Elon Musk – A hero for our time

In one respect, Musk isn’t a very good businessman. He’s haemorrhaging members from X (formally Twitter), including The Guardian, Clifton Suspension Bridge and Elton John. Hmmm. Maybe Musk knows what he’s doing after all. Who wants to be associated with a sealed echo chamber, a brainless entity, and an irrelevant has-been?

The reason for this exodus by the left, luvvies, liberal elites, woke, antisemites and snowflakes is that they object to Musk opening his platform to all voices, not just those who reinforce the social media’s lop-sided algorithms that enabled narrow-mindedness and intolerance. The old guard claim that X is no longer a pleasant place to engage, which is code for they don’t like anyone being rude and aggressive unless it’s one of their own. For example, Feargal Sharkey frequently calls for innocent people to face criminal charges, because he’s not in possession of the facts. But that’s apparently ok. On the other hand, Tommy Robinson supporters calling for TR to be treated fairly and protected by the judicial system for his civil crime is labelled obscene.

I’ve only recently engaged with X on a regular basis, and it’s a minefield. It would be so easy to repost something en passant – not meaning any harm but still contributing to the spread of misinformation. That’s always been the case, not just since Musk came on board. But ‘left’ misinformation is, to some, of no consequence, whereas ‘right’ misinformation is a jailable offence. The truth is, any misinformation can cross the red line and become dangerous, but how can we guard against the red line being crossed, and where is that blessed red line?  Well, the red line is a movable feast, therefore rigid censorship is the wrong solution, akin to containing a raging inferno behind a static ice cube. Best to allow misinformation out there so that it can be challenged and exposed by those of us who are always right.

What about incitement to violence? Asked and answered already in my previous blog here.

Has Musk made things worse or better? Better, methinks, in terms of opening up participation and debate. Musk has given power to the people who, under the old regime, were shut out by a left-leaning algorithm, and frequently belittled and maligned by a self-styled better class of person. Now ‘the people’ can fight back, get their thoughts across, which the ‘better class’ don’t like. Wes Streeting calling for a Tory to be thrown under a bus is now balanced by a Brexit supporter demanding Von der Liar’s head on a platter. Ironically, Musk has made X more diverse, equitable and inclusive, which has got the ‘DEI lobby’ really really cross.

What accelerated the exodus from X in recent weeks is Musk’s support for Trump who, according to the usual suspects denigrated above, is a worse criminal than any Ayatollah. Musk even got it in the neck for supporting Trump this time when, a few years ago, he said Trump was too old to be President. A man not allowed to change his mind now? Either he changed his mind when the facts changed, or he realised that a too-old Trump was preferable to a too-woke Harris.

Musk’s support for Trump and free speech inspired yet another act of national self-harm by the UK Labour Government, which had already campaigned against Trump during the US election. A Commons inquiry is to summon Musk to testify about X’s role in the UK summer riots. Are they also going to summon Calamity Cooper, Two-tier Keir, and Chief Con(stable) Serena Kennedy for fanning the flames by gaslighting the public? In response to the summons, Musk is vowing to drag MPs to America “to explain censorship and threats to American citizens”. As well as criticising the response to the riots, he has accused Starmer of going “full Stalin” over the tax on family farms.

If I do have a criticism of Musk, it’s due to the nature of the X-beast. For most, posts are limited to 280 characters. This makes developing a watertight argument backed up with evidence very difficult indeed. The trick is to be selective about what you post and how you phrase stuff so as not to appear ignorant or puerile. Most people on X obviously don’t know that and they fire-off a pot-shot, thinking they’re making a clever point, when all they’re doing is opening themselves up for counter pot-shots, or a truly adroit rejoinder that has them spitting feathers. It’s fun to watch them get angrier and angrier, using more and more capital letters and exclamation marks.

Musk is indeed a hero – of free speech, diversity of thought, equal opportunity, farming, commonsense, science and technology, and Britain. In fact, rumour has it that his new strapline, to complement MAGA (Make America Great Again), is MUKGA – Make the United Kingdom Great Again. MEGA is catchier (Make England Great Again), but MUKGA includes the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish and, because they’re more likely to throw a hissy fit at being associated positively with Musk and Trump, my X feed is going to be full of pot-shots, garnished with capital letters and exclamation marks.