Monday, December 05, 2022

here's a whackadoodle headline for you

Kanye West Floats Theory That Elon Musk Is a Half-Chinese Genetic Hybrid, and I’ve Got Nothing

This comes after Musk said he wanted to punch Ye after Ye tweeted that swastika/Magen David symbol. As Matt Walsh argued, though, either you're pro-free speech, or you aren't. And that matters on a public site like Twitter. Yes, I said public site. I know a lot of people are dragging out the "private company" argument: a private company like Twitter can do whatever it wants.* But face facts: unlike a personal residence, Twitter is a public forum, a modern agora. The analogy of "I wouldn't let people get rowdy in my own house" doesn't work, here: Twitter is not Elon's personal foyer. In fact, Elon said "I'm a free-speech absolutist," but as the Ye incident proves, he is not. Censorship on Twitter is still a thing when it should be much less of a thing. So, a bit like Donald Trump, Elon Musk is being eccentric and sending mixed messages. Maybe it'll all work out in the end; maybe Elon's essential stance will eventually become clear. But for now, color me thoroughly confused.

As to whether Elon is part Chinese... let him take a DNA test. That'd be a hoot. But, Ye, why does Elon's race matter?

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*The timeline goes a bit like this: liberals had been complaining for ages about things like bakeries refusing to make gay wedding cakes. The right replied: "A private company can do whatever it wants." This become the standard reply whenever right-leaning companies did something liberals didn't like. Then came the mass cancelations on Twitter. The right was outraged, and the left seized its chance, mocking the right by saying, "A private company can do whatever it wants." Now, it seems, with Musk in charge, the right is back to embracing the "private company" argument. I sense a lack of consistency on both sides of the aisle.



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