As if it were New York Times news pages weren’t crazed enough about Elon Musk,Times opinionizers really kicked up the dramatics over the billionaire entrepreneur acquiring Twitter, led by editorial board member Greg Bensinger’s aggrieved take in Tuesday’s edition, “Twitter Under Elon Musk Will Be a Scary Place.”
Bensinger predicts Twitter, which is crucial to his livelihood, will turn into a cesspool once the liberal censorship ceases.
Twitter was never a forum for intelligent, nuanced discourse. It is likely to become even worse.
The decision by Twitter’s board of directors on Monday afternoon to accept a takeover bid from Elon Musk means the company thinks the social media company would be best served by the ownership of a man who uses the platform to slime his critics, body-shame people, defy securities laws and relentlessly hawk cryptocurrencies.
Bensinger dug up old allegations against Musk’s other companies (the TimesAll companies should be aware that they have problems, and Musk is no exception.
No wonder many Twitter employees are aghast at the prospect of Mr. Musk leading the company.
Flying in the face of the platform’s clear bias against conservative thought, Bensinger lunged for the tired lefty cliche that minorities would be hardest hit by any change.
Particularly for female Twitter users, it is concerning to see if Mr. Musk will show his disdain towards women in the new company. Twitter is already a toxic place for women who use it, particularly those of color.
The editorial writer played mind-reader on the side.
Similar to the motivations behind establishing these competitors. Mr. Musk’s reasons for taking control of Twitter aren’t about free speech; it’s about controlling a megaphone. Musk, along with his legion, will control a huge megaphone. He can also plug his investments and pooh-pooh his health regulations, and criticize.
One of the paper’s favorite far-left writers, Anand Giridharadas, contributed “Elon Musk Is a Problem Masquerading as a Solution.”
A society which outsources its social interaction to sociopaths will not be free but will demand tyranny.
David Leonhardt’s newsletter took the Gilded Age angle.
The deal is the latest example of how extreme inequality is shaping American society. A small number of very wealthy people end up making decisions that affect millions of others….
Leonhardt handed over the remainder of his space to business-side reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin, who parroted his colleagues’ hysterics.
Musk’s acquisition of Twitter will reignite big questions about the influence of the billionaire class and the power of technology over our national discourse….. Musk has said he wants more “free speech” and less moderation on Twitter. How does that translate in the real world? Bullying? More provocative comments? More misinformation?
Stuart Thompson and David McCabe covered “far right” celebration of Twitter’s new ownership.
A number of members of the far right began to experiment with a more restricted platform and started tweeting critiques about the transgender community. Doubting the efficacy of masks, or claiming that the 2020 election results were fraudulent — topics that had been moderated by labeling or removing the false information or suspending accounts that spread it.
“Doubting the effectiveness of masks” is a “far right” view? Even the Times admits that cloth masks aren’t that effective against Omicron. They might be better off turning themselves in.
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