5 ms·

Well they didn't boast about it being up until Twitter failing became a popular prediction on the left.

enkid 4y ago
"on the left?" Why is everything politicized? It's not like the Democratic party is pushing for the collapse of Twitter. How is saying the moves Elon is making are risky a "left" position? Why does everything need to turn into politics? Why can't people just be criticizing the way Elon executed the acquisition? Is the "right" so obsessed with billionaires that any criticism has to come from "the left?"
- mgamache 4y ago
  - enkid 4y ago
    But no one was talking about "the left" or "the right" until you brought it up. The predictions from "the left" is something you feel adds to the conversation. Why? Why do you feel criticisms of the way Elon is running the company are associated to the "left," when plenty of neutral and non-partisan sources have called into question the way he is running the company?
    - mgamache 4y ago
      "no one was talking about "the left" or "the right" until you brought it up", really? https://nypost.com/2022/04/29/elon-musks-right-the-left-has-gone-insane/ https://nypost.com/2022/04/29/elon-musks-right-the-left-has-... https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/28/twitter-elon-musk-politics/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/28/twitter-e... https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/31/musk-twitter-paul-pelosi-00064329 https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/31/musk-twitter-paul-p... https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/congress-will-want-hear-elon-musk-twitter-whichever-party-wins-midterm-rcna55032\ https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/congress-will-want... The fact is some of the criticism of him is legit and I personally don't like the way Elon has promoted Tesla (bordering on fraud). But it's obvious the outrage is mostly selective. So Elon firing his well paid staff is worse than Apples hordes of child labor for years? Compare the reaction. https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-knowingly-used-child-labor-supplier-3-years-cut-costs-2020-12 https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-knowingly-used-child-l...
    - nonethewiser 4y ago
      That's how it breaks though.
    - PakG1 4y ago
      Nobody here was until you did. I would hope that HN would be above that stuff. We always complain that the MSM gets engineering work wrong. We value our own understanding of technical stuff better than the MSM's understanding. As such, I'd be curious how many were referencing laypeople or the MSM when they talk about Twitter's technical capabilities and risks here. I certainly would have assumed that we're all just talking about technical stuff as technical people, forget the laypeople and the MSM.
  - jonathanlb 4y ago
    > I am not on the 'right', but it's clear the left and media have been using twitter as it's coordination and messaging infrastructure You are not on the 'right' but calling out the 'left' while omitting the GOP (Trump, MTG, et al) and associates (Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, et al) from your assertion. If those on the right have not used Twitter for coordination and messaging, then they are far behind the zeitgeist. If they are, then you are likely not aware of that, or if you are, intentionally omitted that fact to make a point.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    The difference between Zuckerberg “wasting” $100B is that Meta is still a cash generating machine and has been since before it went public. Twitter has been a listless barely profitable shit show and now has to service more debt per year than it has cash flow.
  - moistly 4y ago
    > it's clear the left and media have been using twitter as it's coordination and messaging infrastructure I don’t tweet/have an account and I browse only in private mode. Why do I see so many right-wing trolls? Kirk, Owens, Boebert, Sorbo, etc, a whole cadre of extremists intent on creating an angry mob, and countless other anti-social, lying, and hateful lunatics… they’re all there, they frequently appear in the “you might like” tweets after the linked tweet’s thread. If you see twitter as “the left,” I suggest that may well be a result of the personalized engagement algorithm, because the untracked user is seeing a much broader range of tweets.
- guelo 4y ago
  How could it not be political? The reason Musk bought twitter is because of the censorship complaints from the right.
  - bmelton 4y ago
    I say this with no animus whatsoever, but I would be shocked to learn that's the reason Musk bought Twitter. I have no private insight to his motives, but profitability / vanity / dozens of other motives seem a lot more likely to me than spending $44 billion to fix a censorship problem, even if that does make for (selectively) good marketing.
    - mgamache 4y ago
      It seemed like a PR move that went horribly wrong. He got trapped by the offer that he probably thought he could back out of. I am sure he's all for free speech, but he tried so hard to kill the deal it makes me think he never really wanted it.
      - shagie 4y ago
        April 5th, Elon joins Twitter's board after revealing that he had 9.2% of Twitter's shares the day before. A week later (April 11th), he decided not to join the board because he wouldn't be able to exceed a 14.9% cap. Three days later, he makes a meme-ish offer of $54.20 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1514698036760530945 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1514698036760530945 Side bit look at the stock prices and volumes - https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/TWTR/history/ https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/TWTR/history/ --- I suspect that both the "this is the backout penalty" and the SEC looking closely at him for trying to manipulate the price of Twitter discouraged him from backing out. He was able to use it as an opportunity to sell some other significant amounts of stock as part of the "I am going to buy Twitter" that he would likely have been able to keep as cash if he was able to successfully back out of buying Twitter (though he's containing to sell stock). https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/08/business/elon-musk-tesla-stock-sale-twitter-purchase https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/08/business/elon-musk-tesla-stoc...
    - 4y ago
- nonethewiser 4y ago
  But he's not the source of politicization. Hes just observing it. For those that think Twitter is going to crash, are you on the right?
wyclif 4y ago
Exactly.

