Elon Musk Forces a Free-Speech Reckoning | City Journal
Twitter is not necessarily a well-run business. Mark Zuckerberg once described it as a clown car driven into a goldmine. It has drawn scrutiny from activist investors before a fact that likely played a role in Jack Dorsey s recent departure and is thus in a poor position to reject Musk s offer on grounds that the company s stock is undervalued. Still, from a business perspective, Musk has not explained how he would finance his purchase (he s incredibly rich but not liquid), and he has yanked investors chains before (a few years back, he was about to take Tesla private, until he wasn t).
If Musk is trolling the humorless progressives who dominate our institutional and cultural heights, though, he has already achieved a coup. That Musk might buy Twitter has caused a meltdown among Twitter elites. Today on Twitter feels like the last evening in a Berlin nightclub at the twilight of Weimar Germany, wrote one blue check. [This] could result in World War 3 and the destruction of our planet, exclaimed another. Robert Reich has equated Musk to Vladimir Putin.
Musk has done more than simply induce liberal tears. He has caused a mask to slip. He has prompted many prominent figures to admit bluntly that they oppose free speech.
Free speech is just scary, very scary. It’s like walking your dog without your mask scary. That’s why it should be verboten.