come oppression and attempts to stifle freedom of speech. We mustn’t allow it.
This is why decentralised media matters so much. If legacy news is dead, then long live independent media! In the obvious absence of institutional impartiality, we must rely on the honesty of our peers to learn what is and what is not real.
the spectacle began as therapy for me—it was a way for me to process the increasingly absurd world. But it’s grown into something much larger. Now, it’s a rapidly expanding community of truth-seekers who wish to shine a light on the topics mainstream media ignores or misrepresents.
If this resonates with you, consider subscribing or upgrading!
Together, we will resist the narratives of this crumbling system as it chokes and tries to cling on to life. This year, we will help shape the honest, decentralised journalism that our world deserves.
And with that, I will let you go,
(As always, thanks for reading and please give this post a ❤️ and restack below.)
I like the optimism and the spirit of this.
(What follows is unsolicited and I completely understand if you wish to delete it)
In order to make this real, let’s not forget that a few weeks ago this platform, meaning Substack, allied itself with one of its more potent Zionist forums, The Free Press. That’s not what most of us wanted.
What this means is that of every dollar any subscriber pays to any Substack writer, some fraction of that will filter up to Free Press, and, by logical extension, eventually contribute to the murder of innocents.
There are very few issues I find beyond possibility of discussion. Even Zionism is theoretically arguable, but only once the killing stops. In the meantime I urge all writers, commenters, and simply decent human beings to join together to insist that this platform become once again a level one, and not tilted to the side of blatant crimes against humanity. The structure of this is still open, but I think a separate, independent, Substack site where all civilized contributors can express themselves and speak to the management of the platform, makes sense. I will follow up on this. Thank you, and Happy (non- murderous) New Year.
I'm here for it lets gooo