Elon Musk

[daniel]

The sooner one figures out that everything the AuthLeft does comes straight out of rules for radicals, the sooner you know how to defend against it.

Everything is a projection and or a Kafka trap and nothing is ever enough. Anger feeds the beast.

Apparently "auth left" is another buzzword, like "woke" that the right uses when they don't have actual arguments to justify their opposition to basic human rights. "Woke," for those who don't know, means being aware of (awake to) the injustices built into the structure of society. The history of slavery, followed by Jim Crow and exclusion from the government programs that helped the white middle class to build wealth through home ownership, and into the present where people of color are given an inferior education and funneled into menial, low-paying, dead-end jobs. You are "woke" if you are aware of the history of the United States.

But the right, unable to deny the actual facts, came up with an ingenious solution: Just turn "woke" into an insult and lob it at anybody who suggests that "Liberty and justice for all" is a big fat lie and we should do better.

Now the right has another word, this time a meaningless one of their own invention, that they can lob at the left, as though it had meaning. "Auth left," apparently intending to suggest that the left, which is actually pretty much powerless in this country, is an "authoritarian" force. News flash: The authoritarians in this country are the conservatives who want to impose their religion on the rest of us, and who made a credible attempt in 2021 to actually overthrow democracy itself and install the loser into the presidency. Now THAT is authoritarianism!

 

[indysurfer]

Some very good commentary from Nate Silver (no raging right winger) about why it was so dangerous for Twitter and many on the Left to censor discussions about the origin of COVID.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1630594690503389184

 

[JRP3]

Musk buying Twitter and opening the curtain is exposing so much.

He hasn't exposed anything of substance.

 

[Cosmacelf]

He hasn't exposed anything of substance.

FBI and CIA bypassing the first amendment to censor citizen speech isn't "anything of substance"? You'd think the left and right could agree that having the most powerful police organizations in the US stomp on citizen's rights wouldn't be a good idea...

 

[advocate8]

Some very good commentary from Nate Silver (no raging right winger) about why it was so dangerous for Twitter and many on the Left to censor discussions about the origin of COVID.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1630594690503389184

This is a probably learning moment for social media...though there is so far no consensus on the origins of the virus, the fact that one plausible source is a lab leak makes it not quite the story the right is telling.
And its not faintly like the Hunter Biden laptop.

 

[indysurfer]

"Auth left," apparently intending to suggest that the left, which is actually pretty much powerless in this country, is an "authoritarian" force. News flash: The authoritarians in this country are the conservatives who want to impose their religion on the rest of us, and who made a credible attempt in 2021 to actually overthrow democracy itself and install the loser into the presidency. Now THAT is authoritarianism!

Powerless?

The majority of left-wingers in my life are good people and not authoritarian.

But it comical to claim that the Left does not have virtual monopolistic control over our culture through the Media, Academia, Corporate HR boards and Hollywood.

Elon is no right-winger, he is just not a woke Left wing radical unlike the rest that dominate our public discourse. The fact that so many on the Left are going absolutely nuts that Elon is bringing needed transparency to Twitter is pretty good evidence of the total power they had - and now afraid of losing. That and they have been in a bubble so long, they really can't process counter points of view.....so it is easier to label it disinformation or racist.

Does the woke left not impose their "religion" on us every day through the awesome power of government, corporations, academia and Media censorship? Don't know about you, but I have had to suffer through quite a few Maoist struggle sessions from the DEI HR department at work over the past 2 years being pressured to put pronouns in my official correspondence and to accept every Left wing shibboleth on race, gender and capitalism.

 

[JRP3]

FBI and CIA bypassing the first amendment to censor citizen speech isn't "anything of substance"? You'd think the left and right could agree that having the most powerful police organizations in the US stomp on citizen's rights wouldn't be a good idea...

Did that actually happen?

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/23/politics/twitter-files-elon-musk-fbi-hunter-biden-laptop/index.html

No, The FBI Is NOT ‘Paying Twitter To Censor’

Sigh. Look. I want to stop writing about Twitter. I want to write about lots of other stuff. I have a huge list of other stories that I’m trying to get through, but then Elon Musk does someth…

www.techdirt.com

 

[qdeathstar]

Did that actually happen?

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/23/politics/twitter-files-elon-musk-fbi-hunter-biden-laptop/index.html

No, The FBI Is NOT ‘Paying Twitter To Censor’

Sigh. Look. I want to stop writing about Twitter. I want to write about lots of other stuff. I have a huge list of other stories that I’m trying to get through, but then Elon Musk does someth…

www.techdirt.com

You did not just post a CNN news article trying to convince a trumper of something, did you?!????

 

[indysurfer]

You did not just post a CNN news article trying to convince a trumper of something, did you?!????

