Why make your own platform when you can simply buy the most popular one?
I hope Musk eventually takes control of it all and makes it a platform that employs free speech.
I’m not here to slam the other attempts at dethroning Twitter, but the engagement with the left is important, and it must be on a fair and even playing field.
I’d rather see the left hightail it off Twitter because they no longer have the protection of their progressive henchman to make it appear as if their horrendous worldview is the correct worldview.
I want to be there when it happens.
My life was better when my phone was attached to wires and I corresponded through the mail.
An EMP sounds good about now.
Separate the wheat from the chaff.
“I’m not here to slam the other attempts at dethroning Twitter, but the engagement with the left is important, and it must be on a fair and even playing field.”
Absolutely NOT!!! They are NEVER fair with us, but they always expect us to be fair with THEM. We need to treat them the same way they treat us.
No one ever won a war by being nice to the enemy.
I disagree about keeping a fair and level playing field Fur. We are way past being civil with the lefties.
That is NOT what I meant.
What I meant was the support of the 1st amendment.
Who said anything about being “fair to the left”?
Can a statement contain the words “fair” and “left” in the same paragraph without being accused of saying you seek to be fair WITH the left?
C’mon.
Read what I said.
Twitter used to be where if you don’t like what someone said, you either
argued with them or blocked them. Now, you’re blocked by twitter if even your name is “wrong think”.
If Musk can get it back to how it was before all the bitchy bullshit and ghosting, it would at least be tolerable.
Leftists won’t go to a fair twitter. That’s not in their best interest, and we wouldn’t achieve engagement. Leftists will scream and stomp their feet on the way out, calling a fair playing field “OMG THAT’S TOTES NOT FAIR!” and accuse twitter of doing the bidding of Russia and Fox news on a racist, misogynists, xenophobic, transphobic, all the phobics, disinformation propaganda website.
“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
“C’mon.
Read what I said.”
NEVAIR!!!!!!!!!!!……unless there’s a test later.
I was as giddy as anyone to hear about the Musk purchase, but I really don’t see how a 10% stake and a position on the board to going to substantially change the culture over there, except for maybe making some triggered snowflake employees nervous and uncomfortable.
I think what Smarter was eluding to was that engagement and civility are necessary, consistent with our own values but don’t pretend that it will change any minds on the hard left, mostly because they not only play by the same rules but have their own definitions.
Arguing Free speech with the left is a fool’s errand, we value it differently. They subordinate it to feelings and perceptions and relegate it to that which does not offend or demean. We OTOH offer no such restrictions or limitations.
Keeping an open dialogue is useful in that many in the center of the political spectrum, those that align with the left out of ignorance or lack of exposure to a better argument can be reached and persuaded.
Will they be allowing kiddie porn?
I don’t want kiddie porn. But that’s the touchstone. If some apparatchik can send a memo, and claim “This! This is illegal!”, then there will be no “open dialog”. Even just text. Of which some apparatchik disapproves. Somewhere, anywhere.
Don’t hate on Hitler, hard enough? German apparatchik says your text is illegal. Make fun of Kim’s haircut? Best Korea apparatchik says your text is illegal.
Somebody posts kiddie porn? And all the viewers can do is “block” and/or “ReeeEEEeeeEEE!”? Now, you can’t stop the signal.
“I think what Smarter was eluding to was that engagement and civility are necessary, consistent with our own values but don’t pretend that it will change any minds on the hard left,…”
================
I think you are missing a very important point.
When the right is not allowed to even make a point, the platform appears to show a majority of people think like the left. Looking bigger and more popular than they really are – with no push back allowed.
If the platform allows dissenting opinions – either way – then the voices on the right get a fair exposure to the public at large. Maybe even validating people that thought they just have to along with the left since they feel are so alone in their beliefs.
I know I liked this site when I first found it because I found fellow people that loved sensibility and had morals like myself. I was truly wondering why I felt so alone politically until I found IOTW.
And the people running this site weren’t erasing our posts and/or preventing them. This is why I stopped going to Fox sites. Either you couldn’t post a comment at all, or it never made it to being published in the comment section if you expressed something contrary to the article. Fox lost ma back in 2005 for this. They aren’t really conservative.
Just having right leaning thoughts and principles being available as a juxtaposition to the insane left is all the truth needs.
Give people hope, A chance to see a path out of the madness imposed by the small small lefty population. A chance to find fellow sane people to be with.
Oh sure. Of course I see words I dropped out AFTER I post. You can figure them out. Should be obvious where a “go” or a “they” belong
Mr 80 IQ or below APRIL 7, 2022 AT 2:06 PM
You can have clear rules and parameters, Kiddie porn and such can be declared verboten up front.
You think like a lefty when you go to ridiculous extremes to make an argument.
That’s an 80 IQ and below argument. You’re probably dangerous to yourself on a daily basis.
“I think you are missing a very important point.”
Nope, didn’t miss it at all. And if you are going to quote me, quote the whole sentence because the part that you left out directly addresses that which you think I missed.
Of course, Twitter is biased, censorious, and peddles only one point of view, but the intellectual marketplace is vast and still growing. IOTW is part of that marketplace, along with a few hundred blogs. The truth will always find a way to reach those that seek it.
Practicing free speech is not enough, we all need to be presented with ideas that challenge, force us out of our comfort zone and it is in that intellectual marketplace where robust dialogue with different ideas, the ones that are true will rise to the top.
Twitter is not part of that public square, hence my comment that a 10% stake is not going to markedly move the needle.
@Dadof4 April 7, 2022 at 5:27 pm
> Mr 80 IQ or below APRIL 7, 2022 AT 2:06 PM
Because of you I vote. Thank you.
was a bit dismayed when I found Musk only had a 9.2% share in Twitter, until I learned that he would be the majority shareholder. The top shareholders in Twitter are Elon Musk, Vanguard at 8.8%, Morgan Stanley at 8.4 and Blackrock at 4.56% … 3 of them are top shareholders of Tesla … hmmmmmm
I also think the majority shareholder usually has a direct say in how the company is run.