3 – “A Letter to the Apostates”

Show Notes

A woman named Jenny Holland posted a video recently. She runs a Substack called “Saving Culture From Itself.” She’s GenX, used to be liberal, used to read The Atlantic on the train and drink cheap beer at Brooklyn dive bars before they all became cannabis dispensaries. Now she says she can only be honest about her politics with four people from her old life.

She calls herself an apostate. Someone who left the faith.

She’s not alone. Bill Maher keeps saying he didn’t leave the left, the left left him. Elon Musk went from climate hero to villain overnight. Joe Rogan went from Bernie supporter to dangerous misinformation. Glenn Greenwald went from civil liberties hero to useful idiot. Matt Taibbi went from Rolling Stone muckraker to right-wing grifter. Tulsi Gabbard went from Democratic presidential candidate to Russian asset.

The list grows every month. And they all frame it the same way: switching sides. Finding a new tribe. Trading Brooklyn rooftops for rednecks and Christians and lifelong anti-commies.

I want to offer a different frame.

I was the Christian kid in the 90s. I had a gay roommate. We didn’t agree about everything. We didn’t have to. We were friends anyway. That used to be normal. It used to be so normal nobody even talked about it.

This episode is a letter to the apostates. To everyone who’s gotten the “what happened to you?” question from people who used to be friends. The answer isn’t that you switched sides. The answer is that you remembered something – that you’re a person, not a tribal membership card. Not a collection of approved opinions. Not a performance for an audience that’s always evaluating.

There’s a small group of us who never bought the sorting. Who held the space. Who kept our hands extended across the aisle even when nobody was reaching back.

We missed you. But I’m afraid we’re small.

GenX is a small generation. Sandwiched between Boomers and Millennials. Easy to forget. But we remember something the younger generations don’t – we remember before. Before the algorithm. Before the sorting. Before disagreement meant exile. Before you had to perform your tribal loyalty constantly or lose your friends.

That memory is worth something. Not because the past was perfect. But because we had space. Room to think without being watched. Room to be wrong without it being archived forever. Room to change your mind without someone digging up old posts to prove you’re a hypocrite.

That space is gone now. And most people don’t even know it’s missing because they never had it.

The apostates aren’t switching sides. They’re mourning that space. And then, because humans need belonging, they’re finding new tribes to take them in. Understandable. But the new tribe has membership requirements too. It always does.

That’s not escape. That’s just a different cage.

There’s another option. It’s small and it’s lonely sometimes. But the door is open. It always was.

Come on in.

Referenced in this episode: Jenny Holland – “What Happened to You, Man?” (Feb 1, 2025)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ9-f-Ps56E

About the author call_made

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