Greg Sargent
It's time to forget about shaming Elon Musk. The whole point of his vile attack on Fauci is to Trigger The Libs. Shaming him only persuades his followers he's "drawing blood." We have to adapt to the reality that he is waging right wing information warfare.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/12/musk-fauci-right-wing-information-warfare-how-to-respond/
Musk’s ugly attack on Fauci shows how right-wing info warfare works

For Elon Musk, the « Triggering » is the point.

The Washington Post
Dec 12, 2022 at 10:57pmWeb
Show threadAerikDec 12, 2022

@GregSargent

Much as Musk irritates me, I feel like the best rational response is to ignore him.

Show thread/C\a/r\l/o\s/Dec 12, 2022
@GregSargent @Aerik And to leave twitter. Its value is its users.
Show threadMike McMahanDec 12, 2022
@worm @GregSargent @Aerik agree but it’s hard to replace. There seems to be less going on here and/or I don’t have enough follows yet
Show threadDianne HackbornDec 13, 2022
@mac2323 Follow more people. You only see who you follow (in the home timeline), stuff won't be thrown at you if you don't follow it. It is very easy to follow enough people to have a deluge of really good posts.
Show threadMike McMahanDec 13, 2022
@hackbod Followed. I’m now counting on you!
Show threadHeeeey it’s Lissy 🦣Dec 13, 2022

@mac2323 @hackbod yes! follow follow follow boost boost boost and you find that it’s a very active place.

We’re used to social media being served to us by a algorithm that’s guessing at what content we want. It doesn’t work like that here & I love that

Show threadstefan hartwigDec 13, 2022
@hiitslissy @mac2323 @hackbod yeah, you have to follow like crazy! also, grab a few hashtags that make you happy and follow those. you soon won’t know what to do with all the content and opportunities to interact!
Show threadTed_CvilleDec 13, 2022
@hiitslissy @mac2323 @hackbod Yes, exactly right!
Show threadDianne HackbornDec 13, 2022

@mac2323 Hahah hopefully not just me, but I'll try to boost stuff of people who are good follows. :)

Also #GeraldineFibbers is great!!

Show threadOld Man MikeDec 14, 2022
@hackbod @mac2323 this is true, took me a couple of weeks here but soon I found I was on here as much as I was Twitter, and over there not at all.
Show threadFrench TexPatDec 13, 2022
@hackbod @mac2323 followed you both!
Show threadDennis JernbergDec 13, 2022
@mac2323 You probably don't. It doesn't really start getting interesting here until you follow at least 200 people. @worm @GregSargent @Aerik
Show threadMike McMahanDec 13, 2022
@dennis_jernberg followed you, don’t let me down!
Show threadDennis JernbergDec 13, 2022
@mac2323 Followed you back. 😉
Show threadMike McMahanDec 13, 2022
@dennis_jernberg tell me about your upcoming novel?
Show threadDennis JernbergDec 13, 2022
@mac2323 Spanner In The Works. I conceived it (20 years ago?! that long) originally as a webmanga full of anime cyberpunk homage but it quickly turned into a bitter superhero satire. It's a science fiction political thriller, set in an alternate (originally future) fascist America, and the title character is a "Banksy wannabe" who turns major-league culture jammer in a plot based on the Macintosh 1984 ad and who's really series heroine Sia disguised as a masked graffiti artist.
Show threadMike McMahanDec 13, 2022
@dennis_jernberg interesting. Lot going on there. You’ve got a publisher I guess?
Show threadDennis JernbergDec 13, 2022
@mac2323 Not yet. I don't have a complete final draft to submit yet, so I'll get around to that once I finish it, hopefully next year.
Show threadFrench TexPatDec 13, 2022
@mac2323 @worm @GregSargent @Aerik follow everyone, and boost everything you find interesting. As you grow, unfollow those that are not fitting your vision. Follow others. But always boost. Favourite is nice, but boost enriches everyone's timeline! Welcome!
Show threadCassandraZeroCovidDec 14, 2022

@TinCanWin @mac2323 @worm @GregSargent @Aerik

I'm finding I'm not seeing all the posts of the people I have followed - even photographers.
And I'm seeing many I haven't followed - even many unboosted by ones I have followed and/or without hashtags. (Hash tags have worked the best.)

