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>We go there to make noise about how the world could and should be a “better place.” We go on Twitter to noisily call out strangers... Do "we"? I certainly don

>We go there to make noise about how the world could and should be a “better place.” We go on Twitter to noisily call out strangers... Do "we"? I certainly don't. A few product updates, feature previews, giveaways and that's it for me. >Neoliberalism and its incessant privatization of public space also explains social media’s weaponizing of morality. Rather than a digital version of the town square, Twitter is the privately owned space in which private companies and billionaires can compete for public virtue. Rather than real citizenship, that’s the mock political identity of our neoliberal age. What exactly is this publicly owned web forum which the author pines for? I guess he cannot create it himself, because then it would be privately owned. What is he proposing? A government owned "public" Twitter? If there is no actual proposal, it is interesting that this issue is now so pressing. When this publicly traded private company was banning and moralizing, it didn't seem to be an issue. "It is a private company, go somewhere else if you don't like it", was the standard refrain. Now when the shoe is on the other foot, the problem is private ownership. From my side it reads as if Elon has master-level trolled partisans. His stated intent to literally take the company private should have been the first clue.

CWuestefeld 5y ago
From my side it reads as if Elon has master-level trolled partisans. I think that's exactly it. I can't find any other interpretation that makes sense. Lots of folks are up-in-arms about how he's going to destroy free speech. But since there's no hint from Musks's quarter that anything would be done to limit anyone's speech - more the opposite, that he largely opposes any such limitations - their concerns make no sense. I know it's partisan and uncharitable, but the only way I can find to read it is a fear that the kind of anti-speech limitations that they are accustomed to and they like will be removed. Thus, Musk has trolled them into revealing this secret preference.
- zeroonetwothree 5y ago
  There is a weird new trend of redefining "free speech" to mean "speech that doesn't offend me".
  - willnonya 5y ago
    indeed. anything you dont like iant free speech, its hate soeech. even if youre the one doing the hating.
- aww_dang 5y ago
  Given that some of his products are state subsidized, it seems a bit reckless on his part to upset partisans. On the other hand, he's made it this far in life without my advice. Either way, it is popcorn worthy Internet drama.
  - emteycz 5y ago
    He was never on the good side of the state anyways. They buy his services because they're the best and vastly cheaper than anything else, not because they like Musk or want to give him a chance or something. Musk got his chance by himself.
- gilmore606 5y ago
  I think it's more that they can't imagine controlling a public speech platform without censoring it to their advantage, so they can't imagine anyone else would not immediately do the same -- to them.
kevingadd 5y ago
>>We go there to make noise about how the world could and should be a “better place.” We go on Twitter to noisily call out strangers... >Do "we"? I certainly don't. A few product updates, feature previews, giveaways and that's it for me. Yeah, this is really a self-inflicted problem. I'm personally a left-wing partisan but I still don't see this problem on my timeline because I curate it. It's maybe 10-20% political topics, but it's ones I care about like war and apartheid, not constant noisy call-outs. The rest is people talking about work, media they enjoy, what happened in their day, etc. While there's a lot wrong with Facebook and Twitter (especially the things the algorithm decides to force on you), if you use the Twitter chronological timeline, you're seeing the people you chose to follow and the content they post. You can even disable retweets if you find that someone you value is RTing stuff you don't want to see. People need to learn to do everything they can to avoid pointing the toxicity firehose at their own faces.

CWuestefeld 5y ago

From my side it reads as if Elon has master-level trolled partisans. I think that's exactly it. I can't find any other interpretation that makes sense. Lots of folks are up-in-arms about how he's going to destroy free speech. But since there's no hint from Musks's quarter that anything would be done to limit anyone's speech - more the opposite, that he largely opposes any such limitations - their concerns make no sense. I know it's partisan and uncharitable, but the only way I can find to read it is a fear that the kind of anti-speech limitations that they are accustomed to and they like will be removed. Thus, Musk has trolled them into revealing this secret preference.

zeroonetwothree 5y ago
There is a weird new trend of redefining "free speech" to mean "speech that doesn't offend me".
- willnonya 5y ago
  indeed. anything you dont like iant free speech, its hate soeech. even if youre the one doing the hating.
aww_dang 5y ago
Given that some of his products are state subsidized, it seems a bit reckless on his part to upset partisans. On the other hand, he's made it this far in life without my advice. Either way, it is popcorn worthy Internet drama.
- emteycz 5y ago
  He was never on the good side of the state anyways. They buy his services because they're the best and vastly cheaper than anything else, not because they like Musk or want to give him a chance or something. Musk got his chance by himself.
gilmore606 5y ago
I think it's more that they can't imagine controlling a public speech platform without censoring it to their advantage, so they can't imagine anyone else would not immediately do the same -- to them.

kevingadd 5y ago

>>We go there to make noise about how the world could and should be a “better place.” We go on Twitter to noisily call out strangers... >Do "we"? I certainly don't. A few product updates, feature previews, giveaways and that's it for me. Yeah, this is really a self-inflicted problem. I'm personally a left-wing partisan but I still don't see this problem on my timeline because I curate it. It's maybe 10-20% political topics, but it's ones I care about like war and apartheid, not constant noisy call-outs. The rest is people talking about work, media they enjoy, what happened in their day, etc. While there's a lot wrong with Facebook and Twitter (especially the things the algorithm decides to force on you), if you use the Twitter chronological timeline, you're seeing the people you chose to follow and the content they post. You can even disable retweets if you find that someone you value is RTing stuff you don't want to see. People need to learn to do everything they can to avoid pointing the toxicity firehose at their own faces.