> It's pretty clear to me that there are elements of the elite media-political complex that are terrified of Elon purchasing Twitter because he's not part of their crowd and they won't be able to control him and through him what is and isn't allowed on Twitter. IMO all articles about this should be read with that in mind.
It's pretty clear there are elements of the Hacker News community who are obsessed with "cancel culture" and think Elon is some kind of billionaire, infallible savior who will "stick it" to all those terrible wokes who are ruining the tech industry as the protected bro-space it's been for decades. IMO all hacker news comments should be read with this in mind.
If "cancel culture" is no big deal, then why is everybody so terrified of Elon taking over Twitter? What is so bad about this that you feel the need to make weak-man arguments accusing everybody who is moderately pro-Elon of being a mindless shill?
Elon taking over Twitter given his promises to dismantle what meager content moderation policies it has, means it becomes a more amplified platform for political misinformation and hate speech, further radicalizing large portions of the population to partake in even more violent acts, such as the recent assassination attempt on the speaker of the house, armed vigilantes stalking voting locations as we have seen in Arizona looking for supposed "mules", things like that. Lax content and moderation policies will enhance the platform's capability to be used as a tool for online stalking, harassment, death threats, etc. so that non-right-wing voices will probably need to abandon the platform ( a "cancel culture" of sorts indeed, where people who don't silence themselves will be in danger of being literally cancelled).
Beyond that, there is then his massive conflicts of interest and his personal political opinions such as those involving Ukraine, which he would be able to amplify in the same way as any nation-state seeks to spread propaganda regarding their political agendas. The Pentagon literally had to negotiate with him, as though he were his own nation state, regarding his maintanance of the Starlink system that Ukraine depends upon in their current war with Russia. If Musk is essentially rich and powerful enough to be treated as a diplomatic entity, it's pretty scary he'd have full privatized control over the most influential social network in history, not any less frightening than if Twitter were a state controlled entity by the US government, the Saudi government, etc.
Yes, you have been carefully programmed to regurgitate the state's position on free speech and congratulations for doing a good job of repeating the correct party speaking points!
Do you mean the violent political act from a GREEN PARTY registered crazy person? Were you this concerned about political violence in 2017 when a liberal shot and wounded 5 people at a Republican baseball game in Virginia?
Do you mean the Pentagon had to pay for his critical service instead of assuming it was a free service while they pay Lockheed, Ratheon, etc.. billions of dollars for their boom-boom machines? Do you think the Pentagon does not negotiate with Lockheed and those F35s are free?
Are you talking about the war in Ukraine that is at least partially the fault of NATO and the US involvement in that region? Are you another blood thirsty neo-liberal who desires that NATO defeats Russia and is willing to fight to the last Ukrainian? You're especially concerned about map borders in Eastern Europe while simultaneously hating borders in North America?
and your points would be fully regurgitated from Russian state media, congrats to you as well. as far as "shooting", liberals would prefer there were no guns, so yes, any "shooting" by anyone at anyone is of great concern to us. The "liberal" NYT had a full above-the-fold headline for the Scalise shooting, it was taken entirely seriously by the "media elites": https://mobile.twitter.com/BFriedmanDC/status/15864711740114... . The Pelosi attacker was also right-wing radicalized after originally being a left-wing radical, as you are most likely aware so the GREEN PARTY registration is a strawman. The reductionist implication that the political landscape is nothing more than "both sides are trying to radicalize and kill each other" has no basis in fact and only serves to change the subject from the issue that right wing terrorism is the greatest US terrorist threat right now.
Lockheed last I checked was not trying to corner a huge portion of the social media market and they aren't run unilaterally by a narcissistic shitposter with dumb opinions, so while the military industrial complex is not entirely fun, the comparison is pretty nonexistent.
popular OSS authors, who are in the business of giving their work away for free and helping others use it for free, tend to not be fascists. The core decision one makes, typically early in life, that leads them down the "liberal" or "conservative" path is the decision as to whether or not other people matter.
also I have no clue what this "gravy train" you refer towards means. Liberal and left-leaning voices who are too outspoken live under a constant regime of death threats, stalking, and harassment. Right wing extremists pretty much have the microphone already, as I walk in my suburban neighborhood, every TV screen I see through a window is pegged onto FOX all day long. So not really sure what you're talking about.
Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.
your strawman is that having a generally pro-elon disposition = thinking elon is some kind of infallible savior
The reality is that the current moderation of major forums like Twitter, HN, etc is so one-sided that it produces whatever passive-aggressive posturing that we are engaged in with this very conversation.
I am not going to make a defense of elon or his actions, but I will say that I believe there are two good outcomes:
* Elon behaves rationally and makes twitter usable for civil discussion.
* Elon behaves irrationally and destroys twitter, creating space for competitors like mastodon, etc.
If you agree with this premise, then it should be clear that most any change elon makes to twitter is beneficial in the long run, good or bad. This is why I am not so quick to criticize.
Coming from someone in the camp you rail against, and judging by the ups and down votes I've done in this thread, I'd say it's 50-50. But judging by how many grey and downvoted posts I've seen that I agree with or think are reasonable comments, I'd say it's much more skewed and one sided.
His combination of technology and capitalism while cutting out all human elements is everything that demographic wants.
It’s devoid of empathy and of the understanding of complex human interactions , or understanding other demographics.
It’s also one of the prime group that come to this site. Technology as an answer to all of societies needs and trying to make a buck off of it at the same time.
The same Ukraine that he then said should cede their land to an aggressor ?
the same Ukraine that he overcharged for services and then tried to pull out of?
It’s much easier to see it as a cheap investment in optics for future contracts than any form of empathy when you look at the full picture and not just singular events on the timeline.
That’s not to say that it wasn’t also philanthropic. The two aren’t mutually exclusive but I don’t buy that he feels empathy for the people of Ukraine.
I once read that you can understand the duality of Elon by his desire to have a legacy of his own, and I think it very much applies here, and to the Thai cave rescue that he derided for not being the saviour and the supposed ventilators he claimed they donated for Covid and didn’t actually do.
It's pretty clear there are elements of the Hacker News community who are obsessed with "cancel culture" and think Elon is some kind of billionaire, infallible savior who will "stick it" to all those terrible wokes who are ruining the tech industry as the protected bro-space it's been for decades. IMO all hacker news comments should be read with this in mind.