This is a problem.

Can anybody help explain this?

Show threadJeff LindborgDec 14, 2022
@mac2323 @worm @GregSargent @Aerik it's definitely more work to get your feed humming along out here - took me several weeks. I ended up moving to a busier server and then hashtags worked a lot better for me to find folks I was interested in following. Definitely a barrier to entry for some folks trying Mastodon out...
Show threadBouriquetDec 13, 2022
@Aerik @GregSargent That is the best way to defeat a narcissist. Unfortunately our public media keep feeding both of them.
Show threadcharvakaDec 12, 2022

@GregSargent He is looking for attention, and he knows he can get a lot of likes and retweets by "owning the libs."

The only thing the oligarch needs from "the libs" is their engagement on his platform. Liberals should stop giving him that, and quit Twitter altogether.

Show threadMichael SlatteryDec 12, 2022
@charvaka @GregSargent Elno is a qanon warrior for whom politics is more important than money. It's a rather extraordinary case: the world's wealthiest man throwing away his fortune to make a point.
Show threadcharvakaDec 13, 2022

@Slatteryz @GregSargent

It's the ideology of the oligarch, that he knows better than us how the world should be run, plus because he has the most money, he should be allowed to run it that way.

Show threadDave LeeDec 12, 2022
@GregSargent Very well put -- his back and forth with Greenwald indicates this too. "They all write the same thing" is a way of bolstering his disingenuous argument that the "liberal" media is in cahoots.
Show threadrewildDec 12, 2022
@GregSargent glad to see you here!
Show threadWndlBDec 12, 2022
@GregSargent And if the Fauci tweet didn't alone suffice, the "woke mind virus (must be) defeated" tweet of this AM puts the icing on the cake.
Show thread🌲🧿 "Max"t💽d🏵️n 🔎🍄Dec 12, 2022
@GregSargent We can stop giving him attention but what really needs to happen is the "media" needs to stop playing his game. He creates "outrage" and fake narratives to draw attention away from other horrible stuff he is getting away with.
Show threadDannyboyguymanDec 12, 2022
@GregSargent I think this behavior is exactly what justice Alito was performing last week when he described the kkk robed children visiting the black mall santa.
Show threadpanthermodernDec 12, 2022

@GregSargent

I do not attack Musk's immorality, which would only encourage his followers' loyalty, but his business decisions, striking at the root of why he's supposedly so great. I find that doing this definitely "triggers the cons", implying that I am hitting a target that matters to them. I never comingle even a single word about him being a shithead into those discussions, leaving them entirely business focused.

Show threadSteelhoof aka BillDec 12, 2022
@GregSargent
Show threadDanatheoneDec 12, 2022
@GregSargent Apparently Bird-man has purloined Florida man's 72 hour outrage rule... say something outrageous, bat down the blowback for two days then say something outrageous and repeat... helps disrupt news cycle, derails news coverage, it's all free publicity
Show threadJennifer SlackDec 12, 2022
@GregSargent
Although I totally loved the booing of Musk at the Chapelle show in San Francisco.
Show threadDavid Robert NewmanDec 12, 2022
@GregSargent The chaos is the point.
Show threadMaryann 🌻Dec 12, 2022
@GregSargent respectfully disagree. Musk was booed outright at a recent event. Strong messages that his behaviour is unacceptable need to be seen and heard. This on top of his platform dwindling in usage also sends a message to the next billionaire narcissist. He needs to be ostracised in a public way.
Show threadMs. MissyDec 12, 2022

@GregSargent

Here's an idea!

IGNORE HIM

You all are giving him exactly what he wants.

Is there an Elon Musk-free server on Mastodon? Because I am sick and tired of him sucking the oxygen out of every room - even Mastodon.

