Some of my previous thoughts on Elon and Twitter. There's a big part of me that sees this and can't help but say, "Go, Elon, go!" Twitter has made society worse, mass advertising has made society...
There's a big part of me that sees this and can't help but say, "Go, Elon, go!" Twitter has made society worse, mass advertising has made society worse, so any moves that end with the one or both losing is a net good, in my humble opinion.
Honestly, I wish more of the billionaire class openly treated their peers with the hostility and disdain they hold for the rest of us.
The problem with this is that imo there simply is demand for a twitter-like service, so one will take Twitter's place, and I see no reason to think that it's going to be better.
The problem with this is that imo there simply is demand for a twitter-like service, so one will take Twitter's place, and I see no reason to think that it's going to be better.
I got my invite code, but my discover tab is still full of politics. Even though it's mostly stuff I agree with, I simply no longer want to see any politics in any social media feed, ever again....
I got my invite code, but my discover tab is still full of politics. Even though it's mostly stuff I agree with, I simply no longer want to see any politics in any social media feed, ever again. I'm done. It just makes me miserable. I wish there was a way to filter it all out. I want a social media feed that I can check into on my phone for 10-15 minutes when everything else around me starts to feel too overwhelming or stressful, and over the last 5 years most social media spaces have become a source of more stress rather than serving as an escape.
Agreed. My mastodon feed is mostly free from politics due to the individuals I’ve chosen to follow, and while I still have a Twitter account it’s used solely to follow artists with anything...
Agreed. My mastodon feed is mostly free from politics due to the individuals I’ve chosen to follow, and while I still have a Twitter account it’s used solely to follow artists with anything political or otherwise stressful getting blocked.
It might come off somewhat as sticking my head in the sand, but so much of the negative news that swirls around cannot in any way be changed by me, so there’s no point in allowing my mental health to degrade by stewing in it.
I think you can do some custom muting/ follow lists. I haven't played with it much but I mostly follow authors, disability activists and a few academics (and cats. I follow cats). I am more ok...
I think you can do some custom muting/ follow lists. I haven't played with it much but I mostly follow authors, disability activists and a few academics (and cats. I follow cats).
I am more ok with politics in my feed but I get way less than on other platforms even actively following folks. The death of Kissinger was the only time I've wanted to log off so far.
I have a fair bit of admiration for someone who can tell advertisers to f off because he won't be held ransom to an opinion because it might be politically incorrect. Really he's giving a huge...
I have a fair bit of admiration for someone who can tell advertisers to f off because he won't be held ransom to an opinion because it might be politically incorrect. Really he's giving a huge middle finger to the entire idea of cancel culture and is one of the only people who has the money and influence to do it.
Whether it succeeds or not is the big question, but the fact is IF he can say what he did, IF he can lose a significant number of advertisers and STILL keep X running, ultimately it could change the face of social media for the future.
I mean, honestly, MOST of us dont say everything we feel is controversial online because we're worried about being cancelled, or losing our jobs. I would love to see the world scroll back about 30 years where you could say controversial things and someone might strongly disagree with you, but they didnt go on a campaign to tell the entire world that you're an asshole and try to get you fired. I dont think the world is more sensitive now, more inclusive, more caring - we're just more scared to be honest about our true thoughts. And obviously to that, Elon would say, well f that. I admire bravery.
Why is it bad for there to be negative social consequences for saying things people find distasteful? Why do we need to coddle and protect the feelings of assholes?
Why is it bad for there to be negative social consequences for saying things people find distasteful? Why do we need to coddle and protect the feelings of assholes?
There can be consequences for anything one might say. But cancel culture has escalated those consequences to well beyond proportional while stoking the flames of dissension along the way. And in...
There can be consequences for anything one might say. But cancel culture has escalated those consequences to well beyond proportional while stoking the flames of dissension along the way. And in this particular case I dont think anyone's coddling or protecting Elon's feelings - I'm quite certain he gets more than the average person's share of hate mail including death threats on the regular.
Could you expand this point? Because every time I see someone decrying "cancel culture", that someone has more money than God and is in a position to do real harm to the people they target with...
