Elon Musk’s Twitter. Isn’t that what it always was? I mean, now he literally owns the platform, but prior to actual legal ownership, Elon was pwning the micro-messaging site and app. Of course, now that Mr. Musk is the actual owner, his promise to maintain a platform that supports his notion of “free speech absolutism” (within reason) has been kept. However, with each passing month, we gain a clearer insight into precisely what that means in Mr. Musk’s eyes.
While many naysayers on the Left feel that Elon is driving Twitter sharply to the far-Right, that is clearly not the case. The baseless claims that Twitter is now a haven for hate speech are also unfounded accusations; while many users who had been de-platformed have been “amnestied” back, there are still many accounts suspended daily for breaking the rules.
So, when Tucker Carlson was excessed from FOX by executives incised about something or other, and later announced that he will be returning to the public eye – albeit on Twitter, rather than Fox – many die-hard Liberal-minded folks knowingly nodded and smirked. Really, it’s unusual for a network to let go of it’s most popular host, barring some sort of scandal. Nevertheless, Twitter is welcoming Carlson, perceived as a fart-Right figure by some, and that caused such people online to quip, “I told you so.”
But, the story does not end there. Don Lemon, one of Fox rival CNN’s network personalities with a massive following, was also let go by his employer. Both Lemon and Carlson were abruptly fired on April 24. CNN simply stated that the network and Lemon had “parted ways.” Might we say this is slightly less cryptic than the fate that has befallen Tucker Carlson?
Really, for conspiratorially-minded individuals, this is a gold mine of source material. Why would two media networks, rivals in the struggle for market share, as well as ideological opposites, both fire important talent the same day? This may rival the JFK assassination, in terms of what sort of incredible tales people may dream up.
Elon Musk jumped into the cold fray, taking avowed-Liberal Lemon’s side. Elon replied to a tweet of Don Lemon’s from the 24th of April announcing his firing with a simple query, “Have you considered doing your show on this platform? Maybe worth a try. Audience is much bigger.” And, why not? Twitter has a hugely Liberal user base, mostly people who used Twitter before Elon was owner, and still do so to this day.
Have you considered doing your show on this platform? Maybe worth a try. Audience is much bigger.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 10, 2023
Musk’s detractors who began clucking their tongues at Tucker’s announcement were left without a clever comeback. It probably didn’t help that Carlson stated, “There aren’t many platforms left that allow free speech. The last big one remaining in the world – the only one – is Twitter.” It’s difficult to refute this when Don Lemon has also been invited to stay relevant via Twitter. But will Don Lemon actually migrate to Twitter? Who knows; anything is possible, though there is no indication that this would be the case.
The fact is, Elon Musk is not the devil. (And, not an alien, either, Mr. Peterson!) By far, he is an enigmatic person, and anyone pretending to be his peer, feigning capacity of truly understanding the man, is lying. Even so, there is one thing we can easily observe if we’re honest about facts: Musk is not trying to turn Twitter into a haven for Neo-Nazis or individuals with hatred on their minds and tongues.
Musk wants discourse. Discussion. Debate. Healthy interactions between people with differing ideas, you know? Does that sound too relativistic? The solution is already in place, if that is your thought: The crowdsourcing of truth by the many, rather than the few, via Community Notes. In his own words, this is what Elon had to say about the matter:
“On this platform, unlike the one-way street of broadcast, people are able to interact, critique and refute whatever is said.
And, of course, anything misleading will get @CommunityNotes
.
I also want to be clear that we have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever. Tucker is subject to the same rules & rewards of all content creators.
Rewards means subscriptions and advertising revenue share (coming soon), which is a function of how many people subscribe and the advertising views associated with the content.
I hope that many others, particularly from the left, also choose to be content creators on this platform.”
On this platform, unlike the one-way street of broadcast, people are able to interact, critique and refute whatever is said.
And, of course, anything misleading will get @CommunityNotes.
I also want to be clear that we have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever. Tucker is… https://t.co/0TMjuYnKUp
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2023
Isn’t this what some of us have been ardently seeking, spending all our time to help create, from the outset? Isn’t this completely in line with our own news services, the Staten Islander’s edict of being the “no-slant news service” that is completely nonpartisan? If you are trying to say anything else about Musk and Twitter, I’d like to see the proof behind your accusations.
And, if you say that Twitter is caving by respecting national laws, be real. The Staten Islander certainly has provided a voice to islanders; we will publish your thoughts, ideas, feelings, as long as they are in line with the law. That isn’t censorship, it’s reality. And, if you send us illegal content, we’re contacting law enforcement. I mean, this is just basic. What else should we do?
I am a middle-of-the-road kind of guy, though some Islanders might call me a Radical Liberal. But that’s not quite it; I’m a religious (Vatican II) Catholic who values fiscal Conservatism and the safety that the police provide. So, it’s not quite so easy to dismiss me as another “loony Leftist” just because I smoke cannabis, love Hotel California, and think homelessness and poverty are no sins.
I welcome a future where the Staten Islander, and now Twitter, both platforms dedicated to remaining non-partisan, lead the way toward a time when many more online platforms may thrive, digital commons big and small where discourse and discussion are the norm, and users can interact meaningfully, bringing greater understanding to one another, sharing views and perspectives gleaned from each of our own unique sets of life experiences.
Not only can a reader submit an opinion piece to the Staten Islander, or anything else, really, but we have a (sometimes) robust comments section. Honestly, the readers on here don’t bother commenting unless there’s a juicy story. They read the articles, data shows, but commenting usually happens on only the more contentious pieces. Still, people can say what they choose, and users don’t even need to log in. Do we censor? Well, I can say that we definitely filter. It’s not quite the same thing.
As for Musk’s pick regarding his replacement as CEO, Linda Yaccarino, it’s also clear that the idea is to not take sides, as her history shows she is no far-Right thinker. Her ideas seem to be about limiting censorship by focusing on curtailment of reach, rather than right to speak on the platform. Some are concerned that Yaccarino cares only about what advertisers want.
In fact, that’s the very least a CEO could care about, but for a platform that survives by advertising dollars, even in part, an reasonable understanding has to figure in somewhere. Advertisers’ concerns are always an issue, but at least there aren’t additional layers of people with certain ideologies to please at Twitter.
Of course, the litmus test is time. We’ll see how Twitter fares, as it transforms from a microblogging platform to an “everything” platform called X.com, with a messaging system that can hardly be considered a microblog, these days. The product itself is changing, but as that change happens, many will be keenly curious to see how Twitter goes about maintaining Elon’s self-avowed commitment to free speech absolutism.
Of course, being on Twitter is like being in Elon’s hotel; you’re the guest and the broader idea of legal “Freedom of Speech” do not actually apply. And so, let’s hope Mr. Musk is a gracious host, and continues to provide a space where people can grow and learn together by sharing and comparing, by listening and speaking. (Writing and typing, really, but…)
This is what Elon has to say about his shiny new e-toy, Twitter, really not a toy in any sense, but a serious tool for helping us all reconnect from our disparate internal spaces we’ve become cocooned within:
I hope this platform increasingly brings you joy & elucidation
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2023
