This email is part of my secret newsletter society.
Aug 12th, 2017
Ladies and gentlemen, boy and girls,
Happy Thursday.
If you've forgotten, I am Andrew Frawley, a writer, marketer, photographer and all around nutcase you probably found via Quora.
I haven't used my mailing much but it's become a new priority of mine, especially since you Quorans have bombarded me lately and are all around lovely people.
A life update from me: I quit my comfy job as the marketing lead for a software start-up in San Francisco, because, well, who wants to market software in their 20s.
Currently, now, I am living out of a bag for the next three months doing research for my next opportunity. Could be big!
None the less, it's a weird time. Homes are more fun than bags.
Today, I want to get you all thinking since that's how many of us connected.
My question for you is this: is it wrong to publish someone's diary after they die?
I've been reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius recently, which is a series of personal notes of the Roman Emporer written to himself.
About 30 pages in it hit me that reading his personal writings is not only subjectively wrong but goes against the personal beliefs of Aurelius laid out in the very writings.
The interesting paradox is that it is his writings on ethics that made it feel so wrong to crack open his private writings. However, this obviously makes me (and others) want to read more.
I started asking questions to Google for answers and found that there is hardly any discussion about this online.
We read journals to become more grateful and humbled, to understand the challenges of human life, but if the author never wanted it published, is it right to break their privacy and trust for our own gain?
This happened to Anne Frank. Anne Frank's family explicitly told publishers to respect her and not publish it.
They published it anyway.
Is this wrong? Should we be funneling our money to publishers who disrespected the final will of the dying author who we respect so much?
I'd love to hear what you all think. I will respond to everyone :-)
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My secret newsletter society which has become the hottest spot on the web.
I talk shop. I draw pictures. I give shit out. We look into hard sciences like biology and soft sciences like psychology and start smashing them together.
Throw in some art. Everything goes boom.
The people start going crazy. Mom is in the rafters. Confetti is falling. Apple sauce is on the wall. Champagne is pouring. Einstein is on drums.
This is your last chance to get in before we bring back da Vinci.
You don’t want to miss da Vinci.