MR WRONG: Squeezed in the press

COLUMN DEP’T.

MR WRONG: Free-Range Beef

IT HAS BEEN almost one year since I filed the most recent “Here’s The Beefs” episode of the Mr. Wrong column, and it says a lot about my Circadian Rhythm or whatever that for almost a year I have not thought about compiling a compendium of my complaints until today, but here we are! As always, I thank you, the Gentle Reader, for embracing the Mr. Wrong column with your brain, and I urge you to support INDIGNITY, in a financial aspect, but I also realize that (possibly in addition to the Mr. Wrong column), some folks who would otherwise be happy readers and dollar-dollar-bill-y’all supporters of INDIGNITY have let us know that they have withheld their support on account of the container our enterprise is shipped in, namely, Substack.

Substack enjoys what used to mostly be called The Power of The Press, when we all perceived The Media as being in a large part a bunch of words printed by a printing press onto paper, and more cheaply, newsprint, for publications that printed a whole new edition of a Newspaper every day. The Power of The Press is, along with Money, enabled by a part of the rulebook for The United States of America called the First Amendment, and there’s nobody more First Amendment than me, OK?

I have worked the majority of my Adult life for The Press, and I have had my column rejected and “killed” and stuff, but it was never really Censored, it was, like, denied the ink for printing by the owners of the ink. Since losing its original home, the Mr. Wrong Column has bounced around to various Internet concerns, because the owner of the Press got tired of it, or the owner of the Press ran outta dough.

There’s some cliché about buying ink by the barrel or something, and now it’s all about buying server space on the Internet. The Press! I have been reading on Bluesky about how the VICE publication has been ruined by its current owners and the typical thing is probably gonna happen where all the writers who did stuff they were proud of—and maybe even got paid for doing it—are gonna see the public evidence of their work de-rezzed owing to Management's failure. This is why there’s stuff like Flaming Hydra, a collective of which I am a part.

Right now, the Mr. Wrong Column happily serves at the pleasure of the Editor of INDIGNITY, and this is as close as it’s ever gotten to Controlling the Means of Production, which brings me back to Substack, the Publishing thing used by the Editor of INDIGNITY to transmit our writings and podcastings out to The People. Substack keeps a chunk of what our Valued Supporters (thank you for reading and supporting INDIGNITY) send in to enable us to provide the quality Content INDIGNITY is known for, along with the Mr. Wrong Column and recipes for antique sandwiches. Did you see that one the other day for HOT LETTUCE SANDWICHES? I dunno!

Anyway, we’re in this giant delivery tube of Substack, along with bunches of other publishers, and there were Nazis in here, which is bad, and we have been told that they removed the Nazis or stopped letting the Nazis have money, or the Nazis never really made any money on Substack to began with, but there’s still stink by association, you know? Plus there’s probably still some Nazis.

There’s a lotta talk about letting people have their First Amendment, but it’s getting creepy. Nazis hate stuff like the First Amendment, unless they are using it to ruin everything and then get rid of it so that the Power of The Press is only for the Nazis. I’m not going out of my way to poop on Substack, as far as I can tell they are just trying to make a pile of money. I’m just saying what I know, and if that makes Substack look bad, so be it. I never bought into that thing about “biting the hand that feeds me,” because I am a Worker, I feed myself, and it looks like it’s time to change out that food dish, eh?

Also, JOURNALISM: Here is my DISCLOSURE, namely, I am an investor in Substack, oof! Seemed like a good idea at the time.

The MR. WRONG COLUMN is a general-interest column appearing weekly wherever it can appear. No refunds. Write Wrong: wrongcolumn@gmail.com.

EASY LISTENING DEP'T.

INDIGNITY MORNING PODCAST

Indignity Morning Podcast No. 223: Sliding into the abyss.

Tom Scocca • Feb 22, 2024

SANDWICH RECIPES DEP’T.

WE PRESENT INSTRUCTIONS for the assembly of sandwiches from Modern Priscilla Cook Book; One Thousand Recipes Tested And Proved At The Priscilla Proving Plant, published in 1924, by The Priscilla Publishing Company, now in the Public Domain and available at archive.org for the delectation of all.

RAREBIT SANDWICHES
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup American cheese, finely cut
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash paprika
Chutney sauce

Melt butter and cheese, add mustard, salt, and paprika. When smooth put two tablespoons on a buttered slice of bread. Spread with Chutney sauce, and cover with another slice. Press slices together tightly, and dip in batter made from one beaten egg and one cup of milk. Saute in butter and serve hot with Ginger Ale.

TOASTED LUNCHEON SANDWICHES
Spread slices of bread with butter, and prepared mustard, or the mustard alone. Place between two slices thin strips of American cheese. Cut in halves either as triangles or oblongs, toast on both sides and serve at once.

If you decide to prepare and attempt to enjoy a sandwich inspired by this offering, be sure to send a picture to indignity@indignity.net.

MARKETING DEP'T.

Flaming Hydra is right now!

EACH WEEKDAY, SUBSCRIBERS to Flaming Hydra now receive a newsletter featuring pieces written by two different members of the Flaming Hydra cooperative, an all-star collection of independent writers, on a rotating basis. Everyone chips in their bit, and the readers get a steady diet of items. And if the readers keep on subscribing, the writers keep on chipping in, and the whole thing moves toward being a self-sustaining publication.

The second printing of 19 FOLK TALES is now available for gift-giving and personal perusal! Huddle up against the cold with a cozy collection of stories, each of which is concise enough to read within the snowy part of a wintry-mix storm.

HMM WEEKLY MINI-ZINE, Subject: GAME SHOW, Joe MacLeod’s account of his Total Experience of a Journey Into Television, expanded from the original published account found here at Hmm Daily. The special MINI ZINE features other viewpoints related to an appearance on, at, and inside the teevee game show Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, available for purchase at SHOPULA.

INDIGNITY is a general-interest publication for a discerning and self-selected audience. We appreciate and depend on your support!