While he is a bit quirky (and I know why), Elon Musk has become my hero. After coming close to failure, Space X has singlehandedly resurrected the United States space program. Unlike Jeff Bezos, who has focused his efforts on making a rocket powered carnival ride, Musk created a reliable launch system now regularly ferrying supplies to the International Space Station. His Falcon boosters make pinpoint landings on the launch pad or on floating barges for refurbishing and reuse- 113 times now. As a long time aficionado of the space program (who has a letter from Alan Shepard) I am thrilled to see Musk succeed and watching those boosters land safely never gets old.
But it’s his actions vis-a-vis Twitter that have my hopes up. I am one of the countless conservatives who were banned from Twitter for disputing the lies Jack Dorsey, Parag Agrawal and Twitter allowed from the left- including information about COVID and especially burying the Hunter Biden laptop story which changed the outcome of the 2020 election.
Recently Musk bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter, which sent chills up the spines of “liberals” who do not believe in free speech:
Elon Musk cannot challenge academia or the liberal press, but he can disrupt censorship by social media. He recently asked his followers whether they think Twitter “rigorously adheres to the principle” that “free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.” Some 70% of two million respondents said no.
This statement really captured my attention:
“Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?”
Progressives did not approve (note the pure irony):
Ellen Pao, in a column for the Washington Post, wrote that the ascension to Twitter’s board of Tesla’s CEO is “highly disconcerting” and amounted to a “slap in the face,” arguing among other charges that Musk has misbehaved on the platform and “displays very little empathy.”
Hilariously, she also writes that Musk’s appointment “shows that we need regulation of social-media platforms to prevent rich people from controlling our channels of communication.” I wonder what Wapo’s billionaire owner Jeff Bezos thinks about that.
Donald Trump has been banned from Twitter while Vladimir Putin still has an account. Progressives all approve of that. Musk posted a hilarious tweet:
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 1, 2021
Musk was offered a spot on Twitter’s Board of Directors and was expected to agitate for more free speech. But it came with a caveat:
The agreement to appoint him to Twitter’s board, in light of his purchase of 9.2% of the company’s shares, was confining; he would not have been able to buy more than 15% of the firm’s stock and would have had to behave himself.
Now, it seems that Musk’s initial apparent agreement was a canard- a probe to explore what would be offered. He has reversed himself and will not accept a position on the Twitter board.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced Sunday that Musk has decided not to join the board, a message Musk shared with the board Saturday, the day Musk’s board membership was set to become official.
“I believe this is for the best,” Agrawal wrote. “We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our Board or not. Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his output.”
Now I would love nothing more than to see Musk take full control of Twitter and oust Agrawal and the rest of the Twitter Nazis, return Trump and the rest of us and once again embrace free speech. It’s nice to have an oligarch on the good side. That has progressives, who were already upset, dumping in their pants- like this twit:
I won’t pretend that I have a clear sense of the answer here, and the solution depends in part on the platform itself: Facebook, which has monopoly power in social networking, is used by billions and is very different from Twitter, which has a much smaller user base but has an unrivaled ability to shape news discourse. That in turn might mean they require very different approaches. But what I can say is that leaving these companies overly vulnerable to billionaires who can wield autocratic modes of power is a dangerous game — and one that will harm the public.
You can’t help but notice that only after Musk might free the Twitterverse from the progressive Empire which rigged a Presidential election and restore free speech that (libertarian) billionaires are found to be dangerous.
Sorry, but Twitter, like Facebook, is already a real danger to democracy. We need Elon Musk and more like him.
Then on to Facebook and Google!
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.