{"id":1479,"date":"2022-04-26T18:19:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-26T18:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=1479"},"modified":"2025-02-28T18:21:58","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T18:21:58","slug":"the-truth-about-twitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2022\/04\/26\/the-truth-about-twitter\/","title":{"rendered":"The truth about Twitter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Social media flew into a frenzy on Monday amid news that the enigmatic<\/strong><\/em> Elon Musk, as my old friend and Morehouse\/Kappa Brother Smook Maxey called him yesterday, had purchased Twitter for a whopping $44 billion!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly, I didn’t know what to make of this news at first as the following two things are true: 1. I didn’t know all that much about Elon Musk; 2. I’ve never quite understood the fascination with Twitter. Ok, to keep it all the way real, I never quite comprehended how to get followers and influence dialogue on Twitter in the same way that I figured out how to win friends and influence folks on Facebook, so my Twitter page has often been as barren as the ice planet Hoth in Star Wars<\/strong><\/em> over the past several years \ud83d\ude06.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, as to prong two (2) above, yes, I know that Twitter is home to over 200 million faithful users worldwide, many of whom have used its 280 character limit to spread news, share opinions, and build their business or political brands since its founding in 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also know that the platform was the de facto presidential press room for Donald Trump during his term in office, a place where everything from his policy proposals to personal attacks on opponents made headlines multiple times per day (until his personal account was banned for stoking the seeds of the January 6th MAGA Riots at the Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As to the first prong above, I now realize that in addition to being a billionaire former co-founder of PayPal (and owner\/chief engineer of Tesla Motors and Space X), that Elon Musk, a native South African, has shared his highly suspect views about the Coronavirus Pandemic that showed a hostility towards mask wearing, quarantines, vaccines, and everything in between. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musk’s views, like those of many on the right who claim that social media platforms stifle free speech by banning users who share demonstrably false (or politically inflammatory) information in the public square, has curiously made him a hero of sorts to those who believe that they should<\/strong><\/em> have a right to type that the \u201cEarth is flat,\u201d that the \u201csun rises in the west,\u201d that \u201cdrinking Clorox will cure the Coronavirus,\u201d or \u201clet\u2019s come to Washington and literally stop Joe Biden from stealing the election,\u201d if they choose. Indeed, to that end, it will be quite interesting to see if former President Trump receives a Twitter platform pardon, if you will, from Musk in the days ahead?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay tuned…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what’s equally clear is that there is also displeasure from those on the center-left of the political spectrum who have their own issues with free or stifled speech, many of whom announced yesterday that they are leaving Twitter in protest of the inevitable return of Mr. Trump and his followers who fled to the failing Parler and Truth Social apps over the past two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I raised the issue about the Musk-Twitter transaction yesterday, a number of my Facebook followers were quick to weigh in; check out a few of the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly enough, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey called its new owner \u201cthe singular solution I trust\u201d late Monday after Musk reached his deal to purchase his former site. Dorsey added: \u201cIn principle, I don\u2019t believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness<\/strong><\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humorously, I translated Dorsey’s words to exclaim “I just got paid,” like the Johnny Kemp 80’s era classic R&B song, so I didn’t expect much else from him on the sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it may surprise even my own friends and followers to know that while I reject most right wing political perspectives\u2014and I absolutely abhor racist rhetoric on any social media platform\u2014I guess I’ve always understood the idea that the free market gives social media owners a right to allow whatever type of speech that they desire on their platforms\u2014from the profound, to the profane, to the inane!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, on multiple occasions these past 11 years, my Facebook account has been frozen by their \u201ccommunity standards\u201d police all because I was telling the whole truth about systemic racism!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I also understand that without those stints in Facebook Jail, that I might not have created this very blog to deliver my views directly to those who appreciate the way that my mind (and trenchant pen) work!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, my conclusion, which is that Musk’s purchase of Twitter doesn’t vex me all that much because should I find the platform too distasteful at some point in the near future, it will be my prerogative to simply deactivate my account and move on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you and please subscribe to the Hobbservation Point\u2014have a great Tuesday evening!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chuck Hobbs is a freelance journalist who won the 2010 Florida Bar Media Award and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Social media flew into a frenzy on Monday amid news that the enigmatic Elon Musk, as my old friend and Morehouse\/Kappa Brother Smook Maxey called him yesterday, had purchased Twitter for a whopping $44 billion! Admittedly, I didn’t know what to make of this news at first as the following two things are true: 1. I didn’t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,65,795],"class_list":["post-1479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-elon-musk","tag-maga","tag-twitter","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1479"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1480,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions\/1480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}