Oct 5, 2022·edited Oct 5, 2022Liked by Robert Reich
The larger question for me is, if a supposedly civilized society hands over a massive lie- and rage-amplification system to what is arguably the world's strangest combination of Bond villain mixed with stereotypical spoiled frat guy from an about-to-be-cancelled CW show, does America really deserve to make it? I mean, is there a point where the willingness of our system to sell out the most basic principles and protections for a short-term stock bounce that benefits a tiny sliver of the population gets us officially declared an enemy of the world and our species?
In my humble opinion Twitter and Facebook should both disappear forever. If it weren’t for these platforms disinformation and lies wouldn’t be so prevalent. DJT wouldn’t have the huge following he has, wouldn’t have been able to voice his disgusting thoughts and opinions 24/7 and the world would be a much better place.
Want to share a baby picture? Send an email. Want to connect with an old friend? Write a letter and send it in the mail or pick up the telephone and call them. No one cares what you had for breakfast or needs to see another picture of a puppy or a flower. I am not jaded, just disappointed at the willful ignorance of so very many users of these social media platforms.
America is fast become a country run for and by billionaires. It seems that in our country, money talks and the people listen. How else did a bumpkin "billionaire" such as Trump con his way into the White House? A man totally unprepared and uninterested in the nuts and bolts of governing? In Trump's hands the White House became just another vanity project, another building to fixed the odious name "Trump" upon? Without regards to the "little people" we saw the United States begin the long crawl into despotism and an uncontrollable authoritarian regime. Isn't it clear by now that all people like Trump and Musk care about is getting more of everything, more play toys to call their own?
I've had NO interest in "Twitter" prior to Musk's purchase (maybe???) and will continue to have NO interest should he actually "close" the transaction. Here's where I believe the government has failed "we the people" in all this and what they SHOULD be doing going forward. TAX the wealth of people like Musk, Zuckerberg, Thiel, Bezos, etc. etc. if they continue to pull equity from the corporations which produced that enormous wealth in the first place, unless they are willing to re-invest in their "core" businesses. To me, it's a bit absurd that Musk (along with his circle of friends) has $44 BILLION sitting around to purchase another "toy." This, to me, is a prime example of how a small circle of computer geeks will be exerting an undo influence on, well, potentially everything. That Larry Ellison has a BILLION sitting around for whenever "Elon" needs it is NOT at all reassuring to me. It appears to me, the "game" being played here would be called "MONOPOLY."
I agree with Ian. Unfortunately, this Amercian “civilization” has neither the education level nor the discipline to deal with the unbridled free speech megaphone of a megalomaniac and his disciples… But just as it is with our elections, and our Supreme Court decisions, we get what we deserve! If you want a country that is free you must educate it first. If not, it remains at the hands of demagogues and tyrants, a theocratic society where true freedom remains an elusive concept.
Perhaps I am out of step with how things work, but at this point, I don't think the sale can be stopped. As idiotic and childish as ADHD Musk can be, he either buys it or gets hammered for backing out. HOWEVER, Twitter is only good because people like it. Recreating Twitter on a responsible platform with responsible guidance is not out of the question. THAT is how you nail the guys with too much money who think they own the world.
Let me repeat: Twitter is only a thriving platform when people use it. Those same people can gravitate elsewhere. It's the USERS who make Twitter, not the people with money. KNOW YOUR POWER.
The public should care but currently there is no government involvement in who can purchase a social media company, look at the example of the Murdochs and other right wing extremists who control our airwaves now.
Elon Musk is a genius industrialist… as well as a total idiot when it comes to people—and thus politics (he is not the only one of his kind in modern history). When he said he was making his bid to acquire Twitter for the cause of “free speech,” it dawned on me what kind of a crackpot he is. That prompted me to write a post on the matter. I did not publish it, eventually, because its format did not fit with my website’s editorial line. I am pleased to reproduce it below because I still think it can somehow serve as a wake-up call to many American minds, not just Elon's. The post was titled “Making Sense.” Here it is:
We are all in favor of free speech. Yet, this does not mean much if “speech” is seen as throwing words in the air and expecting that they will somehow make sense when falling back down. The ability to freely speak your mind is indeed a cornerstone of democracy, but it is not enough for democracy to exist if your mind is empty. Freedom, like knowledge, is built. We are not free when spewing nonsense; we are merely jailing ourselves in our own ignorance.
