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knowltok's avatar

1) Hey Musk, I thought you were a free speech absolutist, what happened? It isn't against the law to post that image, so why are you being more restrictive than the government when it comes to speech?

2) I'd actually like to ask Susan Collins what, if any, lessons Donald Trump has learned, in her opinion. Might have to dip into the national strategic reserve of popcorn for that answer, given the current national shortage.

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TW Falcon's avatar

2) He learned the Republican party will let him get away with anything.

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Deutschmeister's avatar

I envy historians to some extent, who will be able to report after this era has passed what the Susan Collinses and Mitch McConnells and other enablers really were thinking in private and saying behind closed doors as all this transpired. It will make for fascinating reading, if much too little and much too late to matter. As always history will render the final verdict on their role.

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MillennialExistential's avatar

Ever since the Musk takeover, Twitter has been blocking left-wing accounts at the request of far-right activists.

https://theintercept.com/2022/11/29/elon-musk-twitter-andy-ngo-antifascist/

It's pretty clear when Elon says he's a "free speech absolutist" he means it in the right-wing sense of "Our speech is free, yours it at our discretion."

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Don Gates's avatar

On the Blocked and Reported podcast, which often is a frivolous show but I enjoy when they discuss something frivolous of interest to me, cohost Katie Herzog brought up 2 great points about Elon's free speech absolutism:

1) He's a free speech absolutist, unless you criticize him (See: threatened suspension of Twitter accounts impersonating and satirically mocking him; Twitter employees fired after publicly and privately questioning his "vision" for the company and his management style)

2) He's a free speech absolutist unless you personally offend him (See: his refusal to reinstate Alex Jones because Musk himself tragically lost an infant, and he will not reinstate someone who said the things Jones has said about Sandy Hook).

As with many "principled" stands, often the principle gets flushed down the toilet once it conflicts with the interests of the one proclaiming it, and Musk is nothing if not one of the most clever rationalizers of our species.

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