But cancel culture has escalated those consequences to well beyond proportional while stoking the flames of dissension along the way.
Could you expand this point? Because every time I see someone decrying "cancel culture", that someone has more money than God and is in a position to do real harm to the people they target with their opinions.
Elon Musk is promoting Nazis and Fascism on arguably the world's largest communication platform. He's not "being cancelled". He's experiencing what happens when you're a Nazi in front of the world - turns out, a good chunk of the world doesn't like Nazis (and a disturbing amount of it still does).
Cafferty's situation is unfortunate; I remember a similar circumstance, with the same gesture, plaguing someone who was on Jeopardy! in the past couple of years. That person was able to explain...
Cafferty's situation is unfortunate; I remember a similar circumstance, with the same gesture, plaguing someone who was on Jeopardy! in the past couple of years. That person was able to explain themselves (on social media, too) and suffered no substantial consequences, as far as I can tell - other than the need to explain themselves to the faceless masses online.
But that does not apply to Elon Musk. He is the richest man in the world, running and utilizing the largest social media platform in the world, and using it to promote antisemitism, Naziism, and Fascism. He is not "being cancelled" the same way Cafferty was.
He isn't being "politically incorrect". He's being racist - with purpose and intention. I'm no fan of advertising and big-C Capitalism, but Elon isn't standing up to them - he's a symptom OF them.
Cancel culture is really not that different from the conservative "you can't swear/play violent video games/listen to bad music/do non christian" nonsense most politicians have chased for years....
Could you expand this point? Because every time I see someone decrying "cancel culture", that someone has more money than God and is in a position to do real harm to the people they target with their opinions.
Cancel culture is really not that different from the conservative "you can't swear/play violent video games/listen to bad music/do non christian" nonsense most politicians have chased for years. It very quickly boils down to "Do what i say, or else" and it's disturbing how many people don't get that if you don't agree with what's being said it's hellishly dangerous.
Yes it'd be great to shut up all the racists, but there's just as good odds (if not better) they're the ones who will get to decide if things like this become the norm.
I would argue that it is substantially different. Look at who is "being cancelled" and tell me what they're doing, and what actual consequences they are facing. Not just "people talked shit...
I would argue that it is substantially different.
Look at who is "being cancelled" and tell me what they're doing, and what actual consequences they are facing. Not just "people talked shit online" consequences - actual tangible effects to their life or career.
I would argue that most of the people that have been "cancelled" have been so, because they were being racist, or sexually abusive, or some other actually morally reprehensible/illegal thing.
That is not the same as "someone played a violent video game".
Yep such terrible things such as taking a knee during the anthem or daring to post dark humor on Twitter. Your assumptions in this seem to be based on your media preferences rather than research....
Yep such terrible things such as taking a knee during the anthem or daring to post dark humor on Twitter.
Your assumptions in this seem to be based on your media preferences rather than research. Plenty of people have had their careers end and some of them couldn’t afford it
Name a few, if you would. Edit: I can't reply, locked thread ... But what happened to Kapernick could be chalked up to a number of things that don't include "cancel culture" (which, I'd argue, is...
Name a few, if you would.
Edit: I can't reply, locked thread ... But what happened to Kapernick could be chalked up to a number of things that don't include "cancel culture" (which, I'd argue, is a much bigger perceived issue among the people that destroyed his career).
Hayden Christiansen didn't get cancelled; he just had a hard time finding work. Can you even say someone was "cancelled" before it entered the zeitgeist?
Same with Sinead. I should add, I agree with her stances from back in the Pope John Paul II days, but she made those choices knowing full well what would happen. If we're moving the goalposts to include events from before "cancel culture" was a thing we talked about, then either every event where someone experienced consequences from their actions is cancel culture ... Or nothing is.
Well I wasn’t referring to Elon specifically, I was referring to the hypothetical “asshole” who has been cancelled for holding and broadcasting distasteful opinions. So like, in your opinion where...
Well I wasn’t referring to Elon specifically, I was referring to the hypothetical “asshole” who has been cancelled for holding and broadcasting distasteful opinions.