He did - and it is a couple months old. Alot has come out since then.

Opinions that would have been labeled "misinformation" and censored at Twitter (efficacy of masks, lockdowns, vaccines, COVID origin, Hunter's laptop) are now allowed to be discussed (and even accepted) and the world hasn't ended yet.

Personally, I think more speech is always better. It is very easy to knockdown truly racist, bigoted and purposeful lies.

A person who is not confident in their views are the ones who scream the loudest to silence countering POV's.

Elon by buying Twitter took away some of the power of the Cultural Left to silence critics - and for that - he can not be forgiven.

 

[qdeathstar]

He did - and it is a couple months old. Alot has come out since then.

Opinions that would have been labeled "misinformation" and censored at Twitter (efficacy of masks, lockdowns, vaccines, COVID origin, Hunter's laptop) are now allowed to be discussed (and even accepted) and the world hasn't ended yet.

Personally, I think more speech is always better. It is very easy to knockdown truly racist, bigoted and purposeful lies.

A person who is not confident in their views are the ones who scream the loudest to silence countering POV's.

Elon by buying Twitter took away some of the power of the Cultural Left to silence critics - and for that - he can not be forgiven.

Look, if both democrats and republicans have an equal opportunity for shenanigans then I don’t know what you are complaining about. Do republicans suck at the deep state game? That’s their own fault bro.

More speech isn’t better. People need to shut the **** up and go about their business. Trump could still be president if he shut up. But he couldn’t. More speech is better . Right.

Musk isn’t a free speech absolutist. I highly doubt he even knows what the means. I’ll note he didn’t release all of his employees and people who have made settlements with him from their NDAs.

 

[thx1139]

He did - and it is a couple months old. Alot has come out since then.

Opinions that would have been labeled "misinformation" and censored at Twitter (efficacy of masks, lockdowns, vaccines, COVID origin, Hunter's laptop) are now allowed to be discussed (and even accepted) and the world hasn't ended yet.

Personally, I think more speech is always better. It is very easy to knockdown truly racist, bigoted and purposeful lies.

A person who is not confident in their views are the ones who scream the loudest to silence countering POV's.

Elon by buying Twitter took away some of the power of the Cultural Left to silence critics - and for that - he can not be forgiven.

That stuff you say was censored never went away. I have constantly seen all of that stuff. Hell my left wing butt still has its main Twitter account permanently for simply telling a far right Ohio Senate candidate his message to do not comply would end up killing people. Elon still hasnt had that permanent suspension lifted.

 

[afadeev]

Not supporting racist policies at High Schools and Universities is not racism.

Any time one finds oneself in a public argument about flavors of racism and/or pedophilia, you automatically f*$%ed up.
Bigly.

One of these days Elon might figure this out.
Or not.

Until then, is your desire to buy another Tesla increasing, or waning?

 

[indysurfer]

Look, if both democrats and republicans have an equal opportunity for shenanigans then I don’t know what you are complaining about. Do republicans suck at the deep state game? That’s their own fault bro.

More speech isn’t better. People need to shut the **** up and go about their business. Trump could still be president if he shut up. But he couldn’t. More speech is better . Right.

I don't want either party to be "good" at the deep state game. But at least you admit that one party has mastered it and holds most of the power.

I am not a Trump fan and hope he continues to run his mouth and alienate more Conservatives so he won't be the nominee.

That said, one of the few things I liked about Trump was that you pretty much knew where he stood and his governing actions matched his rhetoric. There were not many surprises. I much rather have transparency so we can totally see and evaluate the views of our politicians before giving them access to power. I am surprised every week by extreme positions Biden is now taking that he didn't campaign on or make issue about in his previous 40+ years in office.

Having the likes of Twitter and our vast government bureaucracy "deciding" what opinions are kosher (short of banning outright calls to violence) - is a recipe for disaster and creating more political/cultural division like we have today. Better for more "jaw-jaw than war-war"

 

[advocate8]

He did - and it is a couple months old. Alot has come out since then.

Opinions that would have been labeled "misinformation" and censored at Twitter (efficacy of masks, lockdowns, vaccines, COVID origin, Hunter's laptop) are now allowed to be discussed (and even accepted) and the world hasn't ended yet.

Personally, I think more speech is always better. It is very easy to knockdown truly racist, bigoted and purposeful lies.

A person who is not confident in their views are the ones who scream the loudest to silence countering POV's.

Elon by buying Twitter took away some of the power of the Cultural Left to silence critics - and for that - he can not be forgiven.

No, no and no. Social media has demonstrably not advanced the cause of truth. It just hasn’t.
Quite the opposite, it has given tiny niche groups of nutters like anti-vaccers a megaphone to use clever spin and half-truths to advance their cause and spread their influence. It has given operators like Putin and the Chinese CP a broad avenue to erode Western values.
To deny that is to say marketing doesn’t work.