Most people, unfortunately, refer by default to “freedom of speech” and miss the deeper meaning of the phrase. Hitler was making “speeches” only in the material sense of the word when eructing demented rage and hatred against Jews. Speech is when you seek coherence and relevance, and your discourse is articulated enough to be submitted to the critical judgment of others. We should always be able to tell the difference if we want to live in a free society.
There is no doubt that we all have a fundamental right to say whatever we want, whenever we want to. But this is the condition of freedom, not freedom itself. Freedom is when you think. What we ask for through freedom of speech is, in that sense, the practical ability to reflect and debate as far as we wish, not a license to fall into the seduction of irresponsibility. If the saying “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” shines as the principle to hold on to, this is precisely because it refers to an instance where there is room enough for confrontation. Debating is creating each and everyone’s space for freedom. I will give my life for your right to defend your ideas because my dignity resides in accepting to have my own ideas challenged with the tools of reason. I will not give my life for the pseudo right of a mob and demagogues to yell slogans they refuse to make sense of and to deny others the right to exist.
Self-proclaimed “free speech absolutists” have a Hitler problem. They are chagrined at the thought of freedom being limited, not realizing that they could quickly find solace by making the effort to define what they are talking about. They would discover, then, that conflating the right to say anything that crosses our mind with the nature itself of freedom is effectively defending stupidity’s dictatorship. Banning Trump from Twitter is not infringing upon his freedom of speech; he morally and intellectually banned himself from the public arena of speech and debate by being a hatemonger.
The call to logic and reason is what defines democracy, not an empty claim to “freedom” that, more often than not, results in denying others their own rights (think native Americans under pioneers’ freedom, or LGBTQ people confronted with so-called religious freedom today). So, yes, let’s make sense and dare to educate each other, however harshly sometimes, through genuine debates. Let’s make freedom of speech worth its salt!
Suppose Musk buys Twitter and lets Trump back on. People know Trump well enough by now to have settled opinions about whether or not he's worth listening to, so hopefully it will make little difference in reality, and the Democrats will win a crushing victory in November!
Nobody in the United States should have a billion dollars, or even half a billion dollars. Corporate Capitalism is returning us to the wealth distribution of Europe in the Middle Ages. It is a highway to class war and ubiquitous violent anarchy. We MUST return to the tax schedule under Eisenhower, the last good Republican President, when the top tax bracket paid 91%, and not one of them had to divest himself of a second mansion, yacht, or mistress to pay taxes. Uncontrolled Corporate capitalism and Democracy are mutually exclusive. Who said "Sell all you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven?" You cannot be both a Judeo-Christian and a corporate capitalist oligarch. These ALEC and Club for Growth predators are carpetbaggers who, for the most part, cannot claim even one ancestor who was here for the heavy lifting that established our Democratic Republic. Regulate them back into the middle class with stringent tax laws, or deport them.
