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What's the stench? It's musk

What is it about Elon Musk that freaks people out?

Joanna PanagopoulosJoanna PanagopoulosREPORTER
@JoannaPanagopo1
3 min read
6:00AMApril 30, 2022.
Updated 7:16AMMay 03, 2022
The Oz
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What is it about Elon Musk that freaks people out?

Elon Musk is very chaotic and it makes people nervous. 

The billionaire electric car pioneer who wants to rocket us all into space has done more than make the Twitter-sphere nervous since his audacious takeover of the social media platform that equally infuriates and inspires its users.

Musk, the South African born American who got stoned during a Joe Rogan podcast interview and (jokingly) declared he wanted to take control of Coca-Cola so he could put the cocaine back in, has caused a meltdown from many outraged by his plan to get rid of bots and promote free-speech on the platform.

He also bothered the darling of the hard left wing of US politics - AOC - over the  weekend by again (we think jokingly) telling her to "stop hitting on me".

His US$44 billion acquisition of a social media platform mostly used by political warriors from all sides of every debate to fight with each other, abuse and sneer has sent many emotional users into a death spiral. Twitter, founded by the company's first CEO Jack Dorsey and three other entrepreneurs, famously kicked off Donald Trump while allowing Russian invader Vladmir Putin, North Korean dictator Kim Jong un and Iran's supreme leader, to carry on.

Many users have decided to cancel themselves from the platform even before Musk gets his hands on the wheel at Twitter HQ .

But why?

In ruling over his great United States of Twitter, Musk said he would bring (back) “absolute free speech”.

Musk has said he would only want to remove content if it violated the law of that country. In the US then, incitements of violence might be taken down but hate speech could stay.

This could also apply to the people who tweet such statements. Twitter can currently choose to suspend or ban users who transgress company rules such as engaging in targeted harassment, but Musk might let them tweet on.

Donald Trump was famously suspended over fears he would incite future violence following the storming of the US capitol in January 2021.

Others question whether, in his quest for absolute free speech, Musk would let misinformation flow freely.

Why does anyone care?

Those who believe social media should be moderated argue absolute free speech, including hate speech and misinformation, could hinder free and open conversations in the “public (Twitter) square”, not promote them.

The most vocal celebrity to leave Twitter following Musk's bid, The Good Place star Jameela Jamil (who has picked many a timely bone), immediately assumed so.

"I fear this free speech bid is going to help this hell platform reach its final form of totally lawless hate, bigotry, and misogyny," she said in her flippant farewell post. 

There are also fears that without content mediation, voter misinformation during election periods could undermine democracy, while health misinformation during global pandemics could cost lives.

This is especially true when 'the algorithm' tends to boost popular lies.

The caveat to all this is that Twitter is already a pretty unprincipled place. The bots that tweet and retweet harmful or targeted content, which Musk claims he'll stamp out, might, in fact, help clean up the platform.

It's not just free speech

If the free speech issue didn't cause left-leaning users to delete their Twitter accounts, Musk's gripe with “wokeness” might.

When Netflix announced they had lost subscribers for the first time in a decade, Musk's hot take was that it happened due to the “woke mind virus", which sounds like something your drunk uncle might say at Christmas.

He dug his heels in on Friday, when he shared a meme that suggested "woke 'progressives'" had run miles to the fringe and made him look right-wing.

He also called out Twitter's top lawyer claiming the platform's content moderation had a left-wing bias. This led her to be majorly trolled.

The man is from mars

Also Musk is very chaotic, which makes people nervous. 

This week, while already being at the centre of the universe, Musk was name-dropped in the defamation trial of the century, involving his ex-girlfriend Amber Heard and her former partner Johnny Depp.

Musk is currently in a "fluid" relationship with equally-chaotic musician Grimes. They met via Twitter when Musk realised a great AI pun he was about to tweet had already been tweeted years earlier by Grimes. They share two children with letters-for-names, Exa Dark Sideræl (who they call Y) and X Æ A-XII (who goes by X). He has five other children with his ex-wife and author, Justine Wilson.

Grimes and Elon Musk at the 2018 Met Gala. Picture: Taylor Hill/Getty Images
Grimes and Elon Musk at the 2018 Met Gala. Picture: Taylor Hill/Getty Images

There was also that time he got high with resident contrarian Joe Rogan on his popular podcast. 

Elon Musk on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast in 2021.
Elon Musk on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast in 2021.

And he often Tweets out jokes like this: 

More of Musk's plans for Twitter, from Twitter

Like many a new age crypto-man, Musk wants more transparency. He also wants to eradicate the bots. 

What’s more democratic than putting the "edit button" to a vote? "Yse," the people overwhelmingly said.

Musk wants long form tweets after he had to read this boring thread about himself from Yishan.

Read related topics:Elon Musk
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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/the-oz/news/whats-the-stench-its-musk/news-story/5ce9628bf4ce93c92dc406d08ba6f0a5