So like, in your opinion where is the line drawn? Like, if you say something controversial and I call you an asshole, that’s proportional, but if you broadcast it on the internet and a thousand people all think you’re an asshole and try to hold you accountable for what you said that’s over the line? Maybe the lesson isn’t “we should create safe spaces for assholes” but rather “don’t be an asshole” and if a thousand people call you an asshole, and some people tell your boss about this gnarly thing you said, isn’t it ultimately your fault for broadcasting it in the first place? Isn’t that supposed to be a moment for introspection rather than doubling down and just becoming the Principal Skinner meme?
I agree that cancel culture isn’t what we need. A strong driving force for it is a mindless desire to have someone to hate. I assume very few people actively cancelling someone through tweets,...
I agree that cancel culture isn’t what we need. A strong driving force for it is a mindless desire to have someone to hate. I assume very few people actively cancelling someone through tweets, retweets, etc. are thinking through what they’re promoting. And once the mob is called to action they can go well beyond what’s just.
That said, I do think Elon has earned plenty of resistance. Given his unethically large influence on others from his wealth a wild mob might be the best retaliation normal people have. I wish he’d get shut down one way or another. And he has the money to ignore most consequences anyway, so I’m not too worried about him.
I’m instead worried about the normal people that get canceled. GamerGate was an early instance of cancel culture, but it was driven by misogynistic gamers attacking a random journalist. And maybe that journalist isn’t good at their job or isn’t the person you want writing articles for your hobby, but that doesn’t earn someone an angry mob.
What if "people find distasteful" "being gay" "having the wrong skin color" "saying things against their region" "advocating for unions or against corporations" "being pro/anti abortion" This all...
Why is it bad for there to be negative social consequences for saying things people find distasteful?
What if "people find distasteful"
"being gay"
"having the wrong skin color"
"saying things against their region"
"advocating for unions or against corporations"
"being pro/anti abortion"
This all hinges on everyone agreeing what's distasteful. In chasing some perfect utopia where everyone agrees not to be an asshole, you give a whole shitload of power to assholes.
It's hard to see Elon as a valiant fighter against cancel culture when he defends people such as the Libsoftiktok account whose harassment of LGBT people has regularly lead to targets losing jobs...
It's hard to see Elon as a valiant fighter against cancel culture when he defends people such as the Libsoftiktok account whose harassment of LGBT people has regularly lead to targets losing jobs and getting death threats, unless you strictly define cancel culture as something where the right is targeted. Cancel culture isn't synonymous with whether websites ban people.
That's a strange euphemism for an anti-Jewish conspiracy theory. What does "being cancelled" mean? Does this apply when people are self-proclaimed Nazis or terrorist sympathizers? Not everyone has...
because it might be politically incorrect
That's a strange euphemism for an anti-Jewish conspiracy theory.
because we're worried about being cancelled
What does "being cancelled" mean?
someone might strongly disagree with you, but they didnt go on a campaign to tell the entire world that you're an asshole
Does this apply when people are self-proclaimed Nazis or terrorist sympathizers?
we're just more scared to be honest about our true thoughts
Not everyone has to hide their "true thoughts" to not have other people think you're an asshole, etc.
See, you saying this makes me suspect you're probably an asshole, etc. Everyone thinks awful shit sometimes, and even if you in particular don't, the implicit standard of mental spotlessness is...
Not everyone has to hide their "true thoughts" to not have other people think you're an asshole, etc.
See, you saying this makes me suspect you're probably an asshole, etc. Everyone thinks awful shit sometimes, and even if you in particular don't, the implicit standard of mental spotlessness is both absurd and stigmatizing to normalcy, let alone anybody who struggles with any form of mental illness.
You're creating a false equivalency between people (supposedly) being criticised just for believing something and people being criticised for acting on that belief in a very public and prominent...
the implicit standard of mental spotlessness is both absurd and stigmatizing to normalcy
You're creating a false equivalency between people (supposedly) being criticised just for believing something and people being criticised for acting on that belief in a very public and prominent way. Nobody is asking Elon Musk to be "mentally spotless", they're just asking him not to promote antisemitic conspiracy theories on his website.
I'm not the one who moved away from specifically discussing Musk. And asshole is a much broader category than antisemitic conspiracy theorist. In terms of Musk, sure, he deserves it. But...
