Elon Musk Archives

The Atlantic: Twitter Is a Far-Right Social Network

May 24, 2023 Pensito Editors

The Atlantic: “As a public figure, [Twitter owner Elon Musk] has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the right’s culture war against progressivism—which he refers to as “the woke mind virus”—and his $44 billion Twitter purchase can easily be seen as an explicitly political act to advance this specific ideology. Now the site itself has unquestionably transformed under his leadership into an alternative social-media platform—one that offers a haven to far-right influencers and advances the interests, prejudices, and conspiracy theories of the right wing of American politics…

“Twitter is essentially following the playbook of platforms like Rumble, which used to be the go-tos for canceled and deplatformed right-wingers seeking a soft landing and the promise of revenue. Like Rumble, which pivoted from a struggling YouTube alternative into a full-fledged far-right platform in the late 2010s, Twitter appears to be dipping into the well of popular right-wing shock jocks as a way to revive the financially adrift website…

“If Musk weren’t too preoccupied lapping up approval from trolls, reactionaries, and Dogecoin enthusiasts—a few of the constituencies left on his site that still seem to adore him—the Parler statement should worry him. Right-wing alt-tech platforms may attract investors and a flood of indignant new users with persecution complexes, but they are, ultimately, bad businesses.”

Musk’s Twitter has Become Just another Far-Right Website

May 24, 2023 Buck Banks

“Twitter has long been described, even by its most ardent users, as a hellsite. But under Elon Musk, Twitter has evolved into a platform that is indistinguishable from the wastelands of alternative social-media sites such as Truth Social and Parler. It is now a right-wing social network.”

— Charlie Warzel

Sick of Politics? Take a Quick Quiz!

November 15, 2022November 15, 2022 Buck Banks

The New Republic (not necessarily known for its sense of humor) has published a pretty fun quiz that poses the question, “Who Said It: Elon Musk or Mr. Burns?”

The quiz offers a series of quotes and you have to choose whether the snarky, obnoxious or cruel comment was made by Twitter’s new owner (whom Keith Olbermann calls “Elmo Muskrat”) or the reliably horrid businessman character from “The Simpsons.”

It’s entertaining, but it’s not easy. I missed two and scored an 83%.

Tag: Elon Musk

The Atlantic: Twitter Is a Far-Right Social Network

Musk’s Twitter has Become Just another Far-Right Website

“Twitter has long been described, even by its most ardent users, as a hellsite. But under Elon Musk, Twitter has evolved into a platform that is indistinguishable from the wastelands of alternative social-media sites such as Truth Social and Parler. It is now a right-wing social network.”

— Charlie Warzel

Sick of Politics? Take a Quick Quiz!

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“His whole act can feel like a clunky contrivance—a forced persona railing against phony or hyped-up outrages.”

— Mark Leibovich

— Salt Lake Tribune

“I don’t want reality.”

— Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), quoted by The Guardian, while questioning a witness about the teaching of race.

“I’m going to leave it up to Kevin McCarthy to see if he wants to help defeat Putin,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Punchbowl News. “I mean, he’s been pretty good… But is the Republican Party going to be the party that bails out [Russian President Vladimir] Putin? I hope not.”

“You know, I have conversations with my father and my uncle about what I’m doing. I do meditations every day, and that’s kind of the nature of my meditations. I have a lot of conversations with dead people.”

— The Free Press asked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. how he thinks his father or uncle would have responded to the challenges facing Democrats today.

Numerati

71%

Gallup: “Seventy-one percent of Americans think same-sex marriage should be legal, matching the high Gallup recorded in 2022. Public support for legally recognizing gay marriages has been consistently above 50% since the early 2010s.”

115,000

339,000

70%

“The annual ‘Accelerating Acceptance’ study published Thursday by the advocacy organization reported that 70% of non-LGBTQ+ people want companies to include the LGBTQ community in hiring, advertising and sponsorships,” reports The Messenger.

2 million

“Twitter has long been described, even by its most ardent users, as a hellsite. But under Elon Musk, Twitter has evolved into a platform that is indistinguishable from the wastelands of alternative social-media sites such as Truth Social and Parler. It is now a right-wing social network.”

— Charlie Warzel

$8

— Yair Rosenberg

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“His whole act can feel like a clunky contrivance—a forced persona railing against phony or hyped-up outrages.”

— Mark Leibovich

— Salt Lake Tribune

“I don’t want reality.”

— Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), quoted by The Guardian, while questioning a witness about the teaching of race.

“I’m going to leave it up to Kevin McCarthy to see if he wants to help defeat Putin,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Punchbowl News. “I mean, he’s been pretty good… But is the Republican Party going to be the party that bails out [Russian President Vladimir] Putin? I hope not.”

“You know, I have conversations with my father and my uncle about what I’m doing. I do meditations every day, and that’s kind of the nature of my meditations. I have a lot of conversations with dead people.”

— The Free Press asked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. how he thinks his father or uncle would have responded to the challenges facing Democrats today.

Numerati

71%

Gallup: “Seventy-one percent of Americans think same-sex marriage should be legal, matching the high Gallup recorded in 2022. Public support for legally recognizing gay marriages has been consistently above 50% since the early 2010s.”

115,000

339,000

70%

“The annual ‘Accelerating Acceptance’ study published Thursday by the advocacy organization reported that 70% of non-LGBTQ+ people want companies to include the LGBTQ community in hiring, advertising and sponsorships,” reports The Messenger.

2 million