5 ms·

The error is to assume that Musk actually cares about the First Amendment in the first place. He doesn't. Musk is an authoritarian at heart. What he cares most

The error is to assume that Musk actually cares about the First Amendment in the first place. He doesn't. Musk is an authoritarian at heart. What he cares most about is achieving the maximum authority with the least constraint. He will say and do anything in the pursuit of that. In this regard, Musk and Trump are very similar people. For both of them, the First Amendment is a stage prop to be used in their pantomimes. It's not something they truly believe in, especially because people might exercise the First Amendment to criticize them.

ohiovr 4y ago
What content was Trump effective at censoring?
- clouddrover 4y ago
  Protest suppression: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/trumps-grotesque-violation-first-amendment/612532/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/trumps-gro... https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/02/timeline-clearing-lafayette-square/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/02/timeline-...
  - jshen 4y ago
    Those are such great examples, and they are actual violations of the first amendment.
  - ohiovr 4y ago
    [flagged]
  - fhhcvjjgcfgh 4y ago
    Curious why you didn't use 2021 articles that refute your 2020 links.
- quantified 4y ago
  How is that question relevant?
  - ohiovr 4y ago
    - bilirubin 4y ago
ephextom 4y ago
> Musk is an authoritarian at heart. What he cares most about is achieving the maximum authority with the least constraint I'm really wanting to understand where this view comes from. What are the specific pieces of evidence for this? Who does he want authority over? How does that help him achieve his desired outcomes? From my position, I have no dog in the fight but from a brief assessment of his public words and actions I see someone who is fairly left-wing on economics, drug policy and the environment, and his underlying position on free speech seems congruent with those of George Orwell and John Stuart Mill, both of whom were strongly left-libertarian in their time. What are the specific pieces of evidence that demonstrate what he really wants, and what will really benefit him personally, is to take away people's freedom and agency?
- clouddrover 4y ago
  > I'm really wanting to understand where this view comes from. Musk's free advice for Ukraine is to submit to Russia. Ukraine advised Musk to "fuck off": https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/04/zelenskiy-hits-back-as-elon-musk-sets-up-twitter-poll-on-annexed-areas https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/04/zelenskiy-hits... But Russia loved him for it: https://futurism.com/the-byte/russia-loves-elon-musk-now https://futurism.com/the-byte/russia-loves-elon-musk-now Musk's free advice for Taiwan is to submit to China: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/oct/08/elon-musk-taiwan-china-special-administrative-zone-hong-kong https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/oct/08/elon-musk... Musk says China rocks and the US is full of complacency and entitlement: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/31/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-china-rocks-us-full-of-entitlement.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/31/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-china-ro... He ridiculously called California's covid measures fascist: https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/29/21242102/elon-musk-coronavirus-fascist-shelter-in-place-tesla-covid-19-safety-science https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/29/21242102/elon-musk-corona... But had Tesla praise China's covid measures because Tesla "believed Shanghai's COVID-19 measures helped lay the foundation for the city's future development": https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-suspends-production-shanghai-factory-4-days-comply-with-covid-curbs-2022-03-28/ https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-... Musk voted for Mayra Flores, an election denier and January 6th conspiracy theorist: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1536973965394157569 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1536973965394157569 https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/elon-musk-drifting-toward-trumpian-republican-politics-n1296529 https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/elon-musk-drifti... https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/23/politics/mayra-flores-capitol-riot-qanon-kfile/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/23/politics/mayra-flores-cap... Musk spreads conspiracy theories himself: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/oct/30/elon-musk-twitter-baseless-conspiracy-theory-paul-pelosi-attack https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/oct/30/elon-musk... Musk fires employees when they disagree with him, publicly or privately. So much for his free speech absolutism: https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/15/23460729/elon-musk-fire-twitter-engineers-dissent https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/15/23460729/elon-musk-fire-... Then Musk had a laugh about it in public. He enjoys it: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1592569305941807104 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1592569305941807104 Musk is showing you who and what he is. Believe him.
mcrad 4y ago
But hallmarks of authoritarianism are censorship, centralized power, collusion of private and public sectors. If by authoritarian you mean he is mean to crybabies in his own company, you might read up on how actual authoritarians have gained power throughout history (hint: they get the crybabies on their side) Clearly, Musk got into the Twitter business to reduce authoritarian tendencies exhibited by former staff.

