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Comment by zfg

15 days ago

> and spiteful, authoritarian politicians taking power.

Or spiteful, authoritarian non-politicians taking power, spreading misinformation, and censoring free speech:

https://www.techdirt.com/2025/02/03/musk-shows-us-what-actua...

8 comments

zfg

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cbeach  15 days ago

Musk is a libertarian not an authoritarian.

His job is to reduce the size and power of government.

Authoritarians don’t do that. Libertarians do that. Two opposite ends of the spectrum.

“Misinformation” is a very subjective word, so I’m afraid you and I will have to agree to disagree that Musk is spreading misinformation.

Don’t believe everything you read about Musk in the mainstream media. Don’t forget that the media have a vested interest in denigrating Musk, because he’s their most significant competitor, and while X exists, and we’re able to hear directly from influential people, the legacy media is powerless to control the narrative.

  • zfg  15 days ago

    > Musk is a libertarian not an authoritarian.

    What, your claim is that libertarians suppress speech? Explain why Musk is censoring speech on Twitter.

    Musk is authoritarian by nature. He always has been.

    > “Misinformation” is a very subjective word

    It isn't. It's lies, falsehoods, and untruths. Here are some of the lies Musk has spread:

    - Lies about Paul Pelosi: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/30/business/musk-tweet-pelos...

    - Lies about the recent LA fires: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/01/10/elon-mu...

    - Lies about USAID: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250202-musk-brands-u...

    - Lies about how good he is at video games: https://english.elpais.com/technology/2025-01-24/elon-musk-a...

    And so on and so on. He never stops lying. He can't help himself. There's something wrong with him.

    > Don’t forget that the media have a vested interest in denigrating Musk, because he’s their most significant competitor, and while X exists, and we’re able to hear directly from influential people, the legacy media is powerless to control the narrative.

    This kind of conspiratorial thinking won't get you anywhere.

    Carl Sagan worried this would happen to you (https://www.openculture.com/2025/02/carl-sagan-predicts-the-...). Sagan said, "I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness"

    And, sure enough, it has.