Thomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
The Non-Mystery of Elon Musk’s Reactionary Politics and the Destruction of the Virtual Public Square
 
There are real stakes in losing Twitter as an instrument to democratize America
 
My new column for Guardian US: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/21/elon-musk-liberal-twitter-plans-benevolent?CMP=twt_b-usopinion_c-us
Elon Musk was never a liberal, and his plans for Twitter were never benevolent

Tech barons’ lip-service to democracy and pluralism was always conditional on preserving their own positions at the top

The Guardian
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
It is annoying and exhausting to think, talk, and write about Elon Musk all the time. But simply ignoring a man with such a powerful platform who is determined to further an anti-democratic cause will not work. So, I wrote about Musk’s politics and the threat to democracy. Again.
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
Musk’s actions are fully consistent with the worldview that dominates among far-right reactionary extremists. And yet, many observers seem reluctant to acknowledge that what is happening is exactly what it looks like.
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
So, what’s up with Elon Musk’s politics? There are more or less fruitful ways to tackle that question. It is not very useful to obsess over what Musk “really” believes, or react to every one of his trolling attempts by trying to disprove and debunk them.
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
We should instead engage the underlying political project. Musk is yet another example of how short the path from a certain kind of libertarianism to the far-right is, a reminder that this type of libertarianism is driven by a desire for freedom from regulation and criticism of any kind.
Show threadThomas Zimmer
Musk believes that the world works best if people like him are in charge, get to do as they please, unhampered by regulations or demands for equality – because they are convinced that their personal interest is identical to the interest of humanity itself.
Dec 21, 2022 at 2:32pmMastodon for iOS
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
It’s an inherently anti-democratic worldview that tracks very well with the reactionary political project and the conservative promise: that the world works best if it’s run by wealthy white men – and thus should always be run by wealthy white men.
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
But what about the fact that Musk doesn’t subscribe to all the typical “conservative” policy positions and never described himself as a “conservative”? Well, he certainly subscribes to the only position that matters on the Right today: He is rabidly anti-“Left.”
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
It has become dogma on the Right to define Democrats, liberals, “the Left” as an illegitimate, “Un-American” threat – that all measures, regardless of how extreme, are justified in the defense of “real America” against the “woke” onslaught. That’s exactly where Musk is.
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
This doesn’t necessarily signal a fundamental change of his politics and worldview. It’s more plausible to think of his trajectory as an activation of reactionary sensibilities and an accelerating process of radicalization, but not aberration.
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
Much like other predominantly white, predominantly male elites who have been radicalizing to the right, the acceptance of democracy and pluralism was always conditional and depending largely on whether or not it would be set up in a way that preserved their status at the top.
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
But that certainly doesn’t mean Musk was ever on board with the idea of leveling traditional hierarchies of wealth, race, or gender – clearly, he was not. As soon as his elite status as an obscenely wealthy white man was scrutinized, his fundamental politics was activated.
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
And now that inherently anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian worldview is animating the man in charge of the world’s most important political communications platform, a virtual public square functioning as an essential part of democratic culture.
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
Twitter established a conversation between people in position to shape the political and public imaginary – because they are journalists, or politicians, or public figures – with people who would otherwise never have access to those levels of influence.
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
Most importantly, Twitter has been instrumental in amplifying the voices, demands, and the critique of traditionally marginalized groups. That’s where it really demonstrated its democratizing potential.
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
Twitter has been crucial in this uphill struggle of traditionally marginalized groups finally making their demands heard, being able to extract a political cost for certain discriminatory speech and behavior: a tool for organizing, a platform, a global amplifier.  
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
Twitter has enabled people with absolutely no traditional access to power to speak to powerful elites directly, criticize them in the public square. How valuable this has been is evidenced by the fact that many of those elites are so consistently bemoaning “persecution.”
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
To the extent that traditional societal elites – and elite white men, in particular – face a little more scrutiny today than in the past, that they have been deprived of their supposed “right” to unquestioned deference and affirmation, Twitter has helped democratize public life.
Show threadThomas ZimmerDec 21, 2022
Losing this will hurt – it will hurt the attempts to finally make America live up to the promise of egalitarian multiracial pluralism, to become the democracy it never has been yet.
 
More here: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/21/elon-musk-liberal-twitter-plans-benevolent?CMP=twt_b-usopinion_c-us
Elon Musk was never a liberal, and his plans for Twitter were never benevolent

Tech barons’ lip-service to democracy and pluralism was always conditional on preserving their own positions at the top

The Guardian
Show threadRich Stein (he/him)Dec 21, 2022
@tzimmer_history Kudos! Thanks for writing this.
Show threadDwight Williams (💉 x9)+😷🇨🇦Dec 21, 2022
@tzimmer_history The dogma has been in place for over a century. Ask the ghosts of General Smedley Butler, R.B. Bennett, and so many others. Their thinking is with us still.
Show threadPeter PrincipleDec 21, 2022
@tzimmer_history And Elon Musk isn't going to stand for it.
Show threadBarneyRCN🇨🇦⚓️🎓Dec 21, 2022
@tzimmer_history Exactly!
Show threadMichael BethkeDec 21, 2022
@tzimmer_history This was true, especially in African countries during the previous decade, where locals were getting out the news as it happened. Even now, African countries are demanding Twitter reveal user accounts, shutting down internet service, block or ban social media to stop information flowing to and from these countries.
Show threadParanoid FactoidDec 21, 2022

@tzimmer_history

Mastodon will do a better job at democratizing a bully pulpit for marginalized communities.

Show threadrobertdobalinaivDec 21, 2022
@tzimmer_history Twitter enabled anybody on the Internet, no matter how marginalized, to confront & critique anybody at any level of power. That was enough by itself to power the moral panic about “cancel culture.”
Show threadMichael BethkeDec 21, 2022
@tzimmer_history There always were letters to the editor, but they weren't always published.