Greetings. I see some folks over here suggesting that discussions of #Twitter and Musk should be reduced, or hidden, or otherwise masked. I feel that this would be an enormous mistake. You do not solve problems by ignoring them, or by not staying abreast of what your adversaries are doing.
In this case -- especially as we've seen over the last few days -- the problem goes far beyond friendly conversations (and yes, our prized animal photos!) because Musk has demonstrated that *nobody* on Twitter is safe from his whims. He has, in fact, essentially said that explicitly, by *claiming* "everyone will be treated the same" -- that is, in reality, being subject to his dictatorial impulses of the moment. This is a recipe for disaster.
This puts at enormous risk everyone on Twitter: individuals, news organizations, elected representatives, candidates, advertisers, businesses who use Twitter for support (e.g. via DMs -- which for all we know Musk has had examined for "goodies"), and many others, including most importantly public service organizations and government entities who are using Twitter for critical announcements in emergency and other situations.
That such dependence on Twitter (or any platform) was not a good idea in the first place is the subject for another discussion.
But for now, the critical point is that *nobody* is safe on Twitter from Musk's erratic behavior, including ironically Musk and his businesses themselves.
The sooner that everyone who can extricate themselves from Elon's Twitter does so, the safer we all will be. -L
@lauren I do agree with you that the solution to this matter is not to restrict discussion about Twitter. Thinking we can resolve a problem by not talking about it, may have been what brought us to this state in the first place.
But we do need to come to a consensus on this point: We don't need to be the ones to fix Twitter. Fixing Twitter is not the answer. Let's let it fall, tumble all the way. Let's let absolute power corrupt absolutely.
Here's the problem: Now that we all know how easy it is to construct a virtual global fiefdom, we run the risk of building The Next Twitter in the blink of an eye. The enablement of the construction of any oligarchy whose judicial, legislative, and prosecutorial authority can be purchased whole by one person, should have been abolished when the Declaration of Independence was signed. We committed a strategic blunder when we centralized the principal medium of public discussion around a single tradable commodity.