I'm not the one who moved away from specifically discussing Musk. And asshole is a much broader category than antisemitic conspiracy theorist.
In terms of Musk, sure, he deserves it. But gowestyoungman seemed to be trying to look for the silver lining of this, not apologize for Musk's actions. It's pretty frustrating that the same mechanism for preventing the spread of these theories is what forces sex workers to go underground, what random third parties, who have little to do with the actual message sender or receiver, the actual participants in a transaction, or even the producers of the content, arbitrarily want.
I genuinely don't think he knows what he's doing. I think he made some smartarse responses to buying Twitter, the realised that he has to do it and hates having it. So he's burning everything...
I would LOVE to hear what you guys think, or even try and defend maybe to see if we can even try to reason his insane actions from the past year into a place where we could perhaps understand it?
I genuinely don't think he knows what he's doing. I think he made some smartarse responses to buying Twitter, the realised that he has to do it and hates having it. So he's burning everything around him and it for the sheer "Well fuck it, it never meant that much in the first place" type of attitude that betrays how much it actually meant to him.
I don't think Elon is some great genuis or a total plank, he's just got the money behind him that he doesn't have to worry too much about his projects flunking or flying, so he's mostly just a regular dude with anger issues screaming into the void he created.
Don't get me wrong, he's a tosser who needs a kick in the nuts for the way he's supporting far-right types. But I don't think he's part of some global plan, or even a bigger plan than "What's up for the next 12 weeks?" apparoach that all capitalists have.
I largely agree with you, but I don't think he's burning it down intentionally. It's clear he suffers from at least some kind of narcissism, and I think he's just incapable of admitting his ideas...
I largely agree with you, but I don't think he's burning it down intentionally. It's clear he suffers from at least some kind of narcissism, and I think he's just incapable of admitting his ideas are bad. He'll latch on to some random plan, like unbanning all the trolls or changing the blue checkmark to a subscription service, and then no matter how poorly it goes he'll never change his mind.
He's not being destructive on purpose, he's just delusional and stubborn to a fault.
That's pretty much how I feel. He's getting it all wrong, can't admit it and then he's going "FUCK IT, IT WASN'T WORTH IT ANYWAY! LOLOLOLOL!" When realistically... the rest of us can see how much...
That's pretty much how I feel. He's getting it all wrong, can't admit it and then he's going "FUCK IT, IT WASN'T WORTH IT ANYWAY! LOLOLOLOL!" When realistically... the rest of us can see how much Twitter actually meant to his ego.
He's not being destructive on purpose, he's just delusional and stubborn to a fault.
With Twitter, in particular, there's no filter between him and the public. All of his ideas are available for immediate consumption. And honestly, I think that's why it's so much worse than his...
With Twitter, in particular, there's no filter between him and the public. All of his ideas are available for immediate consumption. And honestly, I think that's why it's so much worse than his other businesses. Plus he was owner/CEO all by himself until recently.
He specifically said I'll buy this thing for this price. He quoted a price well above the market value. Most likely he was just bluffing but Twitter accepted the offer as it is. If he is...
I think he made some smartarse responses to buying Twitter, the realised that he has to do it and hates having it. So he's burning everything around him and it for the sheer "Well fuck it, it never meant that much in the first place" type of attitude that betrays how much it actually meant to him.
He specifically said I'll buy this thing for this price. He quoted a price well above the market value. Most likely he was just bluffing but Twitter accepted the offer as it is. If he is intentionally doing damage to Twitter (X) now then he maybe still thinking Twitter is a valuable brand and someone will save it from him out of sympathy. However no one cares.
You're pretty much spot on, that's my 'smart arse remarks' essentially. Once he realised "Oh fuck, I've got to do this" then he went into hairbrained mode and here we are. I personally don't like...
You're pretty much spot on, that's my 'smart arse remarks' essentially. Once he realised "Oh fuck, I've got to do this" then he went into hairbrained mode and here we are.
I personally don't like Twitter or Tesla as organisations. I don't care for Social Media or overpriced vehicles. SpaceX is cool, but I've spoken to engineers who've worked in their data space and it's not a great place to work. Ho-hum.
