This isn't about social media, this is about authoritarianism. This is what happens when one person has too much power and exercises it willy-nilly. Not only can no one stop him (or her!), a good percentage of the population supports them.
That's right, Elon Musk is now a hero to the right. Which is kind of a headscratcher since his reputation was being a hero to the left, i.e. Tesla. Yes, the right, from the "Wall Street Journal" opinion page to legislators to the rank and file, is anti-electric automobiles. There are bogus scientific explanations, there's the defense of the oil industry, there's a refusal to accept change and at the root it's got to do with freedom. Yes, the freedom to drive gas-guzzlers.
And freedom of speech. That's the right's complaint about Twitter, that it's biased towards the left, even though statistics tell us otherwise. As for Hunter Biden's laptop... I won't wade into this quagmire, but assuming everything they say is true, what has it got to do with Joe Biden? Somehow Donald Trump is immune to the activities of his children and his real estate empire but Joe Biden, a civil servant with a fraction of the cash, is responsible for everything every relative ever did?
It doesn't make sense. Don't try to analyze it.
But that's the rank and file. Here we're talking about Elon Musk.
He's a billionaire. Can we stop talking about his fall from #1 to #2? Isn't that like saying Scarlett Johansson or some other legendary beauty has a zit? I mean what difference does it make, they're still extremely attractive. And Elon Musk is still extremely rich. And in this country we venerate money and looks. Hell, that's another thing Elon Musk does, criticize people's attractiveness, their weight, even though he was shown in a bathing suit to be less than a perfect specimen.
But it's not only the physical Musk addresses, he also called a cave-rescuer a pedophile. Even worse, he believes the SEC does not apply to him.
It's not only Donald Trump who has skated legally. Musk still hasn't been prosecuted for failing to publicly announce he exceeded 5% ownership in Twitter. And he's lobbying for previous SEC restrictions to be lifted.
In other words, in America if you're rich and powerful enough, the rules don't apply. This has been the situation for eons, but we never had people this rich and powerful. Furthermore, a good proportion of the rank and file root for the rich, believing they too will be rich sometime. And they vote for policies for the rich for the same reason, like lower taxes. Never mind the power of the rich to sway public sentiment. The rich are a shadow government. Hiding in plain sight. They're the rock stars of modern life. As for the theoretical musician rock stars? They'll do anything for the money, music is just a jumping off point to become rich. The goal is to become a brand. There's just not enough money making music. Can you say Rihanna? Meanwhile, these dodos, oftentimes uneducated, after all, what other vertical requires no schooling to enter, don't realize the essence of music is the ability to speak truth to power. Rupert Murdoch is not in it for the money, he's in it to sway the course of not only public opinion, but the country itself. That's the power of owning the ink.
Anyway, Musk is so rich, that he could buy Twitter outright. We've never seen this in America before, where one person could own what appeared to be a public institution, responsible to no one. That's right, there are no guardrails at Twitter. And Musk keeps saying one thing and doing another. Just hours after saying he wouldn't ban reporters, he did.
Part of his rationalization is protecting his family. Well, this is evidence of the lack of privacy we all experience. And as of this writing there's no evidence to the case, i.e. that his family was at risk, that there was a specific event. But in any event, Musk is shoring up power, he cannot be at risk. Just like an authoritarian despot like Putin. Or Orban, the hero of the right. And other totalitarian rulers. It's their world, and we just live in it.
And Twitter is so big and so powerful that as of now, it can't be supplanted. That's the online history, no platform has ever been decimated by protest or cancellation of accounts. Theoretically there could be a competitor, but look at Truth Social, a backwater most are unaware of.
Meanwhile, the press keeps reporting Musk's antics and nothing changes.
In truth, Musk is going to run up against new EU rules... But in America we've been told we live in the greatest country in the world and most of the population has never been anywhere else and the EU is looked down upon. It's Brexit on steroids here in the good ole' USA.
Even worse, Musk has the right to do all this! Yes, he owns Twitter, it's a private company, he can ban whomever he wants to. Another headscratcher, the right is too dumb to know that freedom of speech does not apply to private companies just like concertgoers are too dumb to understand that all the ticket fees don't go to Ticketmaster. Today the facts don't matter, emotion does. And amazingly, the emotion on the right is that Musk is standing up to the big bad government. The same government that swooped in and aided Florida after the hurricane, even though DeSantis is a Republican.
The government is no match for Musk. He's unafraid of it. And there can be no penalty because there is gridlock in D.C., half the elected officials' singular goal is to make sure the other makes no progress. And if you clamp down on Musk there will be public outcry.
And in truth most people don't care about Twitter, but the social network is where journalists themselves hang out, where news is initially made and distributed. That's why the Twitter story never leaves the newspaper. This is the henhouse where reporters live. And they are used to speaking truth to power, that's why you become a reporter, and now you can't speak at all!
This is just a dry run for what can become. This is what it would look like if Trump got re-elected, became president again. One person acting on their whims, responsible to no one, even if the supposed rules say otherwise.
This is scary. We expect this nonsense from Kanye, but he doesn't own Spotify.
This is happening in plain sight. And many Americans have their heads in the ground, like they did with the Holocaust and the Ukraine war...they think it doesn't affect them. But eventually they come after you.
He or she who controls the news controls the country. And right now, Elon Musk controls the news. On a supposedly open platform.
I could tell everybody to cancel their account, but like I said above, this won't happen and there will be no change.
No, our only hope is the government, which is paralyzed.
As for billionaires... This is the legacy of Ronald Reagan. Low taxes. Trickle down? Is Elon Musk giving you any of his money? The rich give proportionately less to charity than the poor.
No one should be that rich. Absolutely no one. That wealth distorts not only the economy, but public life.
And now I've alienated a good portion of my readers. They support Musk no matter what he does, it's a religion.
And I'll speak the truth but many will not. They're afraid, of it affecting their pocketbook. Oldsters like David Crosby will state their truth and not care about the effects, but the younger generations? They don't want to be political, they don't want to take a risk, which is why they end up with little power. Unless you're willing to stand up for your beliefs, you don't count.
There will be more news. Who knows, Musk could even reinstate the accounts of these reporters. But just you wait, further shenanigans will ensue. Musk has huge blind spots. We think if someone is rich they know everything, have skills in other verticals, but this is patently untrue.
And don't talk to me about the last election and the defeat of the red wave. Rust never sleeps, and authoritarianism is gaining ground around the world. People want someone who will make the trains run on time, who grants them the illusion that there is control. And once that person gains control, they never ever give it up.
Be forewarned. I'd say this is just the beginning, but it's been going on for decades. The freedom that many want is really control. They want to make sure you don't have a voice, and eventually have no power. And then...
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