Elon Musk Wastes $46B on Twitter

Billionaire South African native Elon Musk bought Twitter in a buyout said to cost the Telsa car company owner upwards of $46b dollars. Musk put up billions, borrowed billions more, and took over the company he loved to hate after first secretly and illegally purchasing shares that gave him control of the board.

Twitter board members tried to get a background check done but Musk either refused or could not pass a background check you and I have to pass to get literally any job.

Musk had to regroup.

And rather than cleaning up his (insert whatever rumor you’ve heard about his sordid background), he pouted and decided another course of action.

And he did it in the most Musk-ian way: Refusing to pay taxes. Oops, wrong article.

No, what Musk decided to do was put up and refuse to shut up. He taunted the Twitter board on their app, called out the San Francisco HQ and the SEC, and did what every immature bro-tweeter does: tweet insulting memes, incoherent posts, and cryptic tweets to the twittervserse to his millions of followers.

Then he bought the company in a hostile takeover that will give him full control of Twitter, its data for millions of users – rich folk, government folk, and international leaders.

Once the purchase was announced, Musk incoherently tweeted about “Free Speech” as the main reason for purchasing the company and he asked that his critics stay on the app, proving he has no idea what free speech and the First Amendment actually mean.

Here’s a clue you can afford, Elon – No one suspended on Twitter is a victim of free speech suppression or restrictions because Twitter is not the government.

Twitter is a private company and as such can ban or suspend accounts for any reason, and will ban for reasons that violate its terms of service <— no one reads those but everyone really should.

The Twitterverse world lit up as detractors and supporters tweeted relentlessly about leaving Twitter or celebrating Musk’s takeover.

Generally, conservatives, magas, racists, Russians, countries that create millions of bots, and racists celebrated, while good and normal humans express dread.

The race was on to find new social media outlets.

WHY LEAVE?

If we quit any business because the business owner/ownership group are racist we could not do business in America. No credit cards, homes, military, government, television or movies, no books, food, medical care, or schools at any level.

We exist in conjunction with racist systems that are run owned by racist people. 

Elon musk is no different than your bank owner, grocery stores, sheriff, police chief, district attorney, doctor, nurse, principle, or covid tester.

Where are you gonna go to avoid racists in America?

What service or system will provide the nirvana?

Facebook and Instagram, owned by Zuckerberg, are no different. WalMart, the thieving owners of Hobby Lobby, your favorite restaurant, phone company, and food processing farms and farmers are owned and managed by racists. TikTok, SnapChat (lol, who still uses that?), and all the way back to MySpace have significant problems with racist owners, moderators, users.

Black users of social media are targeted more than any other user types, with Black women being targeted the most. Jewish, LGBTQI+, and other non-white users feel the constant racist wrath as well.

And no matter how often we complain and show proof, the companies most often respond with: “That 14 word N-word laden tweet/video does not violate our terms of service.”

I was once locked out of twitter for using the word “Hag” and suspended completely on an older account for posting a happy music video with older Filipino men dancing in unison because Twitter said the music was under copyright. The account was closed down and I was given the option to appeal to… Sony Music.

Every Black user on Twitter receive daily DM’s and comments with the N-word and other racist terms, but the accounts that do that are allowed to thrive and spread their hate unabated.

It doesn’t matter that Black Twitter users drive traffic, determine trends, and are the source of the Twitter culture, Jack Dorsey allowed racism to gain a foothold because doing so spurred growth and ad revenue. Hate sells and Dorsey, he of the mumbo-jumbo world salads poorly disguised as deep thoughts, increased his and his investor’s wealth by leaning into racism and leaning away from content moderation that protected Black users.

America allows racism to thrive comprehensively throughout society and to own everything because racism and white supremacy is thee engine of American capitalism.

Like, don’t you know that? Seems like CRT needs to be re-taught to damn grownups, the way some are pearl clutching about Elon buying Twitter.

We are surrounded or better, encompassed by racists and racism. We get called the n-word everyday on every social media app. Every day.

I’ve been called the n-word more on Twitter in past year than I have in real life for my entire life. Thanks Jack Dorsey!

I guess Elon can add more n-words? Oooh. I’m scared. As I think New Yorkers and Black folk say: gtfohwtbs.

Elon is a racist jerk of a douche and so what? Have you ever watched NBC, MSNBC, or FOX? Visited Reddit or TikTok? Or spent more than a few moments on Facebook?

Have you ever read the New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, or the New York Daily News? What about your local paper? Have you ever tried to publish a book? Were none of your school teachers or your kids teachers racist?

How’s your Nextdoor comments?

I would love to be free. To be free of racists and racism. I’ve got news for you -that literally is the point of what we’ve been fighting and dying for since we were dropped onto these shores that became cursed w/the stretch of the power of racism.

