Sunday, May 22, 2022

I Don't Hate Elon Musk Enough

I’m despairing that I’ll never hate Elon Musk enough.

I feel like I’m in the ballpark re: Hitler, Putin, and Harvey Weinstein. But I still think of Elon Musk as human, and as someone who’s done some admirable things.

I don’t want to dissect him alive with a dull knife. I don’t want to see all his relatives die or his stockholders impoverished or his cars exploding just to cause him sadness.

I believe the fetid core of all this is his principled stand on free speech, which could possibly mean restoring Donald Trump’s Twitter feed. I realize that’s literally like restoring Auschwitz and hooking up the gas jets, but while I really disliked Trump’s tweeting, I’m still not feeling the proper caustic roar of abhorrence.

Is there a course I can take to get right on this? Can anyone out there Clockwork Orange me re: this abomination?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The master of the surface take. Free speech? Cut me a fucking break. Do you know how hard the Twitter team works at balancing all of the issues they have to balance? There’s no right to free speech on a private platform. You have to follow the terms of service. You and Elon both have consultant syndrome.

Jim Leff said...

1. Oddly, I actually do have some limited insight into moderation of online communities. Not to the level of "douchey anonymous troll", of course (nobody's that slick). But I did delve into those waters very briefly once.

2. https://jimleff.blogspot.com/2022/04/free-speech.html Not as eloquently incisive as your articulation, but, hey, I try.

3. Yes, "consultant". That's me. Always advising, never actually doing. Same for Musk, come to think of it. You know who really DOES stuff? Douchey anonymous trolls. They make it all happen.

Thanks for the insight and clarity, "Anonymous".

Blog Archive