I think telling your own customers to "go fuck [them]selves" is generally a very poor business decision. But hey, Musk is a very successful businessman, maybe he knows something I don't. Maybe I...
I think telling your own customers to "go fuck [them]selves" is generally a very poor business decision. But hey, Musk is a very successful businessman, maybe he knows something I don't. Maybe I should go try implementing his strategy with my customers. I will report back once my experiment is complete.
Some of my previous thoughts on Elon and Twitter.
There's a big part of me that sees this and can't help but say, "Go, Elon, go!" Twitter has made society worse, mass advertising has made society worse, so any moves that end with the one or both losing is a net good, in my humble opinion.
Honestly, I wish more of the billionaire class openly treated their peers with the hostility and disdain they hold for the rest of us.
The problem with this is that imo there simply is demand for a twitter-like service, so one will take Twitter's place, and I see no reason to think that it's going to be better.
Obviously it's much smaller but bluesky's a very chill place right now and I like it a lot.
I got my invite code, but my discover tab is still full of politics. Even though it's mostly stuff I agree with, I simply no longer want to see any politics in any social media feed, ever again. I'm done. It just makes me miserable. I wish there was a way to filter it all out. I want a social media feed that I can check into on my phone for 10-15 minutes when everything else around me starts to feel too overwhelming or stressful, and over the last 5 years most social media spaces have become a source of more stress rather than serving as an escape.
Agreed. My mastodon feed is mostly free from politics due to the individuals I’ve chosen to follow, and while I still have a Twitter account it’s used solely to follow artists with anything political or otherwise stressful getting blocked.
It might come off somewhat as sticking my head in the sand, but so much of the negative news that swirls around cannot in any way be changed by me, so there’s no point in allowing my mental health to degrade by stewing in it.
I think you can do some custom muting/ follow lists. I haven't played with it much but I mostly follow authors, disability activists and a few academics (and cats. I follow cats).
I am more ok with politics in my feed but I get way less than on other platforms even actively following folks. The death of Kissinger was the only time I've wanted to log off so far.
I have a fair bit of admiration for someone who can tell advertisers to f off because he won't be held ransom to an opinion because it might be politically incorrect. Really he's giving a huge middle finger to the entire idea of cancel culture and is one of the only people who has the money and influence to do it.
Whether it succeeds or not is the big question, but the fact is IF he can say what he did, IF he can lose a significant number of advertisers and STILL keep X running, ultimately it could change the face of social media for the future.
I mean, honestly, MOST of us dont say everything we feel is controversial online because we're worried about being cancelled, or losing our jobs. I would love to see the world scroll back about 30 years where you could say controversial things and someone might strongly disagree with you, but they didnt go on a campaign to tell the entire world that you're an asshole and try to get you fired. I dont think the world is more sensitive now, more inclusive, more caring - we're just more scared to be honest about our true thoughts. And obviously to that, Elon would say, well f that. I admire bravery.
Why is it bad for there to be negative social consequences for saying things people find distasteful? Why do we need to coddle and protect the feelings of assholes?
There can be consequences for anything one might say. But cancel culture has escalated those consequences to well beyond proportional while stoking the flames of dissension along the way. And in this particular case I dont think anyone's coddling or protecting Elon's feelings - I'm quite certain he gets more than the average person's share of hate mail including death threats on the regular.
Could you expand this point? Because every time I see someone decrying "cancel culture", that someone has more money than God and is in a position to do real harm to the people they target with their opinions.
Elon Musk is promoting Nazis and Fascism on arguably the world's largest communication platform. He's not "being cancelled". He's experiencing what happens when you're a Nazi in front of the world - turns out, a good chunk of the world doesn't like Nazis (and a disturbing amount of it still does).
Cafferty's situation is unfortunate; I remember a similar circumstance, with the same gesture, plaguing someone who was on Jeopardy! in the past couple of years. That person was able to explain themselves (on social media, too) and suffered no substantial consequences, as far as I can tell - other than the need to explain themselves to the faceless masses online.
But that does not apply to Elon Musk. He is the richest man in the world, running and utilizing the largest social media platform in the world, and using it to promote antisemitism, Naziism, and Fascism. He is not "being cancelled" the same way Cafferty was.