As always, Dr. Reich's Office Hours question is a difficult one but one we should all think about even if Elon Musk thinks about it as little as possible. My response, Musk buying Twitter matters because the social media platform has become so large and so many people use it as a primary means of communication with others. People do business over Twitter, make important decisions on it, and do quick, but important connecting. Let's face it, Elon Musk is a child-man who never had to grow up. He acts like an 8-year-old who makes an impulsive move, then wants out, then back in, then out because it isn't going to give him all the pleasure he anticipated, then in again, probably because his friends agreed to support him and on and on. Musk cares nothing about Twitter beyond what he can get from it. The folks who use it are just bugs to be ignored as long as they stay out of the range of his shoe. He claims to want Trump "back on" but will not take responsibility for the insurgency Trump is growing. Musk wants the thing but not the responsibility. He doesn't even want the responsibility for paying for it. He would be happy if someone or a group of someones were to gift Twitter to him so he can say he owns it and paid nothing. What I don't understand is why the Twitter "owners" want to sell in the first place. Clearly Twitter is doing well enough. It is not making them a fortune but they are doing OK. Now, they have even bigger dollar signs in their eyes as the child-man Musk is now back on board with an outrageous price for Twitter. It is all just plain nuts, just another male operation to keep attention on themselves so they can get even bigger attention later. It's disgusting, but we the people permit it. The SEC or Congress should deny the sale on the grounds of national security and as an anti-trust decision. No one person should have as much wealth and power as Elon Musk. That would solve the problem.
There are so many examples (Murdoch, Berlusconi , Springer) of the effects of a high profile billionaire or a group of them owning an important media tool...they just use it to make a lots more money and for promoting their often conservative and sometimes pure fascist political views to the world and support the related political organisations from their profits with funding .... This is what I believe will happen with Twitter....and I don't think one can stop it in a democracy so no other option than to counteract it with stronger counter propaganda. I myself where will use my freedom of choice to listen to and read what I want to read and want to listen to and have conversations with people I want to have conversations with. In practise I will likely sign off Twitter, like I am ignoring many other media (eg Fox news). You will get the essence of all the BS they produce anyway but then second hand which is far less stressful and you can make a choice of what BS you want to study a bit more deeper.....and it keeps all the hatred far away form you......
My all time favorite expression, “Dumb as a Bar of Soap”! I’m going with a bar of soap! I’m going with Elon being that bar of soap! Twitter has got to be over no doubt. Why immerse yourself with bar’s of soap? It’s not a good look…debating a bar of soap! So with that I proclaim, the only thing one can expect from a bar of soap is that it’s just that…a bar of soap!
The larger question for me is, if a supposedly civilized society hands over a massive lie- and rage-amplification system to what is arguably the world's strangest combination of Bond villain mixed with stereotypical spoiled frat guy from an about-to-be-cancelled CW show, does America really deserve to make it? I mean, is there a point where the willingness of our system to sell out the most basic principles and protections for a short-term stock bounce that benefits a tiny sliver of the population gets us officially declared an enemy of the world and our species?
I have never used Twitter, and if it disappears, I suspect it would be a benefit to humanity. The same goes for Musk.
The United States has gone totally crazy; I barely recognize us anymore.
In my humble opinion Twitter and Facebook should both disappear forever. If it weren’t for these platforms disinformation and lies wouldn’t be so prevalent. DJT wouldn’t have the huge following he has, wouldn’t have been able to voice his disgusting thoughts and opinions 24/7 and the world would be a much better place.
Want to share a baby picture? Send an email. Want to connect with an old friend? Write a letter and send it in the mail or pick up the telephone and call them. No one cares what you had for breakfast or needs to see another picture of a puppy or a flower. I am not jaded, just disappointed at the willful ignorance of so very many users of these social media platforms.
🌻♥️🌻
America is fast become a country run for and by billionaires. It seems that in our country, money talks and the people listen. How else did a bumpkin "billionaire" such as Trump con his way into the White House? A man totally unprepared and uninterested in the nuts and bolts of governing? In Trump's hands the White House became just another vanity project, another building to fixed the odious name "Trump" upon? Without regards to the "little people" we saw the United States begin the long crawl into despotism and an uncontrollable authoritarian regime. Isn't it clear by now that all people like Trump and Musk care about is getting more of everything, more play toys to call their own?
