To All My Dear Readers & Listeners...
Some Announcements, Housekeeping, & Miscellany from Yours Truly!
A writer seated at an antique wooden desk, quill in hand, surrounded by stacks of parchment and books, warm, inviting light from a nearby window illuminating the scene as he prepares to address his readers and listeners.
“Simle þreora sum þinga gehwylce Ær his tiddege to tweon weorþeð; Adl oþþe yldo oþþe ecghete Fægum fromweardum feorh oðþringeð.”
“Three things all ways threaten a man's peace
And one before the end shall overthrow his mind;
Either illness or age or the edge of vengeance
Shall draw out the breath from the doom-shadowed.”~ Anonymous; Old English poem, The Seafarer, lines 68-71
When I began this DOOM-Stack roughly ~5 months ago, my expectations were relatively meagre. After all, DOOM wares are 'not everyone's cup of tea:'
These days, there is more than enough 'short attention span' content circulating in cyberspace. Most such content is just Dopamine Sinks, which Readers (& Listeners!) turn toward for comic relief, 'winding down' & related pursuits.
Meanwhile, longer-form content has tended to be relatively clickbaity & lacking in overall substance. While there are no doubt many exceptional writers out there, the truth is that they are in the minority, given the pre-eminence of short-form content.
In this environment, DOOM wares are a double No-No:
First, they are gloomy & despairing, meaning that they make Readers (& Listeners!) uncomfortable, stunned, shocked, *insert other negative emotions here*. In other words, they rapidly move people away from various Dopamine Sinks.
Second (& more importantly), DOOM wares are smelted at a Furnace with great care, meaning they are often medium to longer form reads. In a world where Tiktok, Instagram, 'Xitter' & other platforms reign supreme, this appears fatal:
After all (assuming one wishes to torture oneself with DOOM-y material), why not watch a few short videos under 30 seconds rather than sit down & read a longer-form analysis for the next 25-30 minutes? At least, this sounds like a more practical pursuit!
These two considerations made me hesitate in the early days of the DOOM Furnace (circa late December 2023). Back then, as Yours Truly toiled away to smelt DOOM wares of varying lengths & dispositions, doubts arose at the back of my mind:
'Are people even willing to engage with long-form content anymore?
'Will people even read such DOOM-full, Agonizing material?'
'Is this even a worthwhile pursuit, given the genre?'
...& so on & so forth questions & doubts of varying sorts popped up for Yours Truly.
What I could not anticipate in this short timeframe (of just over five months) was how wrong I was! All credit for this belongs to you, my Dear Readers & Listeners!
What you have demonstrated these past 5+ months or so is that analysis, commentary & related content of a longer sort not only has a place, but it can thrive & do so on its own terms! & for that, Your Friendly, Neighbourhood DOOM Merchant says:
Thank You!
You have not only given this DOOM Merchant's DOOM wares far more reading, listening & overall attention than I could have ever envisioned, but you have also spread said DOOM wares far & wide via Substack & other related mediums.
Once Again, Thank You!
There comes a time when one needs to recognize their faults & admit that they were wrong. That time has come for Yours Truly. I not only underestimated my readership significantly, but I did so with a sort of pomp & overall hubris:
I was arrogant to think I had it 'all figured out' regarding what today's Readers (& Listeners!) want. Yet today, all such conceit must be shed:
‘Thank You!’ does not express my gratitude for this momentous occasion. The Honour & Favour that all of you, Dear Readers (& Listeners!), have bestowed upon Yours Truly is exceptionally moving.
Once Again, ‘Thank You!’ from Yours Truly for making my toils at the DOOM Furnace & all my sundry smelting activities for DOOM wares worth every moment! I am deeply moved by all you have done for me these past few months!
The Fall of The West has officially cracked the mythical 1,000 Subscribers mark!
The DOOM Furnace is now something much bigger than I could have ever envisioned it to be when I began smelting my DOOM wares some ~5 months or so ago:
It is a veritable node in SubStack's ecosystem for DOOM-full content, undergirded by one of the most intelligent, thoughtful & prescient Subscriber bases. That is the calibre of Dear Listeners (& Readers!) I am now beholden to!
