In case you haven’t heard, Elon Musk, currently accorded the title, “The World’s Richest Man,” is buying Twitter. Conservatives are cheering, underscoring their confidence, that Musk who has signaled his opposition to the media conglomerate’s initiatives to moderate extremism, such as reining in content, and suspending accounts that harass other users and/or traffic in misinformation, A.K.A. fake news.
For his part, Musk has argued that Twitter has overcorrected in such cases. Now that he is in a position to do something other than editorialize on the subject, social media users in general, and the Twitterverse in particular, are tuning in to see just what steps the CEO of Tesla, the world’s most valuable car company, SpaceX, whose mission is to ascertain how to transport humans to other planets in the event the Earth becomes uninhabitable, and now, new owner of Twitter, will take to make their fondest social media dreams come true. As Allison Morrow, of CNN Business noted yesterday, “Musk is not only the world’s richest person, he is arguably its most powerful too.”
In conversations I have either participated in, or observed about the matter, conservatives have overwhelmingly backed the idea of Musk. Some approached apoplexy when it appeared for a fleeting moment that Twitter might nix the offer. Those individuals acted almost personally offended that some elitist liberal cabal would eschew the interests of stockholders by refusing the sweetheart deal Musk had put on the table. Of course, one of the first rules of negotiation, if it’s in fact a negotiation is, never accept the first offer. In the end, the offer was accepted, pretty much as it originated. That’s probably a clear indication, as any, that the fiduciary responsibility was taken seriously, as the arbiters of the refusal did not allow the initial offer to be diminished, before accepting it.
I saw another erstwhile conservative equate Musk buying Twitter with Jeff Bezos purchasing the Washington Post. While they are fundamentally different entities, from purpose, to structure, at the end of the day, they are both contemporary media platforms, and their content influences people around the globe. The deeper point, however, wasn’t related to the types of media, but to the idea of liberals expressing grave concerns about Musk’s acquisition, vs. Bezos’. That comparison suggests, all such acquisitions are equal, and liberals thought they were getting some kind of upper hand when Bezos bought the post, and that Musk buying Twitter is just a case of turnabout being fair play.
On one hand, it’s fair to say not all liberals think the same; nor do they all subscribe to the same principles. Ostensibly, that could also be said of conservatives. Laying all that to one side, both liberals and conservatives tend to paint with a broad brush. Most liberals and Democrats (not all Democrats are liberal) believe that all conservatives and Republicans support Trump. While not “all” do, polling consistently suggests that most, in fact, do. Of course, many conservatives and Republicans (it could be most) believe Hillary and Democrats ran a pedophilia ring out of a pizza restaurant in DC, and that Obama is not an American. Some even believe Obama was responsible for the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina.
The essence of conservative’s support for Trump circles back to the litmus test of the moment. Ergo, if you support Trump, you must believe:
The 2020 Election was stolen
Joe Biden is not the duly elected POTUS
There was no insurrection on January 6, 2021
Elon Musk may reverse Twitter practices on fake news. But, if you believe any or all the three items above…it is my opinion that you’ve been hoodwinked, bamboozled, lead astray, run amok, and flat out deceived. I’ll leave it there. “People Are Talking: Atwitter Over The Purchase Of A Social Media Platform!”
I’m done; holla back!
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For more detailed information on a variety of aspects related to this post, consult the links below:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/26/business/elon-musk-richest-person-twitter-tesla-spacex/index.html
http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2022/04/people-are-talking-atwitter-over.html
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