I'm Probably Not Doing That Again
In a move that has upset a whole host of folks on one side of the socio-political aisle, Elon Musk has not only snatched up the largest individual stake of social media platform Twitter, he has been assigned to its Board of Directors. Flapping mouthpieces like Joy Reid and Anna Kasperian have been quick to publicly lament this action, claiming that this surely spells troubled times ahead for the micro-blogging thought-diarrhea mess that is Twitter, but I suspect they're putting the cart about half a mile ahead of the horse and struggling to put a choke chain on the quadraped.
I left Twitter about a year ago myself, and spend a lot less time irritated when I go online as a result. Even spending only ten to twelve minutes a day on there was enough to make me despise the human race, and to especially despise the uneven enforcement of rules and Terms of Service that run rampant on that platform, far worse even than happens on Facebook.
So when Musk made his move, and I read article after article and heard several podcast hosts offering their conjecture that this could mean a return to viability for Twitter, all I could think was, "Are you daft? This isn't going to change anything for the better."
Musk has plenty of money and public draw to throw around, but what he would be up against in trying to change the dynamic of Twitter is a Sisyphian task; no matter what he does or suggests, there will reliably be an army of users, admins and programmers within the company willing to threaten to walk out or quit the service, thus tanking his investment. He offered them his wallet as a hostage, and opened himself up to quite possibly the only kind of assault that these folks have that could genuinely hurt him- they could reduce his value. Conversely, Musk strikes me as the sort of fellow who could easily turn the tables on that, and threaten to sell off his own shares at pennies on the dollar, utterly tanking the stock's worth and triggering a devaluation of the entire service if the mob tries to push him around.
I've been fairly adamant that I would never rejoin the service if it remained in the state it was in when I left, and it's no big loss to anyone. I only had about 110 followers when I left, and while a couple of them were mid-sided names, there was never much interaction. The most notable interactions- UFC fighter Bryan 'Bam Bam' Barbarena asked his followers for some book recommendations, and I turned him toward Lauren Beukes's brilliant 'Broken Monsters', and we chatted books for a few exchanges. It was great, and was soundly in my wheelhouse, so I loved that back-and-forth. The second notable exchange (for me, anyway) was when Flametree Publishing put out a preview of some of their limited edition mythology compilation covers, and I replied at them with a pic of my collection of those very same books on my shelves. They thanked me for my purchase and asked if I was enjoying them, and when I asked if they had any other products, they sent me a hardcover journal from their line. It was pretty awesome.
But Twitter still blocks links to any and all Bitchute videos, which is a big no-no for me: I am a Bitchute-first or, more often than not, Bitchute-exclusive video content creator. If I can't link to my creative endeavors the same as any YouTube video creator, what's the point? Furthermore, Twitter has been proven time and again to not enforce their own rules in an equal manner when it comes to socio-political conversations, treating libertarians and conservatives with far harsher penalties than folks on the more liberal or progressive side of things.
I'm fairly moderate, though I do often claim the tag of libertarian, and as such, I don't expect special treatment, just EVEN treatment. That does not exist on Twitter.
Will Elon's arrival as a dominant shareholder lead to any improvements in these areas? I'm not sure, but I tend to doubt it. Most of the folks who have become entrenched and turned Twitter into what it is are diehards who won't budge without kicking and screaming the whole way down, setting fire to whatever they can't maintain control of as they lose power. There are several YouTube and Bitchute creators who I routinely watch/listen to who cover developments on the platform, so I'll keep abreast of what changes. If it becomes a viable platform again, I might come back, sure.
But at that point, will it be worth returning to a site that I left because it was nothing but frustration and irritation? Only time will tell.