I've had NO interest in "Twitter" prior to Musk's purchase (maybe???) and will continue to have NO interest should he actually "close" the transaction. Here's where I believe the government has failed "we the people" in all this and what they SHOULD be doing going forward. TAX the wealth of people like Musk, Zuckerberg, Thiel, Bezos, etc. etc. if they continue to pull equity from the corporations which produced that enormous wealth in the first place, unless they are willing to re-invest in their "core" businesses. To me, it's a bit absurd that Musk (along with his circle of friends) has $44 BILLION sitting around to purchase another "toy." This, to me, is a prime example of how a small circle of computer geeks will be exerting an undo influence on, well, potentially everything. That Larry Ellison has a BILLION sitting around for whenever "Elon" needs it is NOT at all reassuring to me. It appears to me, the "game" being played here would be called "MONOPOLY."
I agree with Ian. Unfortunately, this Amercian “civilization” has neither the education level nor the discipline to deal with the unbridled free speech megaphone of a megalomaniac and his disciples… But just as it is with our elections, and our Supreme Court decisions, we get what we deserve! If you want a country that is free you must educate it first. If not, it remains at the hands of demagogues and tyrants, a theocratic society where true freedom remains an elusive concept.
Perhaps I am out of step with how things work, but at this point, I don't think the sale can be stopped. As idiotic and childish as ADHD Musk can be, he either buys it or gets hammered for backing out. HOWEVER, Twitter is only good because people like it. Recreating Twitter on a responsible platform with responsible guidance is not out of the question. THAT is how you nail the guys with too much money who think they own the world.
Let me repeat: Twitter is only a thriving platform when people use it. Those same people can gravitate elsewhere. It's the USERS who make Twitter, not the people with money. KNOW YOUR POWER.
The public should care but currently there is no government involvement in who can purchase a social media company, look at the example of the Murdochs and other right wing extremists who control our airwaves now.
Elon Musk is a genius industrialist… as well as a total idiot when it comes to people—and thus politics (he is not the only one of his kind in modern history). When he said he was making his bid to acquire Twitter for the cause of “free speech,” it dawned on me what kind of a crackpot he is. That prompted me to write a post on the matter. I did not publish it, eventually, because its format did not fit with my website’s editorial line. I am pleased to reproduce it below because I still think it can somehow serve as a wake-up call to many American minds, not just Elon's. The post was titled “Making Sense.” Here it is:
We are all in favor of free speech. Yet, this does not mean much if “speech” is seen as throwing words in the air and expecting that they will somehow make sense when falling back down. The ability to freely speak your mind is indeed a cornerstone of democracy, but it is not enough for democracy to exist if your mind is empty. Freedom, like knowledge, is built. We are not free when spewing nonsense; we are merely jailing ourselves in our own ignorance.
Most people, unfortunately, refer by default to “freedom of speech” and miss the deeper meaning of the phrase. Hitler was making “speeches” only in the material sense of the word when eructing demented rage and hatred against Jews. Speech is when you seek coherence and relevance, and your discourse is articulated enough to be submitted to the critical judgment of others. We should always be able to tell the difference if we want to live in a free society.
There is no doubt that we all have a fundamental right to say whatever we want, whenever we want to. But this is the condition of freedom, not freedom itself. Freedom is when you think. What we ask for through freedom of speech is, in that sense, the practical ability to reflect and debate as far as we wish, not a license to fall into the seduction of irresponsibility. If the saying “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” shines as the principle to hold on to, this is precisely because it refers to an instance where there is room enough for confrontation. Debating is creating each and everyone’s space for freedom. I will give my life for your right to defend your ideas because my dignity resides in accepting to have my own ideas challenged with the tools of reason. I will not give my life for the pseudo right of a mob and demagogues to yell slogans they refuse to make sense of and to deny others the right to exist.
Self-proclaimed “free speech absolutists” have a Hitler problem. They are chagrined at the thought of freedom being limited, not realizing that they could quickly find solace by making the effort to define what they are talking about. They would discover, then, that conflating the right to say anything that crosses our mind with the nature itself of freedom is effectively defending stupidity’s dictatorship. Banning Trump from Twitter is not infringing upon his freedom of speech; he morally and intellectually banned himself from the public arena of speech and debate by being a hatemonger.
