Questions abound as to what, exactly, is going on with Elon Musk and his “management” of his new plaything, Twitter. The best comment I have seen compared his activity to “Calvinball.” for those who never ran across the best comic strip ever, “Calvin and Hobbes,” or who may have forgotten, “Calvinball” is a game invented by Calvin, a kid of indeterminate age, but somewhere between four and probably seven, in which the “rules” are whatever Calvin says they are, whenever he needs to change them.
Okay, Musk is paranoid, capricious, vengeful, and thoughtlessly cruel to anyone who gets in the way of his objectives. Got it. I don’t use Twitter. It’s a shame he’s cancelling journalists and rapidly destroying whatever utility Twitter has had. Having stated my small and unoriginal opinion, I hereby declare that I am tuning out on what’s going on with Elon Musk except as he may be found to be directly funding an authoritarian takeover.
That Musk is fearful of he or his family being put at risk because of someone's free speech (i.e., nefarious response, use of information unfiltered by miscreants who are just looking to do harm) seems to provide the best case for soft, objective, equally applied "regulations" for this platform and for other ones like Facebook or Truth Social, etc. I don't like what some people say (about me) or put my family at risk or I know you are wrong are not reasons to drop a customer. Those are personal reactions, not a corporate or social policy. Regulating is filled with problems, ethical and fair, the design shouldn't start with lashing out by the owner. These platforms, if they are to promote civil and free speech, need tall leaders, not small minds of frightened narcissists. A learning opportunity, here, for Musk.
One more drama Queen, attention whore . . . Sounds no different than tRump making his rounds in NYC with the local radio hosts back in the day. Bore, bore, bore . . .
“Unreconstructed Afrkaner” - love it! As a Virginian taught the lost cause at my mother’s knee, and currently working hard at overcoming it (much like Ty Sedule *Robert E. Lee and Me*), I’m going to use this phrase regularly when referring to muck. 👍
Musk is like the spoiled, entitled rich kid that brings his new toy to play with other kids, but gets miffed when the other kids have fun with it, so he takes his toy and goes home. I never had anything to do with Twitter and won’t miss it if it goes belly up or Elon gets tired of his shiny toy and sells it to another rich brat, by which time it will be tarnished and broken, hardly worth the hefty price Musk ponied up for it.
Elon, a kid of indeterminate age, obviously likes to take his ball and go home when the results of the game don't suit him. Problem is, the ornery little son of a bitch won't stay there and just keeps coming back. Would someone please, please piss the little jerk off enough that he takes his ball and skulks off once and for all so we can all talk about someone / something else?? I'd almost pay good money for that. Not "I won't dox your airplane money", but I'd scratch up something.
But there's an even better way to piss him off more than anything else would, and it wouldn't cost a dime. Sadly, it would never happen, but if everyone actually stopped talking about the snarky bastard, he really might actually leave and stay gone, at least for a while. Depending on the going rate for buying the internet and how long it would take the weasel to come up with the dough.
Would suggest the same as the solution to a former high office holder who likes to make up the rules as he goes as well. There's surely no danger of him coming up with the dough, new fungus tokens notwithstanding, and it just might piss him off enough to produce the Big Mac effect a little ahead of schedule, which would be a permanent answer to all his ugly noise as well.
Bill Watterson is probably laughing hysterically, or would be if he read this. Very well done, and one more reason why I don't understand the angst on the part of people who see Twitter falling apart. He's nuts, and deserves what he'll get when the banks realize he's running his collateral into the ground.
I wonder if he's canceled the accounts of everyone who contributed to that trending post. That would be a ton of folks if it's a "trending" post! I am so glad I quit that platform.
If not Muck, it'll be someone else until public utilities, as you say, or the pubic commons is adequately regulated or fixed in another way. The question is how to combat the privatization of the commons.
I loved Calvin and Hobbs back in the day. It is still my favorite comic strip ever. Both of my sons have ADHD; Calvin and Hobbs was a window into our life, trying to cope with all the small and HUGE challenges of our daily life. My boys, now adults, both love Calvin and Hobbs also. It was a sad day when the strip stopped publishing.
Muck and tRump are children of privilege, who were never disciplined. They are both poster boys for arrested development, if I ever saw one. They have absolutely no business controlling anything that impacts the common good. That also goes for other billionaires like Charles Koch, Peter Thiel,etc.
P.S. I took child development in college and taught preschool. Those cartoons depicting tRump and Muck as babies are spot on.
Thank you, might check out Mastadon. Muck has already pulled the plug on Twitter. I enjoyed it once upon a time, but they didn’t like me calling chump a wannabe Nazi.
