Elon Musk, Corporatism, the Morality of Big Tech and The Truth
Why Mr. Scott Ritter may be a hero, why Elon Musk may not be, and why it matters
Part II of Totalitarianism
After I wrote an initial exploration of the topic of Elon Musk purchasing “Twitter” and public reaction to this I encountered a post by Casey Newton of Platformer which brings out many more important issues than I then had access to as I wrote the initial post. These now available facts simply serve to further underscore the points of the initial post.
Newton refers to examples of Musk exhibiting apathy. Apathy can be normal or it can indicate extremely deep psychological issues. Apathy is normal when something is just too trivial to waste much concern on and when it doesn’t unduly affect our overall lives.
When we are too detached and apathetic we can fail to care deeply enough to care adequately for ourselves or others. This can be psychopathological or socio-pathological or both. This is what we must be aware of as active, responsible citizens.
As Newton so ably points out Musk’s co-investors include Larry Ellison of Oracle, the venture capital firms of Sequoia and Andreesson Horowitz, and Saudi Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal. These investors represent additional concerns which I will leave to writers better versed in technology and investing than myself.
We who are not expert in the field of economics or technology may have encountered a fictional portrayal of Ellis in the TV series “The Dropout” about Elizabeth Holmes and her company, Theranos. It is critically important that we the people, the ordinary citizens become at least somewhat informed on these subjects which play such urgent roles in our lives.
https://www.businessinsider.com/theranos-founder-ceo-elizabeth-holmes-life-story-bio-2018-4
It is helpful to remember here that Elizabeth Holmes was lauded as a potential heroine by the mainstream and by many of us. That she is not a heroine is abundantly apparent now. In many ways Steve Jobs was a hero where Holmes simply has never been. Jobs, to his eternal credit, saw the potential problems with technological innovation and remained grounded despite his enormous success.
We can observe this in his 2005 commencement address at Stanford.
We can observe this also in his providing us all with his logo, complete with a large bite from the apple. Jobs was an involved, caring genius and not an apathetic opportunist.
We must be concerned about Musk’s possible apathy as CEO of Twitter. And we must assume he has some responsibility to provide a profit, sooner than later. It has always appeared that Twitter is chasing a losing business model by restricting free and open dialogue. Our hope is that Musk has meant what he said about free speech.
Any repression of free speech and actual promotion of propaganda simply will not work over the long term. Once the truth breaks free from restrictive elements it will do so explosively and has a history of destroying any credibility of those who arranged it. Propaganda brings down all involved, where the sins lie in the hubris that created it. No governments, nations, individuals, corporations or institutions are immune to this fundamental truth.
So we move on from the tech executives here to the person of Scott Ritter. For those perhaps unfamiliar with Mr. Ritter here is an introduction. For those preferring a simpler intro here is a video.
In my earlier post I referred to Ritter’s concern about Musk and company primarily based on the concept that no one person has the right to guarantee free speech. In the USA these are among the fundamental rights guaranteed to all people in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. For one corporate executive to claim to become the spokesperson for free speech is ludicrous on the face of it and an insult to the American people.
Furthermore since Twitter is a worldwide company the inconsistencies apply to what has become a digital town square for the entire world. We the people of Planet Earth are the one’s to give ourselves free speech and inalienable rights and not some popular tech executives.
It’s high time that these debates and discussions become planetary as they concern all people everywhere. We are undeniably in the midst of a crisis. This crisis is perhaps the biggest media story of all time and yet we watch as mainstream, corporate media misses it entirely. Dystopia? Yes, good word for it.
An excellent article which I believe intersects with what I attempt to discuss here is Mark Crispin Miller’s post on his News From Underground: “Zelensky Is Trapped”
Yet another is Dr. Robert Malone’s post: Davos Man, His World Economic Forum, and His Servants
There are many writing on this today and my allegiance is owed to all of them. I hope to link to the work of these important writers in future posts.
Musk is another distraction from the International Health Regulations summit. DontYouDare.Info
Good point the USA is a separate free speech issue from the international business model named Twitter. Don't be a Twit.