We Need Your Feedback.

When Freedom of Speech is a double edged sword.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Dear Friends,

Today, I must share something with you that I find extremely disturbing and which brings me great sadness. Hopefully, you will provide your thoughts and feedback on this situation, because a critical decision regarding this website must be made. I trust your opinions.

The work we do here is a labor of love, driven by our passion to honor the legacy of the 101st Airborne Division and to pay tribute to those who served in this renowned unit. It is one way we can show our deepest gratitude for the freedom and liberty many of us enjoy—things we wouldn’t have without the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice to defend them.

As part of this endeavor, I chose this website publishing platform because it had great features, and more importantly, it was easy and free to use.

But some bad things have happened with Substack since last year, most notably the controversies surrounding plagiarism and nazism, and other discontent among writers. It has made me wonder if staying here is worth it or if we should consider moving again.

Sharing the following screenshots from what I read today brings a heavy burden upon my heart, but I also believe people should see it to understand what we are dealing with.

---

These are a handful of samples of the horrific views being shared from this account.

---

While I fully support freedom of speech and do not believe in censorship, how can I continue to publish on a platform that allows the very evil our heroes fought against? In my mind, this is the antithesis of what we represent, and it feels wrong.

Since childhood, I have heard endless stories about World War II. As a grandson of Dutch immigrants who endured the Nazi regime, and a friend to dozens of WWII Veterans and war survivors, I know very well what happened, and I promised myself, as a military veteran or civilian, that I’d do everything in my power to keep it from happening again.

And while I’ve never believed racism and hatred would ever cease to exist, I never imagined such evil would return in this form in my lifetime.

Yet here we are.

Because our First Amendment rights allow United States citizens to share their opinions and beliefs without government interference, even if they embrace the horrific ideologies as found in Nazism, their Freedom of Speech is protected by law — regardless of whether it’s hateful.

Therefore, Substack’s stance on censorship is understandable and permissible. If a publication does not incite violence, or involve true threats, defamation, obscenity, or fighting words, Substack can allow such Nazi propaganda to be present, and even promoted on its platform.

At the same time, I also think their view is short-sighted and ignorant.

Despite my feelings on the matter and the disdain I have for these people, there is nothing I can do other than take my business elsewhere.

Of course, it will require a lot of work to move the content, rebuild a website, and migrate your subscriptions to the new platform, as well as cost $300 per year for Squarespace, but it’s a small price to pay in order to distance ourselves from that kind of hate.

The move could be good, however.

We can begin to implement new features or tools that will make our Screaming Eagles community even better, offer a store with 101st Airborne gifts to fund the site, and give other historians a place to write and call home.

Maybe it won’t be that bad!

So if you see changes happening, you know what is happening and why. Still, I’d like to know your feedback and thoughts on this matter.

• Am I overreacting to the situation?

• Should we just stay on Substack, or should we move it?

• Will you continue to be a member if we move?

Please comment or message me with your thoughts. You are a valuable friend of our community and I appreciate your input.

-James Dalman, Editor, 101st Airborne Division website