He isn't being "politically incorrect". He's being racist - with purpose and intention. I'm no fan of advertising and big-C Capitalism, but Elon isn't standing up to them - he's a symptom OF them.
Cancel culture is really not that different from the conservative "you can't swear/play violent video games/listen to bad music/do non christian" nonsense most politicians have chased for years. It very quickly boils down to "Do what i say, or else" and it's disturbing how many people don't get that if you don't agree with what's being said it's hellishly dangerous.
Yes it'd be great to shut up all the racists, but there's just as good odds (if not better) they're the ones who will get to decide if things like this become the norm.
I would argue that it is substantially different.
Look at who is "being cancelled" and tell me what they're doing, and what actual consequences they are facing. Not just "people talked shit online" consequences - actual tangible effects to their life or career.
I would argue that most of the people that have been "cancelled" have been so, because they were being racist, or sexually abusive, or some other actually morally reprehensible/illegal thing.
That is not the same as "someone played a violent video game".
Yep such terrible things such as taking a knee during the anthem or daring to post dark humor on Twitter.
Your assumptions in this seem to be based on your media preferences rather than research. Plenty of people have had their careers end and some of them couldn’t afford it
Name a few, if you would.
Edit: I can't reply, locked thread ... But what happened to Kapernick could be chalked up to a number of things that don't include "cancel culture" (which, I'd argue, is a much bigger perceived issue among the people that destroyed his career).
Justine Sacco got tightly called out for an extremely racist "joke", in my opinion. And at it turns out, she's still quite successful, even working at a company her former employer spun off (https://www.vox.com/2018/1/19/16911074/justine-sacco-iac-match-group-return-tweet).
Hayden Christiansen didn't get cancelled; he just had a hard time finding work. Can you even say someone was "cancelled" before it entered the zeitgeist?
Same with Sinead. I should add, I agree with her stances from back in the Pope John Paul II days, but she made those choices knowing full well what would happen. If we're moving the goalposts to include events from before "cancel culture" was a thing we talked about, then either every event where someone experienced consequences from their actions is cancel culture ... Or nothing is.
Same with Corey Feldman and The Dixie Chicks.
James Gunn is doing just fine.
Colin kappernick
Justine Sacco
Hayden Christensen
Sinead O'Connor
Corey Feldman
The Dixie Chicks
And James Gunn as an honorable mention
Well I wasn’t referring to Elon specifically, I was referring to the hypothetical “asshole” who has been cancelled for holding and broadcasting distasteful opinions.
So like, in your opinion where is the line drawn? Like, if you say something controversial and I call you an asshole, that’s proportional, but if you broadcast it on the internet and a thousand people all think you’re an asshole and try to hold you accountable for what you said that’s over the line? Maybe the lesson isn’t “we should create safe spaces for assholes” but rather “don’t be an asshole” and if a thousand people call you an asshole, and some people tell your boss about this gnarly thing you said, isn’t it ultimately your fault for broadcasting it in the first place? Isn’t that supposed to be a moment for introspection rather than doubling down and just becoming the Principal Skinner meme?
I agree that cancel culture isn’t what we need. A strong driving force for it is a mindless desire to have someone to hate. I assume very few people actively cancelling someone through tweets, retweets, etc. are thinking through what they’re promoting. And once the mob is called to action they can go well beyond what’s just.
That said, I do think Elon has earned plenty of resistance. Given his unethically large influence on others from his wealth a wild mob might be the best retaliation normal people have. I wish he’d get shut down one way or another. And he has the money to ignore most consequences anyway, so I’m not too worried about him.
I’m instead worried about the normal people that get canceled. GamerGate was an early instance of cancel culture, but it was driven by misogynistic gamers attacking a random journalist. And maybe that journalist isn’t good at their job or isn’t the person you want writing articles for your hobby, but that doesn’t earn someone an angry mob.
What if "people find distasteful"
"being gay"
"having the wrong skin color"
"saying things against their region"
"advocating for unions or against corporations"
"being pro/anti abortion"
This all hinges on everyone agreeing what's distasteful. In chasing some perfect utopia where everyone agrees not to be an asshole, you give a whole shitload of power to assholes.
