What's a Phisto?

Like it says on the tin.

As with most things, the hardest occasional musing is the first one. I should confess the primary motivation here is finally providing meaning to the phrase that appears after my Substack handle: “Writes The Partisan.”

“Gosh, I really should pen something, shouldn’t I?”

I’ll start in the most reasonable place: expectations. First, thank you for reading. Please accept additional congratulations, apologies, and ridicule if required. Here at The Partisan, what you see is what you get: posts now and again from an anarchist living in the 21st century. Make of it what you will from there.

I turn now to perhaps the defining feature of the century: the Internet. The whole of human knowledge - the beautiful, tragic, sacred, and profane - all in one place. Such as it were. Often that’s a little device in our pockets. A poignant fact, I think.

These days, you’ll find me jumping into this churn of humanity right here in the comment sections of Substack writers. Why? Well, it’s fun, sometimes enlightening, and rarely ever boring. It also gives me the chance to lay out just what the hell all of this here might be about.

When it comes to my place in the world, I begin with this: I consent to no one’s rule and no one consents to mine. Here on Substack that means one thing: there are no sacred cows. In other words, there are no beliefs I will not question as I see fit.

Sometimes that’s investigation, sometimes it’s ridicule. It might be crass, it might be insightful, but it will always be one thing: honest.

Why?

Cause I just don’t give a fuck. And I hope you don’t either. Be yourself, life is too short to do otherwise.

Thanks again for reading.