ohiovr 4y ago

What content was Trump effective at censoring?

clouddrover 4y ago
Protest suppression: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/trumps-grotesque-violation-first-amendment/612532/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/trumps-gro... https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/02/timeline-clearing-lafayette-square/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/02/timeline-...
- jshen 4y ago
  Those are such great examples, and they are actual violations of the first amendment.
- ohiovr 4y ago
  [flagged]
- fhhcvjjgcfgh 4y ago
  Curious why you didn't use 2021 articles that refute your 2020 links.
quantified 4y ago
How is that question relevant?
- ohiovr 4y ago
  - bilirubin 4y ago

ephextom 4y ago

> Musk is an authoritarian at heart. What he cares most about is achieving the maximum authority with the least constraint I'm really wanting to understand where this view comes from. What are the specific pieces of evidence for this? Who does he want authority over? How does that help him achieve his desired outcomes? From my position, I have no dog in the fight but from a brief assessment of his public words and actions I see someone who is fairly left-wing on economics, drug policy and the environment, and his underlying position on free speech seems congruent with those of George Orwell and John Stuart Mill, both of whom were strongly left-libertarian in their time. What are the specific pieces of evidence that demonstrate what he really wants, and what will really benefit him personally, is to take away people's freedom and agency?

clouddrover 4y ago
> I'm really wanting to understand where this view comes from. Musk's free advice for Ukraine is to submit to Russia. Ukraine advised Musk to "fuck off": https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/04/zelenskiy-hits-back-as-elon-musk-sets-up-twitter-poll-on-annexed-areas https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/04/zelenskiy-hits... But Russia loved him for it: https://futurism.com/the-byte/russia-loves-elon-musk-now https://futurism.com/the-byte/russia-loves-elon-musk-now Musk's free advice for Taiwan is to submit to China: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/oct/08/elon-musk-taiwan-china-special-administrative-zone-hong-kong https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/oct/08/elon-musk... Musk says China rocks and the US is full of complacency and entitlement: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/31/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-china-rocks-us-full-of-entitlement.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/31/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-china-ro... He ridiculously called California's covid measures fascist: https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/29/21242102/elon-musk-coronavirus-fascist-shelter-in-place-tesla-covid-19-safety-science https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/29/21242102/elon-musk-corona... But had Tesla praise China's covid measures because Tesla "believed Shanghai's COVID-19 measures helped lay the foundation for the city's future development": https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-suspends-production-shanghai-factory-4-days-comply-with-covid-curbs-2022-03-28/ https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-... Musk voted for Mayra Flores, an election denier and January 6th conspiracy theorist: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1536973965394157569 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1536973965394157569 https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/elon-musk-drifting-toward-trumpian-republican-politics-n1296529 https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/elon-musk-drifti... https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/23/politics/mayra-flores-capitol-riot-qanon-kfile/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/23/politics/mayra-flores-cap... Musk spreads conspiracy theories himself: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/oct/30/elon-musk-twitter-baseless-conspiracy-theory-paul-pelosi-attack https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/oct/30/elon-musk... Musk fires employees when they disagree with him, publicly or privately. So much for his free speech absolutism: https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/15/23460729/elon-musk-fire-twitter-engineers-dissent https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/15/23460729/elon-musk-fire-... Then Musk had a laugh about it in public. He enjoys it: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1592569305941807104 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1592569305941807104 Musk is showing you who and what he is. Believe him.

mcrad 4y ago

But hallmarks of authoritarianism are censorship, centralized power, collusion of private and public sectors. If by authoritarian you mean he is mean to crybabies in his own company, you might read up on how actual authoritarians have gained power throughout history (hint: they get the crybabies on their side) Clearly, Musk got into the Twitter business to reduce authoritarian tendencies exhibited by former staff.