Zach's PEN #24: An Honest Reckoning

2021 Week 1

Hey PENpals,

What a week.

I wrote about my reaction to the events (really my reaction to the reaction to the events, which is pretty much the same reaction as every reaction for the past 5 years):

Zach Phillips @zachphillips

There is nothing interesting or helpful that I, a Blue team voter, can say that shames, insults, or belittles a Red team voter. Not because I need to somehow cater to the Red team voter, but because Red team voters are 100% irrelevant, and so am I. A thread. 👇

I've really been struggling to find the right metaphor to frame how a civically-oriented person can make sense of the total failure of our institutions that has led to this. All I see from the other side is verifiably false information and hatred and accusations of hypocrisy on my side (some of which are true).

All I see from my side is blanket judgment of all 74 million people who voted against Democrats as stupid and abominable. And every step, every struggle drops us deeper into the quicksand, with more anger and fiercer declarations about how bad the other side's voters are.

While there's no doubt this is a new low, I try to feel my feelings but keep my attention on ways to fix the problem, and the answer cannot be that 74 million people are evil monsters. Sorry. I've met many of them and they are not that.

And as Americans, we need to remember that precisely this phenomenon is happening all over the world right now. A complete breakdown of trust in any shared institutions or frame/set of facts. I'm sorry, but Donald Trump didn't create that. He just exploited it. And now we've got some 20%-25% of America cheering on the attempted murder of congresspeople and the vice president...

Anytime there's a phenomenon this big and widespread, it's a total cop-out to blame it on individuals. Our leadership has completely failed. They're the leaders, the ones we give the power to solve our problems, and they keep lying and cheating and scheming and covering their own asses and now here we are.

Here are the rest of the threads I wrote this week, with the nerd-o-meter rating (a post every single day again, and I worked out every day too!).

How to roll your Rs 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

Zach Phillips @zachphillips

Are you an English-speaking grown-up who never learned to roll your Rs? Do you avoid speaking beautiful languages like Spanish and Italian? Here's a thread on how to achieve luscious Rs as an adult. The key is contained within the blooper reels of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. 👇

The Cobbler’s Dilemma 🤔🤔🤔🤔

Zach Phillips @zachphillips

"The cobbler's children have no shoes" is a phrase that rings true for most businesses. My 8-year-old production house has no video about itself 🤦‍♂️. The assumed reason is that we're working on customer work so we don't have time for our own. This assumption is wrong. 👇

John Roderick, Friend and Stranger (my thoughts on “Bean Dad”) 🤔🤔🤔

Zach Phillips @zachphillips

I've witnessed people I know get "cancelled" and we've all seen celebrities (strangers) get cancelled, but the case of @johnroderick is the first time it's been someone I "know" (by way of 100s of hours of extremely personal podcasts). Something is very different about this. 👇

Twitter as a National Park 🤔🤔🤔🤔

Zach Phillips @zachphillips

It might be a fun few years for antitrust. The monopolies who control everything and who govern with absolute power might be the biggest reason we’re here. I have one idea about what to do with a highly visible one like Twitter: Make it into a National Park. 👇

Unjustify Your Next Action 🤔🤔

Zach Phillips @zachphillips

I've been using todo lists/task management systems, in every form, for years. I've spent so much goddamned time learning methodologies that I could be a professor in them... Yesterday, I had a breakthrough talking to @m_ashcroft. The truth is: I hate them all. Here's why. 👇

Airtable’s Missed Opportunity 🤔

Zach Phillips @zachphillips

One of the things that bothers me most (I often can't sleep at night thinking about it) is a missed opportunity. Not my missed opportunity, but someone else's. The one I'm thinking about right now is the missed opportunity of one of my favorite products of all time: @airtable 👇

Also, here’s my single tweet reaction to my old home state’s two Senate race wins:

Zach Phillips @zachphillips

Now that Joe Manchin is the most powerful man in America, let us whisper of a dream of the One True Grand Bargain: - HR 1 - Filibuster nuked - 6 new Justices - New Deal-sized infrastructure bill - West Virginia is Tokyo (.....and an iPad Pro for every West Virginian)

Anyway, I'm doing well, and I hope you are too. Our steam oven is finally working (we had an electrical issue when it was originally installed). It has so many amazing features and I'm excited to play with it.

I'm planning to get back into photography here soon (I've gotten totally out of the habit and I miss it). Sorry for the lack of baby pictures in recent months. Some really cool stuff coming.

Much love, PENpals,

Zach