There’s just something about Elon Musk that has the establishment in a tizzy. The billionaire eccentric tech entrepreneur is going against the status quo on both the left and the right, and the self-appointed guardians of the system aren’t too happy.
Democrat Senator Ed Markey, whom Politico describes as “Musk’s chief Washington tormentor” has made it his mission to destroy Elon Musk and his vision for free speech on Twitter.
“I wasn’t sure that he understood that compared to rocket science, democracy is much more complicated, and that this tool — this global town square that is Twitter — is essential to our society operating in terms of people’s ability to communicate, especially their political views,” Markey said in an interview with Playbook. (RELATED: REPORT: Twitter Temporarily Suspends Employee Access, Closes Offices)
But the 76-year-old Senator’s version of democracy involves “content moderation” — which essentially boils down to repressing any views that Congress and the other powers that be deem too inappropriate to deserve free speech.
“I don’t think he understood that there’s a reason why Twitter had content moderation personnel … to make sure that the technology was not abused.”
.@SenMarkey threatens @elonmusk: “You cannot ignore what the federal government is requiring of your company, and that goes for … guardrails that have to be built around social media … They will pay a price if they don’t put safeguards in place at Twitter” pic.twitter.com/HkQLNmN01Q
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) November 16, 2022
But Markey evidently seems out of the loop on how censorious Twitter really was before Musk’s takeover. For instance, he says that the problem with Musk making a blue check available to anyone who pays $8 a month for it, is that “Joe Blow” can say “don’t wear a mask, don’t worry about Covid” while pretending to be the CDC or some more reputable agency while doing it.
“Joe Blow can say whatever Joe Blow wants to say within certain boundaries,” Markey said. (RELATED: ‘We Are On The Way’: America Heading Back To The Moon After Successful NASA Launch)
But can he?
Up until a day ago, Twitter had banned the popular satire site the Babylon Bee for making fun of a Biden Administration official, Rachel Levine, who serves as the Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Clinical psychologist Dr. Jordan B. Peterson was banned for criticizing transgender surgeries and tweeting “remember when pride was a sin?”
The Daily Caller’s own Chrissy Clark was suspended for her reporting on a Wisconsin education department which promoted transgenderism to children as young as three-years-old. (RELATED: Report Exposes TikTok Accounts As ‘Portals To Illegal Child Sexual Abuse’)
Back in April, Politico attempted to tackle the problem of why the left hates Elon Musk so much.
“If you were to ask your garden-variety, well-educated, politically active, MSNBC-watching liberal why they dislike Musk, they might give you an answer based on his wealth: ‘No one should be that rich,'” they wrote.
Guys,
If he actually tries for free speech, The System is gonna crush Elon Musk too. I’m sorry. There’s ZERO chance they’re gonna get this far along with their plans only to let one billionaire come in and set them back.
— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) November 18, 2022
But besides a general distaste for wealth, which the left argues exacerbates poverty and — even worse — inequality, the left just isn’t as gung-ho for free speech as they perhaps once were.
“Musk says he wants to make Twitter a haven for ‘free speech’ on the internet. But when progressives hear Musk advocate for free speech, they think less of John Stuart Mill’s marketplace of ideas and more of the kind of talk you hear on Joe Rogan’s podcast.” (RELATED: Rogan: ‘Woke’ Left Wants Censorship Because The Right Got Good At Social Media)
Joe Rogan’s podcast, a recent target of anger on the left, is an immensely popular talk show where Rogan interviews individuals from Snoop Dogg to Alex Jones to Musk himself to Jordan Peterson.
I have been (and remain) supportive of Musk’s takeover of Twitter as a significant advancement for the restoration of free speech values. However, holding a poll on whether Trump should be allowed back on the platform is contrary to those values… https://t.co/RFjbX9QkIs
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2022
Twitter is the de facto platform for political discussions. As such, losing control of it is perhaps the largest blow to the left’s censorship agenda to date. Musk isn’t a known quantity — he is notorious for going against the grain on both the left and the right. While previous tech CEOs would do their bidding willingly, Musk isn’t afraid to make the left angry and challenge their agenda. That’s why they want to destroy him.