The call to logic and reason is what defines democracy, not an empty claim to “freedom” that, more often than not, results in denying others their own rights (think native Americans under pioneers’ freedom, or LGBTQ people confronted with so-called religious freedom today). So, yes, let’s make sense and dare to educate each other, however harshly sometimes, through genuine debates. Let’s make freedom of speech worth its salt!
We can all just stop using Twitter. I stopped years ago. It’s a waste of time.
Suppose Musk buys Twitter and lets Trump back on. People know Trump well enough by now to have settled opinions about whether or not he's worth listening to, so hopefully it will make little difference in reality, and the Democrats will win a crushing victory in November!
Nobody in the United States should have a billion dollars, or even half a billion dollars. Corporate Capitalism is returning us to the wealth distribution of Europe in the Middle Ages. It is a highway to class war and ubiquitous violent anarchy. We MUST return to the tax schedule under Eisenhower, the last good Republican President, when the top tax bracket paid 91%, and not one of them had to divest himself of a second mansion, yacht, or mistress to pay taxes. Uncontrolled Corporate capitalism and Democracy are mutually exclusive. Who said "Sell all you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven?" You cannot be both a Judeo-Christian and a corporate capitalist oligarch. These ALEC and Club for Growth predators are carpetbaggers who, for the most part, cannot claim even one ancestor who was here for the heavy lifting that established our Democratic Republic. Regulate them back into the middle class with stringent tax laws, or deport them.
As always, Dr. Reich's Office Hours question is a difficult one but one we should all think about even if Elon Musk thinks about it as little as possible. My response, Musk buying Twitter matters because the social media platform has become so large and so many people use it as a primary means of communication with others. People do business over Twitter, make important decisions on it, and do quick, but important connecting. Let's face it, Elon Musk is a child-man who never had to grow up. He acts like an 8-year-old who makes an impulsive move, then wants out, then back in, then out because it isn't going to give him all the pleasure he anticipated, then in again, probably because his friends agreed to support him and on and on. Musk cares nothing about Twitter beyond what he can get from it. The folks who use it are just bugs to be ignored as long as they stay out of the range of his shoe. He claims to want Trump "back on" but will not take responsibility for the insurgency Trump is growing. Musk wants the thing but not the responsibility. He doesn't even want the responsibility for paying for it. He would be happy if someone or a group of someones were to gift Twitter to him so he can say he owns it and paid nothing. What I don't understand is why the Twitter "owners" want to sell in the first place. Clearly Twitter is doing well enough. It is not making them a fortune but they are doing OK. Now, they have even bigger dollar signs in their eyes as the child-man Musk is now back on board with an outrageous price for Twitter. It is all just plain nuts, just another male operation to keep attention on themselves so they can get even bigger attention later. It's disgusting, but we the people permit it. The SEC or Congress should deny the sale on the grounds of national security and as an anti-trust decision. No one person should have as much wealth and power as Elon Musk. That would solve the problem.
There are so many examples (Murdoch, Berlusconi , Springer) of the effects of a high profile billionaire or a group of them owning an important media tool...they just use it to make a lots more money and for promoting their often conservative and sometimes pure fascist political views to the world and support the related political organisations from their profits with funding .... This is what I believe will happen with Twitter....and I don't think one can stop it in a democracy so no other option than to counteract it with stronger counter propaganda. I myself where will use my freedom of choice to listen to and read what I want to read and want to listen to and have conversations with people I want to have conversations with. In practise I will likely sign off Twitter, like I am ignoring many other media (eg Fox news). You will get the essence of all the BS they produce anyway but then second hand which is far less stressful and you can make a choice of what BS you want to study a bit more deeper.....and it keeps all the hatred far away form you......
My all time favorite expression, “Dumb as a Bar of Soap”! I’m going with a bar of soap! I’m going with Elon being that bar of soap! Twitter has got to be over no doubt. Why immerse yourself with bar’s of soap? It’s not a good look…debating a bar of soap! So with that I proclaim, the only thing one can expect from a bar of soap is that it’s just that…a bar of soap!