Our ethos

Why I built Clear

I don't think any of us are thinking clearly right now. I include myself.

Most of what we see about politics is chosen for us by algorithms that learn what makes us react, then serve us more of it. Over time they build a box around each of us: what we see, who we trust, who we're told to fear. Inside the box, everything confirms what we already believe. Outside it, people who disagree stop looking like neighbors and start looking like threats.

I believe our two-party system feeds that box, and that it's one of the root problems in front of us. When every question gets sorted onto one of two teams, we stop asking what's true and start asking whose side it helps. That's no way for a country to solve hard problems together.

I can't fix that on my own. But I can take a small first step: get my information through a lens that is as clear and factual as possible.

That's what Clear is. Every morning, the same stories for everyone. What actually happened, traced to the public record. How each story is being sold, by the left and the right, held to the same standard. And how the system behind it works, so I can understand it instead of just reacting to it.

The part I care about most is seeing how information gets bent to fit an agenda: the clipped quote, the handpicked number, the scary label. Once you've seen a move a few times, you start to spot it on your own. Clear isn't here to tell you what to think. It's here to help us all think a little more clearly.

If that resonates, I'd love to hear from you.

Russell Reeder
russellreeder2@gmail.com