 

[indysurfer]

It has given operators like Putin and the Chinese CP a broad avenue to erode Western values.
To deny that is to say marketing doesn’t work.

I'd say one would have to be pretty weak minded to allow Putin or Chinese propaganda on social media to erode ones' values.

It is like believing the preposterous claim that Russia spending $500K on FB ads swung the 2016 election. What a joke - considering the billions that were spent by both parties along with billions more in basic media coverage.

Then again, most of the "smart people" in control of our Media and Government Bureaucracy were all pretty high on China's COVID lockdown and censorship policies for "the greater good" until just recently - so I guess you have a point.

 

[daniel]

Powerless?

The majority of left-wingers in my life are good people and not authoritarian.

Thank you.

But it comical to claim that the Left does not have virtual monopolistic control over our culture through the Media, Academia, Corporate HR boards and Hollywood.

That is just so ridiculous it does not merit a response, except to say, "NO!"

Elon is no right-winger, he is just not a woke Left wing radical unlike the rest that dominate our public discourse. The fact that so many on the Left are going absolutely nuts that Elon is bringing needed transparency to Twitter is pretty good evidence of the total power they had - and now afraid of losing. That and they have been in a bubble so long, they really can't process counter points of view.....so it is easier to label it disinformation or racist.

I don't think that Musk is anything other than a billionaire who is so full of himself that he bought an entire social media platform so he could shut down criticism of himself (in the name of "free speech"!), and is too stupid to know when to shut the f up. I don't know whether he's a racist or not, but he sure seems to be pals with enough of them.

Does the woke left not impose their "religion" on us every day through the awesome power of government, corporations, academia and Media censorship?

No.

Don't know about you, but I have had to suffer through quite a few Maoist struggle sessions from the DEI HR department at work over the past 2 years being pressured to put pronouns in my official correspondence and to accept every Left wing shibboleth on race, gender and capitalism.

Oh, boo-hoo. You had to refer to people by the pronouns they prefer. Meanwhile the right has taken away women's right to their own bodies, and is now working hard to reverse every human right that people have suffered and fought to win during the past fifty years.

 

[Daniel in SD]

I respect that he’s willing to go against the CCP. , not only saying it was a lab leak but that it was engineered in the Wuhan lab (gain of function.)
It will be interesting to see the evidence.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1630564694367907845

 

[qdeathstar]

I don't want either party to be "good" at the deep state game. But at least you admit that one party has mastered it and holds most of the power.

Well, hell. I do. I want them both to be good at it. How else is are we going to function as a government?

I am not a Trump fan and hope he continues to run his mouth and alienate more Conservatives so he won't be the nominee.

That said, one of the few things I liked about Trump was that you pretty much knew where he stood and his governing actions matched his rhetoric. There were not many surprises. I much rather have transparency so we can totally see and evaluate the views of our politicians before giving them access to power. I am surprised every week by extreme positions Biden is now taking that he didn't campaign on or make issue about in his previous 40+ years in office.

“Maybe Trump was a bad man, but he had a few good ideas” where have I heard something like that before… nazi sympathizers say what??????

Having the likes of Twitter and our vast government bureaucracy "deciding" what opinions are kosher (short of banning outright calls to violence) - is a recipe for disaster and creating more political/cultural division like we have today. Better for more "jaw-jaw than war-war"

Money talks. Not Twitter. The free market has decided there is more money in not acting like a jerk to people who believe differently than you. That’s why. There is no one who hasn’t been canceled that the world can’t live without. Elon included.

 

[advocate8]

FBI and CIA bypassing the first amendment to censor citizen speech isn't "anything of substance"? You'd think the left and right could agree that having the most powerful police organizations in the US stomp on citizen's rights wouldn't be a good idea...

That never happened. Every media organization, including social media, gets requests from gov

I'd say one would have to be pretty weak minded to allow Putin or Chinese propaganda on social media to erode ones' values.

It is like believing the preposterous claim that Russia spending $500K on FB ads swung the 2016 election. What a joke - considering the billions that were spent by both parties along with billions more in basic media coverage.

Then again, most of the "smart people" in control of our Media and Government Bureaucracy were all pretty high on China's COVID lockdown and censorship policies for "the greater good" until just recently - so I guess you have a point.

You’d have to be pretty naive to think their efforts are blatantly obvious to their target audience.

 

[qdeathstar]

I'd say one would have to be pretty weak minded to allow Putin or Chinese propaganda on social media to erode ones' values.

Yikes. The way you are thinking is pretty basic. How their propaganda works is they exploit a doubt or fear people already have and amplify and legitimize it. It’s not as dimwitted as “Biden is bad”.