Think About It: With $44B, Elon Musk...

[PorkPieGuy]

I just posted this on FB this afternoon:

 

[Bo Eder]

Or he could have given $100 to every US citizen. That's gas money, or food, or a utility bill.

Or he could have donated it to charity.

But yet again he chooses to do something pointless with it. At least this time he hasn't littered space or drilled a hole in the earth. I really dislike* that guy.

*I'm being extremely nice saying dislike

Or another answer to this could be that the people who sold Twitter now have $44B In their possession. THEY can give out the money to the needy, can’t they?

Remember, Elon spent a lot of money. SOMEBODY received ALOT of money. Capitalism at its finest!

 

[bud7h4]

Freedom of speech is simply and merely freedom from government persecution for speech, with the exception of causing public danger (yelling "Fire!" in a crowded place, for instance). No private entity has ever been beholden to free speech.

Just as it should be. However a private citizen buying the platform and putting a stop to the censorship isn't making anyone beholden to free speech. It's just promoting free speech.

 

[boomstick]

Freedom of speech is simply and merely freedom from government persecution for speech, with the exception of causing public danger (yelling "Fire!" in a crowded place, for instance). No private entity has ever been beholden to free speech.

I don't think the definition is that narrow. I think free speech means simply a free exchange of ideas without limits. Consider this forum. It is privately owned, there are rules, and there are content moderators. Right now, I'm being very careful not to violate the speech rules of this forum, meaning my speech here is not free, it's limited. That's up to the site owner, of course. Musk will make the same decisions for twitter now, presumably favoring free speech over limited speech.

Capitalism at its finest!

I thought that was supposed to mean healthy competition, not monopolies and multi-billionaires?? (This is economics, not politics, so ok to discuss here, right?)

 

[Superman]

If y'all think Elon and Twitter are necessary for the continuation of free speech then y'all have swallowed too much of his garbage already and need to remove the rest of him from your mouth.

Theres your free speech.

Well, I don't have time to educate you. You should take care of that on your own....and yes, you need it. Good luck.

 

[Rock Salad]

So what's going to happen with all those Stage Customs? I want a set

 

[bud7h4]

Capitalism at its finest!

I thought that was supposed to mean healthy competition, not monopolies and multi-billionaires?? (This is economics, not politics, so ok to discuss here, right?)

So, healthy competition for all . . . . except multi-billionaires?

 

[Bo Eder]

I don't think the definition is that narrow. I think free speech means simply a free exchange of ideas without limits. Consider this forum. It is privately owned, there are rules, and there are content moderators. Right now, I'm being very careful not to violate the speech rules of this forum, meaning my speech here is not free, it's limited. That's up to the site owner, of course. Musk will make the same decisions for twitter now, presumably favoring free speech over limited speech.



I thought that was supposed to mean healthy competition, not monopolies and multi-billionaires?? (This is economics, not politics, so ok to discuss here, right?)

I meant that there was an item to be bought, and somebody bought it. Not unlike me going to a drum shop and buying a drum.

 

[Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX]

The problem is not how much money he has, it's that a social media company is worth so much. If people put away their cell phones and played more drums, read books or socialized one on one maybe it wouldn't be worth so much and the world would be a better place overall.

/ thread

Best thing he could do on behalf of free speech is shut Twitter down.

truth....social media has pretty much stunted speech of any kind from waht I see

Freedom of speech is simply and merely freedom from government persecution for speech, with the exception of causing public danger (yelling "Fire!" in a crowded place, for instance). No private entity has ever been beholden to free speech.

again...truth.

I quit Twitter last summer. And don't ever plan to go back. Total waste of time.

true freedom!!!!

I don't think the definition is that narrow. I think free speech means simply a free exchange of ideas without limits. Consider this forum. It is privately owned, there are rules, and there are content moderators. Right now, I'm being very careful not to violate the speech rules of this forum, meaning my speech here is not free, it's limited. That's up to the site owner, of course. Musk will make the same decisions for twitter now, presumably favoring free speech over limited speech.

truth...there is no such thing as true free speech...sort of like there is no such thing as true anarchy, true utopia, true communism, non-conformity etc.... Everything has a boundary in order to exist

sooo glad I never became a slave to the phone based mainstream social media.