"on the left?" Why is everything politicized? It's not like the Democratic party is pushing for the collapse of Twitter. How is saying the moves Elon is making are risky a "left" position? Why does everything need to turn into politics? Why can't people just be criticizing the way Elon executed the acquisition? Is the "right" so obsessed with billionaires that any criticism has to come from "the left?"

mgamache 4y ago
- enkid 4y ago
  But no one was talking about "the left" or "the right" until you brought it up. The predictions from "the left" is something you feel adds to the conversation. Why? Why do you feel criticisms of the way Elon is running the company are associated to the "left," when plenty of neutral and non-partisan sources have called into question the way he is running the company?
  - mgamache 4y ago
    "no one was talking about "the left" or "the right" until you brought it up", really? https://nypost.com/2022/04/29/elon-musks-right-the-left-has-gone-insane/ https://nypost.com/2022/04/29/elon-musks-right-the-left-has-... https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/28/twitter-elon-musk-politics/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/28/twitter-e... https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/31/musk-twitter-paul-pelosi-00064329 https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/31/musk-twitter-paul-p... https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/congress-will-want-hear-elon-musk-twitter-whichever-party-wins-midterm-rcna55032\ https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/congress-will-want... The fact is some of the criticism of him is legit and I personally don't like the way Elon has promoted Tesla (bordering on fraud). But it's obvious the outrage is mostly selective. So Elon firing his well paid staff is worse than Apples hordes of child labor for years? Compare the reaction. https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-knowingly-used-child-labor-supplier-3-years-cut-costs-2020-12 https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-knowingly-used-child-l...
  - nonethewiser 4y ago
    That's how it breaks though.
  - PakG1 4y ago
    Nobody here was until you did. I would hope that HN would be above that stuff. We always complain that the MSM gets engineering work wrong. We value our own understanding of technical stuff better than the MSM's understanding. As such, I'd be curious how many were referencing laypeople or the MSM when they talk about Twitter's technical capabilities and risks here. I certainly would have assumed that we're all just talking about technical stuff as technical people, forget the laypeople and the MSM.
- jonathanlb 4y ago
  > I am not on the 'right', but it's clear the left and media have been using twitter as it's coordination and messaging infrastructure You are not on the 'right' but calling out the 'left' while omitting the GOP (Trump, MTG, et al) and associates (Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, et al) from your assertion. If those on the right have not used Twitter for coordination and messaging, then they are far behind the zeitgeist. If they are, then you are likely not aware of that, or if you are, intentionally omitted that fact to make a point.
- scarface74 4y ago
  The difference between Zuckerberg “wasting” $100B is that Meta is still a cash generating machine and has been since before it went public. Twitter has been a listless barely profitable shit show and now has to service more debt per year than it has cash flow.
- moistly 4y ago
  > it's clear the left and media have been using twitter as it's coordination and messaging infrastructure I don’t tweet/have an account and I browse only in private mode. Why do I see so many right-wing trolls? Kirk, Owens, Boebert, Sorbo, etc, a whole cadre of extremists intent on creating an angry mob, and countless other anti-social, lying, and hateful lunatics… they’re all there, they frequently appear in the “you might like” tweets after the linked tweet’s thread. If you see twitter as “the left,” I suggest that may well be a result of the personalized engagement algorithm, because the untracked user is seeing a much broader range of tweets.
guelo 4y ago
How could it not be political? The reason Musk bought twitter is because of the censorship complaints from the right.
- bmelton 4y ago
  I say this with no animus whatsoever, but I would be shocked to learn that's the reason Musk bought Twitter. I have no private insight to his motives, but profitability / vanity / dozens of other motives seem a lot more likely to me than spending $44 billion to fix a censorship problem, even if that does make for (selectively) good marketing.
  - mgamache 4y ago
    It seemed like a PR move that went horribly wrong. He got trapped by the offer that he probably thought he could back out of. I am sure he's all for free speech, but he tried so hard to kill the deal it makes me think he never really wanted it.
    - shagie 4y ago
      April 5th, Elon joins Twitter's board after revealing that he had 9.2% of Twitter's shares the day before. A week later (April 11th), he decided not to join the board because he wouldn't be able to exceed a 14.9% cap. Three days later, he makes a meme-ish offer of $54.20 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1514698036760530945 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1514698036760530945 Side bit look at the stock prices and volumes - https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/TWTR/history/ https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/TWTR/history/ --- I suspect that both the "this is the backout penalty" and the SEC looking closely at him for trying to manipulate the price of Twitter discouraged him from backing out. He was able to use it as an opportunity to sell some other significant amounts of stock as part of the "I am going to buy Twitter" that he would likely have been able to keep as cash if he was able to successfully back out of buying Twitter (though he's containing to sell stock). https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/08/business/elon-musk-tesla-stock-sale-twitter-purchase https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/08/business/elon-musk-tesla-stoc...
  - 4y ago
nonethewiser 4y ago
But he's not the source of politicization. Hes just observing it. For those that think Twitter is going to crash, are you on the right?

wyclif 4y ago

Exactly.