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Substack and the Nazi Bar: I’m Not Sticking Around
And it’s very frustrating
Have you ever heard of the Nazi Bar problem?
It’s a pretty simple premise. A guy owns a bar, and when it first opens it’s a nice free space. Lots of people come in, there’s great diversity at all the tables, it seems like a pretty welcoming place for everyone to hang out and have a drink.
But it turns out that it’s a little too welcoming.
A neo-Nazi guy comes in, covered in white supremacy tattoos and hate symbols, and starts spewing bigotry and racial slurs left and right at all of the other patrons.
The customers are uncomfortable, and they walk up to the owner of the bar and they say “Hey, guy, that neo-Nazi over there is making your bar feel pretty unsafe for us. Can you ask him to leave so we can go back to enjoying ourselves?”
Bartender says “Hey y’all, it’s a free country. His money is just as good as yours, he’s a paying customer. As long as he isn’t punching anyone, he can stay.”
And the neo-Nazi keeps being a bigoted asshole, and pretty soon, he starts bringing his friends. And as more and more Nazis turn up, more and more of the diverse patrons leave, not…