 

[Jeremy Crockett]

No, it’s an UNDERSTANDABLE position. Can you see why, or shall I explain it? Either is fine with me

Apart from a bit of a flight of fancy on my part (if the last two years have shown me anything it's that people do not require an implant to modify, permanently, their behavior) I do fail to see your point. Other than wishing to appear the smartest fellow in the room that is.

 

[Jeremy Crockett]

Why weren't people as exorcised when Zuckerberg owned Facebook? Why aren't they upset with Bezos' current ownership of the Washington Post? There seems to be some inconsistency here.

 

[Darth Vater]

All I'm going to say is...

F' Musk
F' Ruper Murdoch and his asshole sons

and

F' Trump and his asshole family.

I believe in democracy and IMHO those people don't. Period. Stop That's all. See you in Vegas after 430p tomorrow . Love you all. 🥁

 

[boomstick]

So, healthy competition for all . . . . except multi-billionaires?

Well, now that I think of it, the object of the game Monopoly is to hoard everything for yourself while bankrupting your friends and laughing in their faces so....perhaps this is capitalism at its finest, and healthy competition is a myth.

 

[bud7h4]

All I'm going to say is...

F' Musk
F' Ruper Murdoch and his asshole sons

and

F' Trump and his asshole family.

I believe in democracy and IMHO those people don't. Period. Stop That's all. See you in Vegas after 430p tomorrow . Love you all. 🥁

How do they not "believe in democracy"?
Seems like there's a certain crowd that screeches about "muh democracy" any time anything at all doesn't go their way. Like every weird thing they believe in is lumped into this one generic, misused label "democracy".

 

[bud7h4]

Well, now that I think of it, the object of the game Monopoly is to hoard everything for yourself while bankrupting your friends and laughing in their faces so....perhaps this is capitalism at its finest, and healthy competition is a myth.

LOL the guy bought a company.

Why is he a bad guy but the scum bags who were running it yesterday are okay?

He's now 44 billion poorer (yay, right?) and they're 44 billion RICHER (booooo we hate rich people).

 

[Darth Vater]

The problem is you consider free speech to include lies and misinformation. "The elelection was stolen"!!! uh No it wasn't 61 out of 62 court case says it wasn't so what the fuck? Once that's decided and you don't agree, you're a freakin' traitor.

 

[boomstick]

LOL the guy bought a company.

Why is he a bad guy but the scum bags who were running it yesterday are okay?

Oh, I've thought of Musk as a bad guy for a long time, but on balance, I'm actually glad about his twitter acquisition. Am I blowing your mind or what?

 

[bud7h4]

The problem is you consider free speech to include lies and misinformation. "The elelection was stolen"!!! uh No it wasn't 61 out of 62 court case says it wasn't so what the fuck? Once that's decided and you don't agree, you're a freakin' traitor.

Wait . . . . . you think Joe Biden won that election? With real votes?

Joe Biden . . . . more votes than the first black president in US history? A guy nobody likes. A guy who literally hid . . . . . for MONTHS . . . . . rather than campaign.

You believe that?

The problem is you consider free speech to include lies and misinformation

There's nothing I don't consider free speech to include. There's nothing anyone can say that I can't deal with. I want my worst enemy to have total freedom of speech. Let's debate.

 

[Darth Vater]

There were 62 lawsuits where Trump argued voter fraud. He lost 61 of them. The only one he won was where they allowed the monitors to move from 12 ft away to 6 fit away. So where's the fraud. Breaking news: there wasn't any except for Meadows voting where he wasn't wasn't supposed to eh? Don't try this dipshit logic w/ me pal because I'll counter you with the facts EVERY TIME!

 

[bud7h4]

Don't try this dipshit logic w/ me pal because I'll counter you with the facts EVERY TIME!

LOL, ok no more logic. Got it.