American racism cannot be defeated, just contained for a season. We breed racists as effectively as we bred Black babies for free labor, sex, and trafficking. It is who and what this nation is, so it’s surprising so many are ready to flee an app over..a racist owner.

Hey, your favorite sports team owner is racist. Your favorite athletes, television and movie stars are racists and you know what? You’re doing fine sweetie.

Listen, there’s an upside to Elon buying Twitter. Being majority owner and part of Wall Street comes with rules and responsibilities. Shareholders, institutional investors, public filings, audits & transparency. These things matter and serve as constraining factors on bad management. And even if he and his investors take the company private, there are still laws and the court of public opinion formed by users who will ultimately determine if the company is financially successful or not.

And the success isn’t guaranteed by any means. Take a look at that awful car company he runs and the damning lawsuit due to horrific racism at his California plant. The lawsuit is about racism at his California plant, not Texas or any other southern state – the Bay Area where “the good whites” live 🥴. Despicable typical racism at Elon’s flagship company, and now the lawsuits are exposing it, and in response Elon buys a social media platform because he’s such a big proponent of free speech… the same free speech his company works hard to suppress. Uh-huh, sure, Elon, sure.

Racist’s hate the light of justice and accountability, and the dummy Musk is running right into more in the hopes he can influence the US electorate, who are notoriously fickle and overwhelmingly support racist candidates, to elect more corrupt politicians that’ll grant him LESS oversight. Less light so that his companies can operate with as much racism as he learned in South Africa and perfected in the Mecca for racism, the good old USA.

There are some Twitter users who want to make it “easier” on him by fleeing his app, “Because it’ll get worse” some say. Hey, welcome to worse.. I could say every day I leave my house or log into any social media service.

Welcome to worse could be my daily affirmation.

But worse flees when confronted with our better natures, our truths, our persistence, and yes, our resistance. Blue Waves Matter, do they not? Blue waves didn’t give a fuck CBS’s Les Moonves salivated over making big money off trump, and blue waves knew that only voting matters and all else is noise. Blue waves elected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris with the most votes ever for the US Presidency.

Even intra party fighting, of which I participate, puts a damper on blue wave efficacy.

As the days and weeks move toward midterms and all the players are making moves. Elon Musk buying Twitter is ONE move. I won’t let his move discourage or distract me from the priorities our party and administration are working on, and I won’t let his move dampen my enthusiasm for improving my neighborhood, district, city, state or country.

Musk and others can buy up all the things – his kind always have in America- but they’ll never buy my vote or steal my joy or energy for any damn thing.

There are legitimate reasons to leave Twitter once Musk takes over – if he takes over. There remains due diligence to complete and various agencies to satisfy before the takeover is complete. Users have to guard their own mental health, and decide for themselves if using a platform owned by Elon Musk is something they can do and tolerate. Many people can not and will not and they are not wrong.

Musk is detestable racist, a wealthy troll, an unserious person who uses his wealth to avoid paying taxes, or provide any redeeming value to society. He is a previleged white man born wealthy through the labor – some say stolen – of Black South African workers. He did not earn a cent nor demonstrate any great skill other than the ability to inherit money, refuse to pay taxes, and make more money due to the inherent unfairness of American capitalism.

But to be honest, the up-rage response many Twitter users had to Elongated man buying Twitter is… many of us genuinely enjoy each other’s online company.

With the announcement out, there was an immediate rush to look to other social media alternatives. Not Facebook or Instagram, but other Twitter-like apps that provide the same opportunity to news, instant community, and shared interest around politics, books, music, movies, and small businesses.

Here are a couple start-ups to consider once they launch:

Rannt Social Media

Speekin App (Black-owned)

Plus, you have growing communities that are live now on platforms like:

Fanbase (Black-owned)

sayeYO (Black-owned)

There are others that are drawing attention but many of those also have problematic owners so I won’t share here.

If you leave Twitter you may wish to download your data. But be aware that your data is still owned by Twitter, if you deactivate you lose access but they keep what is there already – terms and conditions strike again!

For now, I have chosen to stay on Twitter and watch the takeover play out, see what he does once given full control, and see what, if any, pay-for-usage options he tries to implement. If he charges users a fee, I will be in the first wave of those who leave. If he reduces controls on racists and racism – controls that, as written above, are barely there now, I would also seek another social site. And if he does what all the other oligarchs do with all the other American companies they own, I’ll choose to recognize that I live and exist in a racist system that is in need of people like you and I to engage and try to change, while respecting those who chose not to engage.

© 2022 by Myron J. Clifton.

NEW! Click here to subscribe to Dear Dean Magazine!

Shop Myron J. Clifton’s Books on Amazon! Click Here

Myron J. Clifton is slightly older than fifty, lives in Sacramento, California, and is an avid Bay Area sports fan. He likes comic books, telling stories about his late mom to his beloved daughter Leah, and talking to his friends.  

Website | Bookshop | Twitter