What this means is that the time has come to get to work!
No longer can Yours Truly be held back by destructive, meaningless doubts. The time for such trivialities is long past, & they are completely unwarranted given the Honour & overall Favour you have all bestowed upon me!
Henceforth, you have my solemn promise:
Dear Readers (& Listeners!), you will find on the DOOM Furnace the sort of DOOM-full, gloomy & despairing content that will make you weep tears of red at how utterly Tragic, Hopeless, *insert a thousand more adjectives here* things are!
You have my word that from today onward, this small corner of cyberspace will be one of the most dreary & apocalyptic out there, more than ready, willing & able to dish out the requisite DOOM wares for any fine connoisseur of despair!
There are many Good Sirs on SubStack who will best me in these departments (as they rightfully should), given my lack of prowess when writing & the creative arts. Many of them are recommended by Yours Truly on this Stack:
That said, I will always give you my best whenever I toil for all your sakes in offering you top-quality DOOM wares. I cannot promise to live up to the overall calibre of the Good Sirs mentioned earlier (& in my recommendations section):
But I promise you all that you will get analyses, commentary, and related work on this Stack that are up-to-date, pragmatic, well-reasoned, & argued, & (above all) my genuine instincts on where I see things headed globally.
So here's to all of you, my Dear Readers (& Listeners!), who made all of this (& much more!) possible to begin with!
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!
As the DOOM cometh with ever-increasing ferocity & inevitability, please stay with me as we document the West's Fall in all its DOOM-y, brutal & mundane finality!
Please Share, reStack, etc., far & wide, whether on SubStack or elsewhere!
Here's to another 1,000 Subscribers & the next milestone of 2,000 Subscribers!
& as always, Dear Readers (& Listeners), Remember...
...The DOOM cometh...!
A grim-faced DOOM merchant labouring at a massive, fiery DOOM furnace, the intense heat is casting an eerie glow on twisted, malevolent creations displayed around the workshop, hinting at dark magic and foreboding purposes.
Addendum
With the milestone of 1,000 Subscribers behind us, some Housekeeping is warranted:
As many of you, Dear Readers (and listeners!), may know, I have a second SubStack, The Annals of America. To celebrate today’s milestone, I have made you all Free Subscribers to said Podcast, meaning you should receive a Welcome email.
I apologize if this is a bit unwarranted, but I decided to do this since SubStack (for whatever reason) makes it impossible to grow one's Secondary Stack. Hence, I had to resort to importing from my primary list of emails.
For those of my Dear Readers (& Listeners!) who do not care too much about American History from Primary Sources, that's totally fine! Feel free to unsubscribe with a single click once you receive the Welcome email mentioned earlier.
That said, I urge you all to give the Podcast a go (for those interested)! Understanding the Hegemon's Past makes one better appreciate its Present & Future trajectories. You will definitely enjoy the material!
Your Support is vital for Smelting the DOOM & keeping it HOT & FRESH off the Furnace!
If you enjoyed the read, I would greatly appreciate it if you subscribed to a Monthly or Yearly pledge to support my work so that I may continue Smelting DOOM for your displeasure!
Alternatively, you can tip here:
Thank You, Dear Readers, for all your support!
May your furnace of DOOM be eternally stoked O Merchant of DOOM!!! 🙏
You're doing a great job, Ahnaf, keep it up.
Finding out your henhouse is sitting on top of a fox burrow may be bad news but it's the news you need to hear if you want to ever eat an omelette for breakfast again.
Better to hear the worst because you can make plans around what you intend to do when the worst is what you are dealing with.
You are an extraordinary author on Substack and a good example of why it is the only place around for people who don't want to watch funny cat videos all day long right up until the moment they get nuked.
When I can't take the DOOM any more for the day I go and read Frank Wright, who usually has an optimistic take on the circus sh*tstorm we're all in. He is good for reminding me that change can also lead to something good in the end.
The problem with too much optimism is that it will get you killed every time. That's why I prefer reading somebody like you with no punches pulled ever!