It's hard to see Elon as a valiant fighter against cancel culture when he defends people such as the Libsoftiktok account whose harassment of LGBT people has regularly lead to targets losing jobs and getting death threats, unless you strictly define cancel culture as something where the right is targeted. Cancel culture isn't synonymous with whether websites ban people.
That's a strange euphemism for an anti-Jewish conspiracy theory.
What does "being cancelled" mean?
Does this apply when people are self-proclaimed Nazis or terrorist sympathizers?
Not everyone has to hide their "true thoughts" to not have other people think you're an asshole, etc.
See, you saying this makes me suspect you're probably an asshole, etc. Everyone thinks awful shit sometimes, and even if you in particular don't, the implicit standard of mental spotlessness is both absurd and stigmatizing to normalcy, let alone anybody who struggles with any form of mental illness.
You're creating a false equivalency between people (supposedly) being criticised just for believing something and people being criticised for acting on that belief in a very public and prominent way. Nobody is asking Elon Musk to be "mentally spotless", they're just asking him not to promote antisemitic conspiracy theories on his website.
I'm not the one who moved away from specifically discussing Musk. And asshole is a much broader category than antisemitic conspiracy theorist.
In terms of Musk, sure, he deserves it. But gowestyoungman seemed to be trying to look for the silver lining of this, not apologize for Musk's actions. It's pretty frustrating that the same mechanism for preventing the spread of these theories is what forces sex workers to go underground, what random third parties, who have little to do with the actual message sender or receiver, the actual participants in a transaction, or even the producers of the content, arbitrarily want.
I genuinely don't think he knows what he's doing. I think he made some smartarse responses to buying Twitter, the realised that he has to do it and hates having it. So he's burning everything around him and it for the sheer "Well fuck it, it never meant that much in the first place" type of attitude that betrays how much it actually meant to him.
I don't think Elon is some great genuis or a total plank, he's just got the money behind him that he doesn't have to worry too much about his projects flunking or flying, so he's mostly just a regular dude with anger issues screaming into the void he created.
Don't get me wrong, he's a tosser who needs a kick in the nuts for the way he's supporting far-right types. But I don't think he's part of some global plan, or even a bigger plan than "What's up for the next 12 weeks?" apparoach that all capitalists have.
I largely agree with you, but I don't think he's burning it down intentionally. It's clear he suffers from at least some kind of narcissism, and I think he's just incapable of admitting his ideas are bad. He'll latch on to some random plan, like unbanning all the trolls or changing the blue checkmark to a subscription service, and then no matter how poorly it goes he'll never change his mind.
He's not being destructive on purpose, he's just delusional and stubborn to a fault.
That's pretty much how I feel. He's getting it all wrong, can't admit it and then he's going "FUCK IT, IT WASN'T WORTH IT ANYWAY! LOLOLOLOL!" When realistically... the rest of us can see how much Twitter actually meant to his ego.
Every CEO really.
With Twitter, in particular, there's no filter between him and the public. All of his ideas are available for immediate consumption. And honestly, I think that's why it's so much worse than his other businesses. Plus he was owner/CEO all by himself until recently.
He specifically said I'll buy this thing for this price. He quoted a price well above the market value. Most likely he was just bluffing but Twitter accepted the offer as it is. If he is intentionally doing damage to Twitter (X) now then he maybe still thinking Twitter is a valuable brand and someone will save it from him out of sympathy. However no one cares.
You're pretty much spot on, that's my 'smart arse remarks' essentially. Once he realised "Oh fuck, I've got to do this" then he went into hairbrained mode and here we are.
I personally don't like Twitter or Tesla as organisations. I don't care for Social Media or overpriced vehicles. SpaceX is cool, but I've spoken to engineers who've worked in their data space and it's not a great place to work. Ho-hum.
I think telling your own customers to "go fuck [them]selves" is generally a very poor business decision. But hey, Musk is a very successful businessman, maybe he knows something I don't. Maybe I should go try implementing his strategy with my customers. I will report back once my experiment is complete.
EDIT: So, I no longer have a job...