Show threadSkeptiguyDec 12, 2022
@GregSargent that might be the point, but the effect is to ramp up the batshit insane conspiracy theories that actually threaten the lives of Fauci and his family./
Show threadSpockoDec 12, 2022

@GregSargent
"Musk hopes to maximize Twitter’s ability to flood the media zone with right-wing propaganda, but without inducing elites to give up on Twitter and thus weaken its “agenda-setting power.”

The phrase "agenda-setting power" reminds me of how Matt Drudge was the media's assignment editor. They'd all read him & then write stories in that frame.
TFG did the same with his lying, gaslighting tweets. Media either accepted the frame or had to counter it -still spreading the message.

Show threadMike McMahanDec 12, 2022
@GregSargent I really struggle w what to do to push back on this. I’ve cut my Twitter usage and plan to totally end it once I have equivalent follows on here. I use Twitter in many ways, but I can’t in good conscience stay there. Plus it seems like the only thing in my feed anymore is right wing bullshit anyway
Show threadtse_____Dec 13, 2022
@GregSargent Space Karen or Qlon.. I just can’t make up my mind.
Show threadDave StephensonDec 13, 2022
@GregSargent "The rich man is sold to that institution which makes him rich." #Thoreau
Show threadDud (Mx)Dec 13, 2022
@GregSargent Does that mean we can't call him a dick any longer?
Show threadJaneGrayDec 13, 2022
@GregSargent
Just now seeing that you're here. SO glad!
Show threadJuststeveWDec 13, 2022
@GregSargent yeah, I just left.
Show threadNicholas WeaverDec 13, 2022

@GregSargent

I can see not shaming him, he has no shame.

However, mocking him is so worth it. It is about the only thing I use Twitter for these days, because you know he will see it. Apartheid Clyde. Pony Stark. Melon Sku. Elmo. Lots of fun names to use, just be sure to tag him in the process...

Show threadSpike Dec 13, 2022
@ncweaver @GregSargent Space Karen. Phony Stark. Melon Husk. SinkX. Pest Duh.
Show threadfelix (grayscale) 🐺Dec 13, 2022
@ncweaver @GregSargent
I kinda feel like all of Twitter has been roped into participating in Musk's fetish for being publicly humiliated before he cocoons with his true friends. Not to yuck anyone's yum, but life's short, I've got other kinks to do.
Show threadSolemn AutumnDec 13, 2022
@ncweaver @GregSargent Q-Elon is my favorite
Show threadnadin brzezinskiDec 13, 2022
@GregSargent @EvyM best to mostly ignore all of twitter. I am there to document the hate speech. No need to participate. People need to walk away and let the Nazi space to the Nazis. It will be as relevant as Stormfront.
Show threadGollyDec 13, 2022
@GregSargent god and even when he destroys the whole website the absolute goobers who follow him will say “The Left can destroy the richest man in the world. Imagine what they’ll do to you”
Show threadTeeJay HardinDec 13, 2022
@golly @GregSargent yeah. My $$$ couldn’t protect my sorry @$$ so you plebes don’t stand a chance…. Or perhaps you shouldn’t be a annoying shiatbird m’kay
Show threadShopgirldjhDec 13, 2022
@GregSargent we need to abandon Twitter. They are only relevant when we are on there.
Show threadVoronDec 13, 2022
@GregSargent the only thing that works with people like Musk is going for the wallet
Show threadPhilzilla℠Dec 13, 2022
@GregSargent mockery has its place as a counter to neofascism.. it’s legit. These are shameless people so it’s quite misleading to talk of shaming musky or his acolytes. Exiting the platform is legit too. Let him own an expensive Parler model. The left builds things, while the extreme right destroys.. the great con is in the use of the word ‘conservative’.
Show threadSueG In NJDec 13, 2022
@GregSargent 😪
Show threadDan GillmorDec 13, 2022
Great to see ⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️
@GregSargent -- one of the best political commentators in American journalism -- here on Mastodon.
Show threadDave SwerskyDec 13, 2022
@GregSargent And the only way to win that game is not to play
Show threadSam AbuelsamidDec 13, 2022
@GregSargent the only solution to dealing with trolls is to starve them of the attention oxygen they crave. Don't retweet or toot or respond. Just ignore them