This is True is the oldest entertainment feature on the Internet, starting in early 1994 and still publishing every week.
It retells strange-but-true stories from “legitimate, mainstream” news outlets from around the world, each capped with a humorous, ironic, or opinionated comment (and, with luck, some combination of the three). On their own, the stories are pretty entertaining.
But when you read the stories over time, certain themes start to emerge, and suddenly you realize there’s a bigger picture. A really big picture: a new understanding of humanity begins to emerge.
Yes, True is entertaining, but it’s also truly thought-provoking. Both the fragility and the power of the individual becomes clearer. And you’ll realize that some stories only look amusing — and you’ll realize you’re actually angry! But it’s anger with a purpose: you’ll see you have the power to stand up and demand change. It’s why so many subscribers say they’ll subscribe for life.
Why Subscribe?
If you’ve actually read this page, you’re obviously the sort of person who likes to know things, and to think. This is True’s mission is to provoke more thinking in the world: who can honestly argue that’s not needed?!
I’ve spent nearly three decades publishing online as my vocation, showing people not just the benefits of thinking, but the perils of not thinking. (The latter is more entertaining, and probably more instructive!)
This Substack “Plus” version is somewhat different from the Free Edition subscriptions available at the web site: Plus has no outside ads, will occasionally have some extra content not in the Free Edition (see especially Issue #666), includes the full text of the popular Honorary Unsubscribe, and has an online archive of issues (starting with #1473). A number of Free Edition readers wanted a smaller and lower-cost edition because they were too busy, or couldn’t afford the $40/year minimum charge for Premium.