A lot of us, former Twitter and now Mastodon users have utterly given up on Mr. Musk. Some of us are even journalists. The world continues to revolve. The hashtag #twitterisdead is a thing. When last I checked there were 800000+ users on Mastodon, more each day, and the Fediverse has absorbed us with surprisingly little disruption or hoo-ha.
Okay, Musk is paranoid, capricious, vengeful, and thoughtlessly cruel to anyone who gets in the way of his objectives. Got it. I don’t use Twitter. It’s a shame he’s cancelling journalists and rapidly destroying whatever utility Twitter has had. Having stated my small and unoriginal opinion, I hereby declare that I am tuning out on what’s going on with Elon Musk except as he may be found to be directly funding an authoritarian takeover.
That Musk is fearful of he or his family being put at risk because of someone's free speech (i.e., nefarious response, use of information unfiltered by miscreants who are just looking to do harm) seems to provide the best case for soft, objective, equally applied "regulations" for this platform and for other ones like Facebook or Truth Social, etc. I don't like what some people say (about me) or put my family at risk or I know you are wrong are not reasons to drop a customer. Those are personal reactions, not a corporate or social policy. Regulating is filled with problems, ethical and fair, the design shouldn't start with lashing out by the owner. These platforms, if they are to promote civil and free speech, need tall leaders, not small minds of frightened narcissists. A learning opportunity, here, for Musk.
One more drama Queen, attention whore . . . Sounds no different than tRump making his rounds in NYC with the local radio hosts back in the day. Bore, bore, bore . . .
“Unreconstructed Afrkaner” - love it! As a Virginian taught the lost cause at my mother’s knee, and currently working hard at overcoming it (much like Ty Sedule *Robert E. Lee and Me*), I’m going to use this phrase regularly when referring to muck. 👍
Musk is like the spoiled, entitled rich kid that brings his new toy to play with other kids, but gets miffed when the other kids have fun with it, so he takes his toy and goes home. I never had anything to do with Twitter and won’t miss it if it goes belly up or Elon gets tired of his shiny toy and sells it to another rich brat, by which time it will be tarnished and broken, hardly worth the hefty price Musk ponied up for it.
Elon, a kid of indeterminate age, obviously likes to take his ball and go home when the results of the game don't suit him. Problem is, the ornery little son of a bitch won't stay there and just keeps coming back. Would someone please, please piss the little jerk off enough that he takes his ball and skulks off once and for all so we can all talk about someone / something else?? I'd almost pay good money for that. Not "I won't dox your airplane money", but I'd scratch up something.
But there's an even better way to piss him off more than anything else would, and it wouldn't cost a dime. Sadly, it would never happen, but if everyone actually stopped talking about the snarky bastard, he really might actually leave and stay gone, at least for a while. Depending on the going rate for buying the internet and how long it would take the weasel to come up with the dough.
Would suggest the same as the solution to a former high office holder who likes to make up the rules as he goes as well. There's surely no danger of him coming up with the dough, new fungus tokens notwithstanding, and it just might piss him off enough to produce the Big Mac effect a little ahead of schedule, which would be a permanent answer to all his ugly noise as well.
Wow, TC, you can write faster than I can skim-read! And it came out a fun read.
I do remember Calvin and Hobbes.
Bill Watterson is probably laughing hysterically, or would be if he read this. Very well done, and one more reason why I don't understand the angst on the part of people who see Twitter falling apart. He's nuts, and deserves what he'll get when the banks realize he's running his collateral into the ground.
I wonder if he's canceled the accounts of everyone who contributed to that trending post. That would be a ton of folks if it's a "trending" post! I am so glad I quit that platform.
If not Muck, it'll be someone else until public utilities, as you say, or the pubic commons is adequately regulated or fixed in another way. The question is how to combat the privatization of the commons.
I loved Calvin and Hobbs back in the day. It is still my favorite comic strip ever. Both of my sons have ADHD; Calvin and Hobbs was a window into our life, trying to cope with all the small and HUGE challenges of our daily life. My boys, now adults, both love Calvin and Hobbs also. It was a sad day when the strip stopped publishing.
Muck and tRump are children of privilege, who were never disciplined. They are both poster boys for arrested development, if I ever saw one. They have absolutely no business controlling anything that impacts the common good. That also goes for other billionaires like Charles Koch, Peter Thiel,etc.
P.S. I took child development in college and taught preschool. Those cartoons depicting tRump and Muck as babies are spot on.
Thank you, might check out Mastadon. Muck has already pulled the plug on Twitter. I enjoyed it once upon a time, but they didn’t like me calling chump a wannabe Nazi.
A lot of us, former Twitter and now Mastodon users have utterly given up on Mr. Musk. Some of us are even journalists. The world continues to revolve. The hashtag #twitterisdead is a thing. When last I checked there were 800000+ users on Mastodon, more each day, and the Fediverse has absorbed us with surprisingly little disruption or hoo-ha.