Much Hysteria Over Elon Musk and Twitter
What in the world has happened to the deep liberal tradition of free speech?
What in the world has happened to the deep liberal tradition of free speech?
So, Elon Musk, the genius behind SpaceX and Tesla (among other things), has bought Twitter.
In reaction, the Twittersphere explodes with hysteria over the prospect that Musk is going to — God Forbid- open up the site and allow all voices to be heard.
MSNBC commentator Tristan Snell tweeted, “Stay! And hold your ground like a Ukrainian.” He’s also a commentator for CNN.
Huh?
Hold your ground against what? Against a free press?
One would have thought that a card-carrying member of the Fourth Estate would be on the first line of defense FOR a free press, not preparing to man the barricades against one.
@CallToActivism, whoever that is, has 861,000 followers, so they must have some traction — warns, “We’ll be damend if Elon is going to run us off Twitter.”
I can’t recall where Musk said he would ban anyone from Twitter. Quite to the contrary, he threatens to open the platform up. Is that really so frightening?
It saddens me that liberals are calling for a ‘mediated’ Twitter — only voices we agree with should be allowed.
Liberals used to be on the front lines of defending a free press. It was the very liberal ACLU that bravely defended the rights of Nazis to march in the Jewish suburb of Skokie, Illinois, in 1978.
The foundation of a democracy is in a free press and free speech. And free presses are messy. They are supposed to be messy. That is the whole idea. A free press that works should make people think; it should challenge their assumptions; it should publish things they disagree with. It should make people angry. That’s fine. That is how it is supposed to work.
A mediate press is oatmeal. And more to the point, it is dangerous.
A mediated press is great so long as you are the mediator. But once you establish that premise- banning things we don’t like — there is no guarantee that you will remain the mediator.
Russia has a mediated press. Putin is the mediator. He only allows things that he likes and that he agrees with to be published — so the vast majority of the population of Russia believes that Nazis control Ukraine and that Russian soldiers are liberating the country. That’s what a mediate press gets you in the end.
So, Mr. Snell, if you want to compare the battle of Twitter to the War in Ukraine, I think you’re on the wrong side. If you want to stand with the Ukrainians, you have also to defend a free press, even if you don’t like what is being printed. It beats Putin’s mediated press, which is the side you have chosen.