The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

So … Is #FreeStacy Trending Yet?

Posted on | April 25, 2022 | Comments Off on So … Is #FreeStacy Trending Yet?

He’s a multibillionaire with lots of things more important to worry about than restoring my @rsmccain account, but I hope he’ll get around to it pretty soon. Meanwhile, congratulations to Twitter’s new owner:

After a two-week battle against opposition from the platform’s board members, self-declared free speech absolutist Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and currently the richest man in the world, has succeeded in his bid to buy Twitter.
In a press release, the Twitter board announced that they had reached an agreement with the multi-billionaire to sell 100 percent of the company at Musk’s original price of $54.20 per share. . . .
Musk had been slowly acquiring shares in Twitter in the first quarter, becoming the company’s largest shareholder at the end of March.
His highly publicized campaign to take the company private kicked off twelve days ago, when he offered to buy 100 percent of the publicly-traded company.
The prospect of a self-declared “free speech absolutist” taking over the company has led to outrage from the platform’s progressive users, as well as the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post.
On the road to acquiring Twitter, Musk clashed with Twitter board member Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud of Saudi Arabia’s royal family, who opposed the takeover attempt.
The board also attempted to block Musk’s takeover by deploying a “poison pill” strategy, a corporate jiu-jitsu move intended to increase the costs of a takeover. It appears that these efforts have failed.
In his acquisition offer to Twitter, disclosed to the SEC, Musk unambiguously stated that the goal behind his purchase was the restoration of free speech on the platform.
“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” wrote Musk.

When my @rsmccain account was banned in February 2016, it was a cause célèbre and, as it turned out, an omen of things to come. At the time, Twitter staff claimed I was being banned for “participating in targeted harassment,” but they never would say (a) who was “targeted,” (b) what kind of “harassment” they suffered or (c) how I “participated.” Many people suspected that my banishment was the first official act of Twitter’s newly appointed “Trust and Safety Council.”

Totalitarian ideologues don’t like being called totalitarian ideologues. Now watch the tears fall like rain as Elon Musk takes over Twitter.




 

Category: Media Bias

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