Who are these people melting down in fear that Elon Musk will allow everyone to openly debate and discuss, well, everything on Twitter?
What are they afraid of?
What could possibly be wrong with freeing people to say whatever they want, whatever they believe?
Before we get too excited, we first have to see if Musk is indeed the free speech absolutist he claims to be. It’s one thing to say you want free speech — and to his credit, when Musk defines speech, he does say all the right things — but it will be another to actually free Twitter from its fascist shackles.
Musk has his own biases. Will he cater to them, even accidentally? Musk will also have to deal with brutal pressure campaigns, with bullying and insanity only a Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, or Clarence Thomas can relate to. Does he have the sand to hold his ground?
What I mean is that the Establishment Death Star will never stop persecuting Musk if he does anything close to what he’s promised. The corporate media will target his advertisers, the betrayals within his own company will be relentless, and Democrats will pull every political lever at their disposal — criminal investigations and the like. That’s a lot for one man, a sole owner, to stand against, even if he is the richest man in the world.
But if Musk is who he says he is and keeps his promises, he will become a folk hero, a national hero, a man of consequence who freed the town square and made it and America (and the world) a much better place. Free, unfettered speech is behind every important American advancement — from the Civil Rights movement to the space program, from the death of McCarthyism to our ultimate liberty in 1776.
People must be allowed to go against the grain, challenge majority opinion, question the orthodoxy, and risk looking foolish and stupid, even hateful, if we are to be the best country we can be… Slavery is wrong. Communism is evil, but so is McCarthyism. Allowing biological men to compete against girls is unfair. Why can’t we go to the moon? What does my sex life have to do with me joining the military? What does my skin color have to do with where I sit and eat my lunch? Hey, the stuff on this laptop looks pretty serious to me.
Equally important will be the transparency Musk promised. The algorithms will become public, he has said. The rules will be uniform instead of what they are: deliberately arbitrary to terrorize right-of-center thinkers into silence and self-censorship.
So, I return to my opening question…
Who would be opposed to the virtues of transparency and free, unfettered speech?
Let’s start with why you and I are not opposed to such things… First, we have nothing to fear from free speech. We do not feel threatened by others sharing their ideas. Conspiracy theories do not unwind us. We are not thin-skinned babies who can’t handle some name-calling.
Moreover, there are few things I enjoy more than debating someone I disagree with. Not only is it intellectually stimulating, but I also want my ideas tested. If I’m wrong, I want to know. Facts and opinions don’t scare me. I welcome them. I’m also not afraid to admit I’m wrong. In fact, I find the admission liberating.
Who would oppose such a thing? Who would fear such a thing?
As far as transparency and a clear set of rules, that sounds to me like a level playing field.
Who would oppose such a thing? Who would fear such a thing?
I’ll tell you who…
Left-wing fascists.
For two reasons, fascists like Barack Obama and CNN and MSNBC and the Washington Post, etc., are terrified of allowing people to express ideas and information freely. 1) They know their own ideas cannot stand up to scrutiny, and 2) they want to manipulate and censor facts and truths as a means of manipulating the public.
Like the McCarthyites before them, these left-wing Nazis have found all kinds of lofty words to justify their fascism — violent, dangerous, unsafe, hate, misinformation — but decent people see right through the truth: that they are the sole distributors of violence, hate, and misinformation — Hands Up, Don’t Shoot, the Russia Collusion Hoax, Brett Kavanaugh: Serial Rapist, Jussie Smollett, endless racism hoaxes, the Covington Kids, Antifa=Those Who Stormed the Beaches at Normandy, and on and on and on…
Like all evil, America’s left-wing fascists and liars cannot withstand scrutiny, cannot win on a level playing field, or survive transparency…
So they rage and thrash like vampires tossed into the sun.
Twitter, just like Facebook and the rest, pulled a fascist bait-and-switch. Promising free speech, it suckered us all in, monopolized the town square, and then pulled the rug out from under the political right. This was sinister and deliberate and encouraged by the very same corporate media that used to protect liberty not lobby against it. Musk has promised to remedy this. I hope he does. Those who hope he doesn’t are telling us exactly who they are.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.