this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2024
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/19117230

As X’s owner and most followed user, Elon Musk has increasingly used the social media platform as a microphone to amplify his political views and, lately, those of right-wing figures he’s aligned with. There are few modern parallels to his antics, but then again there are few modern parallels to Elon Musk himself.

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[–] [email protected] 54 points 1 month ago

Musk often ruminates on the future of civilization. For one, he appears fixated on a coming “ population collapse,” threatening to wipe out humanity.

Yeah, because demographic decline is totally a threat to a planet of eight thousand million apes. Sure thing.

Musk has framed threats to free speech as yet another existential crisis looming over the world. And he is going to try his best to save it.

Except that he doesn't really give a flying fuck about freedom of speech. Censorship is fine in his book as long as it is not targeted towards his own agenda. Enberg got it right.

Musk, meanwhile, is veering from cool nerd territory into what Kara Swisher, the elder stateswoman of tech journalism, recently called “the Howard Hughes portion” of an inevitable decline.

"Is veering"? Nah. He's already out of that territory for years.

Could this all be part of a broader plan? After all, despite publicly criticizing Musk’s antics, those on the left continue to use his platform.

Hanlon's Razor + network effect explain it.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 month ago (1 children)

...most followed user,

Abusing site admin powers to force accounts to follow you really shouldn't count.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

Tom from Myspace has entered the chat.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (2 children)

there's one very simple way to avoid all this

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Twitter has been taken over by the saddest billionaire on earth.

Are you a bad enough dude to delete your account and go literally anywhere else?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

I need to start using “are you a bad enough dude” more in casual conversation.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Wait, what about the President? I thought he was kidnapped by ninjas.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Simple indeed, but getting people to actually stop using that trash heap website has proven to be very difficult.

I am very tired of Twitter users doing nothing but complaining about site changes and Musk yet they still just sit there... doing nothing about it. You'd think it'd be easy to rip the bandage off when it's covered in fascist propaganda but apparently not.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago

He's a Russian shill, of course it does.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago

I did nazi see that coming.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

~~Views~~ Disinformation

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Overseas — where most X users live — he’s feuded with top officials in Australia, Brazil, the European Union and the U.K. over the balance between free speech and the spread of harmful misinformation. And he accused a political party in his native South Africa of “openly pushing for genocide of white people.”

Overseas, where most X users live.

Ah. So, kind of how “facebook = ‘the internet’” to a large swath of people in other countries.

Well. That’s bad.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

genocide of white people

So they're saying that a white supremacist is promoting fascism? Shocker.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

He does look pretty fat on the photo. Did ozempic not work for him?